TRIPOLI (AFP) - A senior Libyan official damned the United States and said President George W. Bush was insane, as Libya marked the 20th anniversary of deadly US air raids on the country's two biggest cities.
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The remarks by deputy parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim were ironic, as Libya is basking in a two-year-old rapprochement with the West and has even invited a leading American soul singer to the commemorative festivities, which started Thursday.
The United States "is a damned country, banished from divine mercy and deserving only of being cursed," Ibrahim said.
He was speaking at a conference on the 1986 raids, which were carried out in reprisal for the bombing of a Berlin disco frequented by US troops that Washington blamed on Tripoli.
The "United States considers its occupation of our countries (Muslim and Arab) to be legitimate and brands as terrorist our resistance" to it, Ibrahim said.
He said George W. Bush was "insane" because the US president "makes all sorts of threats and says all options are open when it comes to the Arab and Muslim worlds, particularly Syria and Iran.
"Who can any longer have confidence in an America that has weapons of mass destruction, that threatens Muslims and insists on Syria leaving Lebanon? Why does the United States not pull its forces out of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf?" he asked.
Despite Ibrahim's diatribe, Libya has planned a massive festival to mark the event, whose anniversary falls on Saturday.
Veteran US soul singer Lionel Ritchie and Spanish tenor Jose Carreras are among the acts that Libya says will be performing in the capital in the early hours of Saturday, exactly 20 years after US warplanes flying out of British bases hit their targets, killing at least 40 people.
"A big festival is planned near the (Tripoli) residence of leader Moamer Kadhafi, where his (adopted) daughter Hana died in the US strike," an information ministry official said.
"Artists from the United States and Europe will take part to send the whole world a message that art is capable of uniting peoples whom politics has divided and to express their regret for what their governments did."
The commemoration is to be called the "Hana Festival for Freedom and Peace" in remembrance of the Libyan leader's slain daughter.
It is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 am (0030 GMT), the exact time the US raid on the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi began.
Candles will be lit and patriotic songs sung before the concert gets underway.
Richie and Carreras are among 65 foreign musicians who are booked to perform.
A second concert is to be held in the same venue Saturday evening featuring Arabic music by guest performers including Egyptian singer Mohammed Munir.
A film on the US raid entitled: "The Resistance to the Attack" is also to be shown, along with children's drawings and paintings.
Thursday's conference itself is built on the theme: "The US attack, its consequences and the right of Libyans to compensation and an apology."
"In a bad world where Iraq is occupied and racism reigns in every country, we are sending out a message of peace through the artists of the world," said organizer Osama Mohammed.
Then US president Ronald Reagan famously called Kadhafi the "mad dog" of the Middle East in his justification of the US bombings.
But unlike the Iranian and Iraqi regimes, which went on to form part of Bush's "axis of evil," the Libyan leader was pragmatic enough to call in the very Western intelligence services he had long assailed to certify that he had abandoned efforts to acquire non-conventional weapons.
The public announcement of that in late 2003 was followed by the restoration of relations by Washington in June the following year.
Kadhafi never forgave Reagan for the bombings. When the former president died in June 2004, the Libyan leader said he regretted his death because it meant he could never be prosecuted for his crimes "against the children of Libya."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006041...wJvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Good points from this minister who shows some of America's murderous past.
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The remarks by deputy parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim were ironic, as Libya is basking in a two-year-old rapprochement with the West and has even invited a leading American soul singer to the commemorative festivities, which started Thursday.
The United States "is a damned country, banished from divine mercy and deserving only of being cursed," Ibrahim said.
He was speaking at a conference on the 1986 raids, which were carried out in reprisal for the bombing of a Berlin disco frequented by US troops that Washington blamed on Tripoli.
The "United States considers its occupation of our countries (Muslim and Arab) to be legitimate and brands as terrorist our resistance" to it, Ibrahim said.
He said George W. Bush was "insane" because the US president "makes all sorts of threats and says all options are open when it comes to the Arab and Muslim worlds, particularly Syria and Iran.
"Who can any longer have confidence in an America that has weapons of mass destruction, that threatens Muslims and insists on Syria leaving Lebanon? Why does the United States not pull its forces out of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf?" he asked.
Despite Ibrahim's diatribe, Libya has planned a massive festival to mark the event, whose anniversary falls on Saturday.
Veteran US soul singer Lionel Ritchie and Spanish tenor Jose Carreras are among the acts that Libya says will be performing in the capital in the early hours of Saturday, exactly 20 years after US warplanes flying out of British bases hit their targets, killing at least 40 people.
"A big festival is planned near the (Tripoli) residence of leader Moamer Kadhafi, where his (adopted) daughter Hana died in the US strike," an information ministry official said.
"Artists from the United States and Europe will take part to send the whole world a message that art is capable of uniting peoples whom politics has divided and to express their regret for what their governments did."
The commemoration is to be called the "Hana Festival for Freedom and Peace" in remembrance of the Libyan leader's slain daughter.
It is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 am (0030 GMT), the exact time the US raid on the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi began.
Candles will be lit and patriotic songs sung before the concert gets underway.
Richie and Carreras are among 65 foreign musicians who are booked to perform.
A second concert is to be held in the same venue Saturday evening featuring Arabic music by guest performers including Egyptian singer Mohammed Munir.
A film on the US raid entitled: "The Resistance to the Attack" is also to be shown, along with children's drawings and paintings.
Thursday's conference itself is built on the theme: "The US attack, its consequences and the right of Libyans to compensation and an apology."
"In a bad world where Iraq is occupied and racism reigns in every country, we are sending out a message of peace through the artists of the world," said organizer Osama Mohammed.
Then US president Ronald Reagan famously called Kadhafi the "mad dog" of the Middle East in his justification of the US bombings.
But unlike the Iranian and Iraqi regimes, which went on to form part of Bush's "axis of evil," the Libyan leader was pragmatic enough to call in the very Western intelligence services he had long assailed to certify that he had abandoned efforts to acquire non-conventional weapons.
The public announcement of that in late 2003 was followed by the restoration of relations by Washington in June the following year.
Kadhafi never forgave Reagan for the bombings. When the former president died in June 2004, the Libyan leader said he regretted his death because it meant he could never be prosecuted for his crimes "against the children of Libya."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006041...wJvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Good points from this minister who shows some of America's murderous past.
