Word: gaddafi
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Blessed are the peacemakers, but the First Couple of France may have had more political aims in engineering their dramatic accord with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The personal involvement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cécilia in freeing six medics who faced execution in Libya on trumped-up murder charges earned cheers from many. But it also generated grousing from E.U. officials who suggest Sarkozy cut in on their low-key negotiations with Tripoli in the final stretch to break the tape himself and get the credit...
...case and concluded that the disease was spread not by the nurses - or by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, as Libyan prosecutors originally charged - but by poor hygiene at the government-run hospitals. Some of the children were infected before the nurses even arrived. Critics have charged that Gaddafi's government needed a scapegoat for a scandal that otherwise would have been laid at his door. The new deal is unlikely to disabuse Libyans of the belief that foreigners, rather than officials with their own government, are at fault. The E.U. is also paying millions of dollars to the families...
...released to return home. If they are freed, the outcome would be a victory for the European Union, which has reportedly helped negotiate a face-saving deal that includes a payout to the families of the victims of the outbreak. The other winner would be Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, whose rapprochement with the West, which started with his pledging to destroy a clandestine nuclear program in 2003, can now continue unimpeded...
...body to negotiate on its behalf. The U.S. is also a strong supporter of Bulgaria thanks to its vociferous backing for U.S. operations in Iraq and elsewhere. (President Bush has called for the nurses' release.) But Western countries are also especially eager to smooth over any lingering problems with Gaddafi. Libya remains 'exhibit A' in the Western attempt to convince the world and notably Iran that giving up nuclear weapons' ambitions has its rewards. New oil deals with British and American oil companies are also being inked. On the same day that the judicial proceedings against the nurses ended this...
...Gaddafi, in addition to deflecting blame for the epidemic, he appears to have benefited from a spurious accusation by winning some medical treatment and financial aid for the victims families. (The amount of money going to families is still unknown and both Bulgaria and the E.U. refuse to call it "compensation" since that implies guilt.) "We should never underestimate Libya," says the Bulgarian journalist Melkov. "Gaddafi has been able to make the West demonstrate compassion for the victims of Benghazi, while at the same time trading his aces in the best possible way on the international stage. He plays...