Obama's sinister silence on Libya (Updated)

As Muammar Gaddafi butchers his own people, and as evidence of his direct role in the Lockerbie bombing has emerged, President Barack Obama has gone radio silent on the whole thing. His Secretary of State has spoken out. Even the UN has muttered about its “concern.” But the POTUS who helped nudge Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, an American ally who kept peace with Israel, out of power, is now mum.

Why?

I don’t know. His silence has led to curiosity, which led to Google searches, which led to reminders that his former spiritual guide and mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, visited Gaddafi in 1984 at the height of tensions between that dictator and the United States. Gaddafi was already known at the time as a major force behind international terrorism.

To begin, Wright is a close confidant and supporter of Louis Farrakhan. The leader of the Nation of Islam has called Jews “bloodsuckers” who practice a “gutter religion.”

Wright was among those deeply affected in the early ’80s by Farrakhan’s South Side Chicago activism. In 1984, Wright was one of the inner circle that traveled with Farrakhan to visit Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Qadhfi. The ostentatious Farrakhan junket came at a time when Qadhfi had been identified as the world’s chief financier of international terrorism, including the Black September group behind the Munich Olympics massacre.

By the time Wright and Farrakhan visited, Libyan oil imports had been banned, and America was trying to topple what it called a “rogue regime.” In the several years after that, Farrakhan was pro-active for Qadhfi, even as Libya was internationally isolated for suspected involvement in numerous terror plots, including the explosion of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Farrakhan’s and Wright’s 1984 visit and subsequent support was done precisely to openly ally themselves with a declared enemy of the United States.

Speaking out against Gaddafi should be a no-brainer. The Libyan dictator has been a malignant presence for decades, through Republican and Democratic administrations. His reign has had no redeeming qualities. Sure, he’s been no friend of the Muslim Brotherhood types, but he has financed terrorism against the United States and our allies anyway. Gaddafi is a thug pirate who happens to misrule a country. Obama’s silence obviously hasn’t done anything to keep anyone from remembering his past with Rev. Wright, and Wright’s past with Gaddafi. So what’s the point of it?

Update: News is moving fast in Libya as Gaddafi loses control, and it’s possible that Obama has remained silent as Americans have been evacuated from the country. If so, fair enough, that’s a very good reason for him not to say anything. Yet.