Tripoli, Libya
Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi threatened this week to pull his country out of the Arab League, charging that the 22-nation body was “impotent.” Libyan officials said Qaddafi was disgusted with the league’s continued failure to achieve its founding goal of “liberating” Palestinian territories. The final straw for him, they said, was Arab countries’ inability to present a united front even to combat U.S. “aggression” against Iraq. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa rushed to Tripoli to try to talk Qaddafi down. “Libya needs to stay with its Arab sisters,” Moussa said, because its defection could spark a domino effect that would sever Arab alliances and “cause chaos across the Middle East.” Moussa said he will convene an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss Qaddafi’s complaints.
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