Friends old and new

The decision by Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi to open up facilities in his country for inspection by international experts is a wise and welcome one.

But, the test of Gaddafi's lead will be Israel.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East known to possess nuclear capabilities and a formidable arsenal of other weapons of mass destruction. Only Israel is bulging at the seams with biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Yet Israel is the country that the international community is least interested in inspecting.

It is Israel, and not Libya, that should open its nuclear, chemical and biological facilities to international inspections. It is Israel that should be pressured into signing the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, or else be treated as a pariah nation, economically embargoed and sanctioned.

With 130,000 American and 9,000 British troops in Iraq, the search for weapons of mass destruction -- ostensibly the reason behind the US-led invasion of the country -- has produced no results, and is unlikely ever to do so.

Their search has yielded nothing. The American and British presence in Iraq has led to the destabilisation of the country and its economic collapse. It also led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime and the capture of Hussein and his henchmen. The odd thing is that it now appears that their major crime is not to have been in possession of WMDs in the first place. Hence the sudden concern with the atrocities committed against Iraqis, the worst of which date from Saddam's time as the West's best friend.