The news of Libyan dictator Moammar al-Gaddafi’s upcoming address to the United Nations and planned stay at a Libyan-owned mansion in Englewood, NJ might not be getting a lot of buzz elsewhere, but it’s big news in the Garden State, with a veritable who’s who of Jersey politicos expressing outrage and vowing to prevent their state from hosting the despot, who just last week raised eyebrows by embracing the freed Pan Am 103 bombing mastermind upon his incredibly inappropriate hero’s return to Libya.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Rep. Steve Rothman, various and sundry state assemblymen and the Englewood Mayor have come out against the Colonel’s itinerary. Clearly, the popular thing to do is speak out against it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Corzine and Christie express their disapproval. I for one don’t think the outrage is justified, and here’s why…

First and foremost, the residence is owned and operated by the Libyan government, which thus permits the regime to house whomever they please so long as it doesn’t violate any of our laws. Seeing as the Colonel recently dismantled his state’s nuclear program and no longer is recognized as a sponsor of terrorism (forfeiting his place on the Axis of Evil), the argument that his stay is illegal doesn’t hold any water.

Secondly, the idea that Gadhafi’s visit will incite terrorism is preposterous and insulting. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (an ACTUAL sponsor of terrorism and architect of Iran’s nuclear program) spoke at Columbia University in 2007, did Iranian immigrants launch violent attacks against Americans? Of course not. To suggest that Gadhafi will destabilize the Garden State any more than our corrupt politicians already do is idiotic at best, and downright racist at worst.

The final argument to be made- that Gadhafi’s recent embrace of a convicted terrorist makes him undeserving of staying on our soil before his appearance at the UN- is probably the most difficult to diffuse, and is probably the one motivating Lautenberg, Rothman et al to oppose his planned stay. Again, I invoke the Ahmadinejad visit in my rebuttal. We as Americans are at our best when we offer hospitality to those with whom we disagree. Ahmadinejad spewed his contemptable schtick, while the Columbia student body and sensible viewers around the world simply rolled their eyes.

My point is, the best way to expose and dismantle opposing arguments is not to prohibit their believers from speaking, but to let them be heard and let them be dismissed. In the end, they are exposed for the bigots and maniacs everyone thought them to be, and the hosting looks better by comparison for giving them the chance to embarrass themselves. That’s exactly what happened to Ahmadinejad, and it’ll happen to Gaddafi too.

I don’t mean to take away from the outrage that relatives of Pan Am 103 victims feel, nor do I mean to defend Colonel Gaddafi for his recent actions. But in the United States even hatemongers enjoy freedom of speech, and the rest of us should relish the chance to let them speak and ruin their own credibility.

Tags: Colonel Gaddafi, Libya, New Jersey, United Nations

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.