lines of communication and dialogue with all people in all religions of the world now let us join our host as we program focus on islam is designed to promote a better understanding of islam and muslims focus on islam the program strives to open up lines of communication and dialogue with all people in all religions of the world and god willing i hope we are fulfilling our commitment to you the viewer tonight we have a very interesting program we have chosen to discover the country of libya libya has now become a household word name of a country we know little about but tonight i hope we will learn more my special guest this evening is a professor of engineering he is the current president of the islamic center and very knowledgeable about this subject and islam in general i hope you'll please help me welcome brother abraham s some people unfortunately come into the history books from the back door jacked up what was also a body will no name but not to me not to equate jack the ripper with libya but unfortunately libya did become a geographic standpoint it's about three times the size of the state of texas it is on the mediterranean right across from greece and italy the eastern part of libya is across from greece while the western part of libya is across from it's only the coastal area of libya as densely populated rest of libya is pretty much desert and very sparsely populated libya was prior to world war one to then libya was liberated that it was under british administration for a while that was the arrangement with the united nations then it became independent and it became a kingdom and it was handed over to king had good intentions but he it seems that he had very bad management of the country in the country was run by a prime minister's offered very little if any for example political freedom and  him and and a group of very young officers in the military and the army took charge for a few days it was not clear as to who is in charge world he has come to be either admired by some or detested by others and i guess that would have to be left to the individuals and to the countries to decide well let's talk a little bit about his early take over what what kind of  it was perceived in libya that you see libya also had two major air military bases air bases it had an american base stationed in tripoli and a british it was believed and felt in libya that the government of libya the king and the government in general had very little to do with decision making when it came to foreign policy that foreign policy was already dictated to them and it was seen to it that it was carried out by the presence of these military giants the american base in tripoli for example took up most a third or a quarter of the city and it was the just the presence there  was threatening enough and intimidating to a lot of people to make the matter even worse it was rumored tonight in the war of one nine hundred sixty seven i personally don't know if it has ever been proven or not but at least it was it was common knowledge on the street in libya that that base is the american base as well as the british base in libya particularly the american base was used to planes that were bombing the are fighting the israelis and planes who won a two goal fight on the side of the arabs were not allowed to land and refuel so that heightened the the feelings of the libyans who felt that they are part of the arab world and when i say by the way arabs and arab world and so on in libya particularly unlike actually north africa in general maybe libya particularly because of the fact that libya is almost one hundred percent muslims when when they say the arab world or the arab nation if you will they make no distinction between that and the muslim nation you know as muslims in general so it is not that they look at the arab the arab nation as a nationalistic notion on their part they just don't know any different as opposed to other places where there are other religious minorities when you say the muslims you don't mean the arabs and when you say the arabs you don't mean the muslims you look at egypt for example and has over twelve million egyptian christian in egypt to look at iraq and you look at syria and so on they have religious minorities so you can't say arabs and mean the muslims because not every out of there is a muslim well that's not the case  duty to their fellow muslim or fellow arab was betrayed by their own government and they were let down and they felt also that they they don't have control of their own politics and foreign policy and so on and when that was coupled with with the lack of the different types of freedom we were talking about libya is not overly intellectual country it never was before the at least in the sixty's and so on the high of literacy was quite low very very few people who were educated particularly college education and so on a small percentage of the people who are educated but those who were to government because they felt that they have no rights they have no freedom and so on and so forth all of these then together led to at least the feeling of the people in libya in general that they want change any type of change yes doesn't matter what then came this coup when this coup came people didn't really care much who is there at the helm they just they were happy that it happened and everybody was out in the streets celebrating and so on and and sending cables of congratulations and what have you it made no difference so it could have been mr cutout it could have been anybody my i remember for example thirty first we were sitting at night and just talking and he was making the or me a life change this oppressive government and and first thing in the morning we saw tanks on the street and everything was was done with that people didn't know who any of those people and that government were or those officers and they didn't care they just wanted a change yes and a change came so they went out in full support and they actually were intoxicated for over a year or so yes fully intoxicated yes and with and nobody in libya by the way believes that god deaf ear was acting on his own up until now what ever acted on his own impulsively or without guidance without consultation and yes and i'll leave it to the to the audience to figure it out with or to ponder as to who those advisors are and who they might las vegas but that was it was there it was not prohibited by law that i guess that's the main point so the people felt good that this was done away with now when he came then these are all one of the few things of the first things that he did immediately after that it may have been outlawed just prior to that as a matter of fact but night clubs will close down and so on so people started to feel really good what made it difficult or i guess more libyans is that because of these several steps that he took towards the end if you will of libya he had great appeal in other countries other muslim countries who were oppressed and who were looking for any hope on the horizon so they saw this young man with a lot of energy and they thought with vision and with maybe some sincerity even who wanted to implement islam in his country and they said well here comes help we finally have a savior we have finally have somebody who might help us out so that made it difficult for libyans to make a case because when you go talk to somebody in pakistan for example a fellow muslim before you say anything bad about that therefore he will tell you thirty minutes of good thing all we hear is wonderful news this is that it's true because the poor guy didn't know what was actually going on yes so the first couple of years were a honeymoon and people were intoxicated started to leave afterwards or were jailed and deteriorated from that point on terrible now let us talk a little bit about the current situation why has libya become a household name for american people then what's brought this about only that as i said the beginning of the show that different people come into the history books from different doors and windows and so on yes and then unfortunately libya was dragged through the backdoor into the book here and this country libya has always been in the past at least it has been a country that honored relations with neighbors and friends and so on and so forth the people in libya the libyan person on the street man or woman is a person of great generosity and hospitality and friendship and they value very much their friendship with other people yes it is unfortunate though that every libyan in the world today has been treated as a clone of my see when i traveled in europe and so on prior to nine hundred sixty nine when you presented your passport from the kingdom of the time you were treated with such respect it was unbelievable you were almost put on a pedestal libya was again was a respected country and particularly after nine hundred sixty three when libya started producing oil yes in hundred sixty five actually is the year when they started exporting oil yes then it was put on the map even more because now countries needed libya they needed the oil that libya produced and particularly in europe people knew libya because of trades with it and so on and so forth after the coup and after nineteen in the late seventy's more or less you became very hesitant to present your power your libyan passport because when the person at the customs or immigration any point in any airport saw the passport that it says libby on it before they had a chance to even ask you or from the agents who were following them all over the world yes threatening to assess any them yes then when they come into another country where they think that maybe they can be safe and away from these asians they are harassed by that same country for being libyans so there were press that we in our kind of hard place like people say and they that has not changed by the way and especially you have to think for yourself that libyans outside the country who are not on official passport are probably those people who are trying to get for reagan to flex his muscles and show the might of the united states and so on and the bad boy looking for a bad boy to whip and so that he can look good and he was actually also he was looking for a winnable fight and that was the most important thing and particularly after the the loss of the accident or the incident of the marines in lebanon and that the united states had had suffered several blows before prior to that he was looking for something to tool to polish the image of the united states and has always served like a good w voice because for one thing he needs to be whipped that's not the point i'm not saying here that he is a nice guy at all i mean he deserves to be out i hope that he is today before tomorrow for the sake of libya and for the sake of the people libyan able that he's been oppressing for the last twenty three years but you want him to whip him not somebody but i'd like you said the libyan people are more than capable of taking care of their own household sure and they don't need anybody  those two anyways and that might be a good place to start learning a little bit anyways so they got a few to build evidence pointed to absolutely to libya that that was it so it was then the decision was made book and so on so a decision was made to bomb this country again to show the might and to make an example of all these cliches and then suddenly this bombing comes in and you cannot ask for anything better because now you don't even have to look like a bad guy exactly he can do the job down and do whatever you want and you don't all that you come out smelling like a rose that's right that's so it was just too perfect to be in tripoli and it was not surgical nor was it strategic bombing that happened in libya in one thousand nine hundred six as a matter of fact some people are still suffering psychological backlashes from the from the bombing in one nine hundred eighty six until no but then again those people sent to the reaganism administration were maybe collateral damage then they were not human beings so that's collateral damage came out of the gulf soon after the bombing of libya soon after that the administration came out in god knows what in the in the new york times in a very minute small ok they came later and also to say that whoops it was actually a german faction and it was a local domestic political thing in germany had nothing to do with silly or libya but then again by that time people have already forgotten what had already forgotten about the bombing and the innocent people who died in but nevertheless for their fees name and picture and so on was brought over and over and over and it is no in the minds of the people in the united states that he is bad and anything that is done to libya then therefore this is ok is justified because because of yes because of how bad he is  i live in this country i am part of this country upset and i just feel sorry for the people who are betrayed and who are cheated out of their knowledge because but the fee for one thing is not libya libyan people are the ones who are suffering the most from the what but there she is doing to them and there she is the last one who gets punished well i think you've given us a good understanding a better understanding and i hope they have sparked an interest that people will explore more about the country of libya and what the realities are people don't know in this country for example that since one thousand nine hundred seventy three libya runs without constitution and without law that by the suspended constitution in hundred seventy three therefore if you are if you are detained or arrested you have no rights because there is no constitution to guarantee your rights this is the almost a birthright everywhere in the world so it is the libyan people who are suffering the most and i hope that people don't make the mistake of punishing the victim absolutely which is something which we seem to do quite often so i hope that happens i hope that libya gets the chance to somewhat pick itself up by the bootstraps like they say and starts that he building process because it's going to take a long time but there's he has managed to make corruption rampant in libya to make a note and stamp and in libya he has devastated the educational system so much so that he has advocated for a long time and has i think style starting to implement the eradication of primary schools altogether and so on  hope that people get the chance to do take care of their own household and clean it up and get on with their lives inshallah well once again thank you very much for joining us and sharing your knowledge giving us an insight to your country libya we appreciate it my pleasure physical  and thank you the viewing audience this program is for you and without you would 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