World

In terms of shock value, asserting that Libya has supported the cause of international terrorism ranks right up there with calling the Pope Catholic. Except in this case, the asserter was Colonel Muammar Gaddafi himself. To hear the Libyan leader tell it, in an interview with the Egyptian weekly al- Musawwar, he went to the aid of unspecified terrorist groups in the conviction that they were practicing revolutionary violence for the Arab cause, which is good stuff. Imagine Gaddafi's horror, then, when he discovered that his hijacking, trigger-happy clients actually meant to exercise "terrorism for the sake of terrorism." That is a no-no. Avowed the newly scrupulous Gaddafi: "We have withdrawn our support to such groups."