If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Tripoli

In response to various concessions on weapons programs and inspections by Moammar Gadhafi, the Bush administration has "eased travel and other restrictions" to Libya, reports the WashPost (via The Seattle Times).

As someone who was opposed to the invasion of Iraq and still has mega-doubts about the "region building" talk coming out of the Bush folks and neocons, I have to admit that Gadhafi's shift is clearly linked to Bush's adventurous foreign policy (as are other positive developments throughout the Middle East and the Islamic world). This isn't to sign on to the agenda--it's too early to tell whether the US intervention in Iraq, much less elsewhere, is going to bear sweet or bitter fruit, and there remain tough questions about ends justifying means, etc--but it's clear that US policy is having some beneficial effects.

For more on the tyrant cum terrrorist whose name can be spelled an infinite number of ways, check out Joe Bob Briggs' entertaining and informative piece, "The Q-Man," from the Winter edition of The National Interest.

Update: The folks at American Enterprise Institute give a thumbs down to Bush on Libya, warning "Beware the 'Libyan Model.'"