A Look at the Potential Leader of Free Libya's Doctoral Thesis
If American and international intervention in Libya ousts Muammar Qaddafi, Mahmoud Jibril could be Libya's leader. But 26 years ago, he was a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh and his doctoral thesis shows an intense interest in the wild volatility of U.S. policy towards Libya. As Americans wonder whether the rebels they're supporting will make good allies, his thesis suggests a skepticism of how steadfast an ally Libyans should consider the U.S.. He writes: "Analysts should not isolate the United States' policy toward Libya from the general pattern of U.S. conduct toward other world problems and events."
The question of who exactly the rebels are took on new urgency yesterday when U.S. Admiral James Stavridis commented that while rebel leaders generally appear to be "responsible men and women," there have also been "flickers in the intelligence of potential al-Qaeda" and Hezbollah fighters among the opposition. This morning, on Twitter, Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell asked whether anyone had read Jibril's PhD thesis on U.S. foreign policy toward Libya. We looked into it and found the thesis--"Imagery and Ideology in U.S. Policy Toward Libya, 1969-1982"--online at the University of Pittsburgh's website, as published in 1988 three years after Jibril earned his doctorate at Pitt in strategic planning and decision-making.
First, some context: Jibril, the newly appointed head of the opposition's interim government in Benghazi, met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. An academic and former management consultant in the Middle East, Jibril briefly led Libya's National Economic Development Board before resigning last year in frustration at the slow pace of reform.
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