Qadhafi and New Jersey: The Perfect Storm Defused?

Okay, I've been postponing this post because I fear I'll have too much fun with it, and either offend the Libyans or the State of New Jersey (or both) to the point people will take it out on MEI or the Journal. Please remember the opinions on this blog are my own. And the whole issue may now be moot.

Brother Colonel Leader and Guide of the Libyan Revolution is going to be paying a visit to our shores for the General Assembly. While the Libyans have been vague about specific plans a lot of attention has been paid to a property the Libyan Legation to the United Nations owns in Englewood, New Jersey. Though the Libyans have been in a fight over whether they should pay taxes on this property (they get one tax-free site, apparently, and their Manhattan Embassy also claims it), there have been reports that Libya suggested pitching Qadhafi's famous traveling tent in Central Park, which was of course vetoed by the US (would you pitch a tent in Central Park at night?) and so speculation spread the tent would go up on the property in Englewood. Despite uncertainty and, now, a Libyan denial, the issue remains a hot one in parts of the Garden State.

Now here's an article on the controversy. New Jersey is, of course, the home of a significant Jewish population, and it is also the home of many of the families whose relatives died over Lockerbie, and who have been reminded of that fact by the recent release of the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing. And, well, it's Jersey. They are not, shall we say, happy with the prospect of Brother Leader abiding in his tent among their own tents or other quarters, and they are letting the world know it.

Of course, the Libyans haven't actually said he's going to stay there, and in fact several reports says they've told a local Congressman that the Guide of the Revolution will not stay there, so maybe the whole thing is a red herring. Okay: Never mind. But New Jersey is still annoyed.

But Qadhafi's presence, which might have been smoothed over without the Lockerbie/Megrahi affair, will still be a catalyst. This was supposed to be his grand American debut, though Ahmadinejad and other American villains are coming too and could upstage him.