Libya's leader predicts the treaty will hurt the U.S.
About halfway through the 90-minute interview in Tobruk, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was interrupted by a military aide who handed him a note. The revolutionary who heads Libya's government paused in his bitter denunciation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty just long enough to read the message. Then he smiled wanly, shook his head and waved the aide away with the back of his hand. The note informed Gaddafi that live TV coverage of the White House signing ceremony was beginning in the next room. Gaddafi clearly preferred to talk about the treaty rather than join his staff around the TV. The main points he made to TIME's diplomatic correspondent Strobe Talbott:
On the Egyptian-Israeli pact. It is a big step backward. I love peace. We all love peace. It is because of our love for peace that we oppose what is going on in the White House right now. This event will compound the problem of the Middle East. I expect that the Palestinian people will strengthen their resistance against the Israelis and that the Egyptian government will take an unfriendly and aggressive attitude toward the Arabs. At the same time, there will be an increase in the Arabs' unfriendly feelings toward Americans. Also, this action [signing the treaty] will hasten the day of revolution against those reactionary regimes that depend on the Americans, and it will push Arabs to depend more and more on the Soviet Union.
I foresee, first of all, revolutions in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Neither the Americans nor anyone else will be able to protect those reactionary regimes from revolutions within their own countries. These revolutions will be the work of the people of Saudi Arabia and Morocco, people who are now unknown but who will do their job. The revolution is coming—I know it.
There are also the seeds of revolution in Egypt. The masses in the streets are ready for revolution, and this agreement will make it come sooner.
While the agreement is a step backward for the cause of peace, it has some positive results in that it will toughen the Palestinians in their confrontation with the Israelis and assure the success of revolution against reactionary regimes. From the American standpoint, the agreement will have a negative result: increasing enmity toward the U.S. and bringing the Arabs closer to the Soviet Union. But for ourselves, for us Arabs, that is a positive result. Why should we be closer to the Soviets? Because the Americans have challenged us. America is involved in a conspiracy [against the Arab world], primarily because of its policy toward Israel. In our view, whoever is against the Americans stands with us. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
On Carter. He's a good man, but he is ignorant and naive in international politics, so he falls into traps, such as this agreement. We see this agreement as part of his election propaganda campaign —nothing else.