Is Libya an Islamic State?

It seems that the policy of Obama in Libya has produced an Islamic state with sharia law.

Any thoughts on this?

Sharia law for Libya?
By Elizabeth Tenety

Mustafa Abdel Ja­lil, Libya’s interim leader, declared Sunday that post-Gaddafi Libya will be run as an Islamic state with legislation based on sharia law.

According to The Washington Post reporter Mary Beth Sheridan, Jalil said to a crowd in Benghazi, “’We are an Islamic state,’ and pledged to get rid of regulations that didn’t conform to Islamic law.”

Among the Islamic changes Jalil mentioned in his speech

— ”Libya’s new constitution “will not disallow polygamy’” (FP.com)

— “The interest [on loans] will be ruled out,” in accordance with Islamic prohibition on charging interest.

Sharia law, as Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein wrote in 2010, in recent months has become “shorthand for extremism” among critics of Islam in the United States. For Muslims, it is a code of conduct for daily life, similar to Jewish law, but concern over its role in politics have shadowed the Arab Spring.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/sharia-law-for-libya/2011/10/24/gIQATDrhCM_blog.html

I think we spend way too much time, money and energy telling other countries how they should operate.

Agreed...it should not be our job to tell other countries what kind of government they want for themselves.

I think we spend way too much time, money and energy overthrowing other countries. Obama expected democracy in Libya. How naive is that?! I expect more from the leadership of our country than that.

So, you two are happy with a stone age government?

By telling the world that Muammar el-Qaddafi had to go, we were telling Libya and the world what type of government that they could and could not have.

"Islamic state under Sharia Law" --- still leaves a very diverse set of possibilities. You have the Taliban version of Sharia (horrible) --- and the Emirati version of Sharia (fairly tolerable, in my own opinion). Even within Saudi Arabia - you get a half dozen different versions of Sharia --- with Jeddah being on the liberal side, and Riyadh more conservative.

bailey bud wrote: "Islamic state under Sharia Law" --- still leaves a very diverse set of possibilities. You have the Taliban version of Sharia (horrible) --- and the Emirati version of Sharia (fairly tolerable, in my own opinion). Even within Saudi Arabia - you get a half dozen different versions of Sharia --- with Jeddah being on the liberal side, and Riyadh more conservative.

What about your wife's opinion of sharia law?

Arlen wrote: I think we spend way too much time, money and energy overthrowing other countries. Obama expected democracy in Libya. How naive is that?! I expect more from the leadership of our country than that.

I think you the word that fits your sentence better is "Obama hoped for democracy in Libya."

Our previous regime thought we'd be welcomed in Iraq with open arms and had no end strategy for leaving. They also urged a free election in the Gaza Strip, expecting voters to select leadership other than Hamas. How naive was that?

Conservation Voice wrote:

Arlen wrote: I think we spend way too much time, money and energy overthrowing other countries. Obama expected democracy in Libya. How naive is that?! I expect more from the leadership of our country than that.

I think you the word that fits your sentence better is "Obama hoped for democracy in Libya."

Our previous regime thought we'd be welcomed in Iraq with open arms and had no end strategy for leaving. They also urged a free election in the Gaza Strip, expecting voters to select leadership other than Hamas. How naive was that?

Wasn't Obama's campaign slogan "Hope and Change"? I didn't think that he meant it. But that appears to be the extent of his insight into foreign policy. "Let's change it and hope that it comes out well."

Don't you expect more from our leaders?

What you are saying is that Obama is the "Me, too!" president.

So far, he's been like a Bush 3. I am very unhappy with Obama's foreign policy. Don't ask me to defend it.

I have not been happy with the U.S. foreign policy for decades. I am ashamed that we did not turn our efforts to the American continent, north and south, after WWII and help develop this whole continent into a prosperous economic power. That was extremely shortsighted.

Creating enemies in the Middle East, via meddling, was also shortsighted and self destructive. This was all done in the quest of containing Communism (with strong influence from big business) but the results were not good.

The policies of Obama may have been intended for the good, but the results show the influence of our policies for the past 70 years.