Tennessee Senator Bob Corker says the best case scenario in Libya would be for rebels taking control there to handle the transition without infighting. Corker says if tribes in Libya fracture, it opens to the door to destabilization, corruption and potentially terrorism.
Corker spoke at a Kiwanis Club meeting in Murfreesboro on Wednesday.
Corker, who sits on the Senate’s Foreign Relations committee, says it took rebels longer than some had expected to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. He says as an upside, that meant they had to take the time to organize militarily and set up a shadow government. Corker says he hopes that will make for a smoother transition now.
“Typically when changes like the one we’re getting ready to see take place occurs, there’s a lot of revenge killings, there’s a lot of things that happen where the people who’ve been on the Out take it out on the people that’ve been on the In.”
Corker says if reprisals and balkanized tribes keep Libya from governing itself, it could add to a destabilized middle-east and provide an opening for terrorist groups. Corker stresses Libya has not been a safe haven for Al Qaeda, saying quote “One thing Gadhafi did do was keep them out.”
The worst case scenario as Corker envisions it is that could now change.
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