Articles by Brian Whitaker

Below is a collection of my articles about the Middle East, mostly written for The Guardian newspaper and its website. The articles are grouped chronologically and according to country.

Articles in chronological order:
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998

Articles listed by country:
Algeria | Bahrain | Egypt | Iran | Iraq | Kuwait | Lebanon | Libya | Oman | Palestine/Israel | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Syria | Tunisia | United Arab Emirates | Yemen


Archive: Libya

Gaddafi's fall unlikely to alarm Arab leaders
The Guardian, 22 Aug 2011

Assad, Saleh and others will not lose any sleep and are unlikely to draw lessons from the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya

After Gaddafi, let's hope for the best in Libya
Comment Is Free, 22 Aug 2011

Yes, Gaddafi's fall will expose factional rivalries, but Libya is unlikely to turn into another Iraq, let alone Afghanistan

No stalemate in Libya – the writing is on the wall for Gaddafi
Comment Is Free, 15 Aug 2011

A quick exit for the colonel is less important than a well-managed transition, setting the country on course for representative government

Could Gaddafi stay in Libya?
Comment Is Free, 4 Jul 2011

The opposition's offer to the Libyan dictator of internal exile may be pragmatic but it raises some tricky issues

Is France right to arm Libyan rebels?
Comment Is Free, 30 Jun 2011

Live discussion: France has been arming Libyans for their 'self-defence'. Debate the rights and wrongs of this

The liberal-left are at odds on Libya
Comment Is Free, 5 May 2011

Significant voices outspoken in their opposition to war in Iraq are more equivocal on military intervention in Libya

Libya: is negotiation the answer?
Comment Is Free, 28 Mar 2011

As the fighting continues, Nabila Ramdani and Brian Whitaker debate Nato's next move

The difference with Libya
Comment Is Free, 23 Mar 2011

Unlike Bahrain or Yemen, the scale and nature of the Gaddafi regime's actions have impelled the UN's 'responsibility to protect'

Saif Gaddafi and the democracy project – audio
Comment Is Free, 18 Mar 2011

In a 2004 interview, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi says democracy in Libya is a personal project – it doesn't sound like the man urging a fight 'to the last bullet'

Muammar Gaddafi: method in his 'madness'
Comment Is Free, 23 Feb 2011

Gaddafi has lost touch with his people, but though his actions may seem bizarre, there is a kind of logic to his behaviour

Anger as Libyan retrial hands death sentence to medics
Guardian, Wednesday December 20 2006

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV were sentenced to death for a second time by a court in Libya yesterday, drawing widespread international condemnation.

All Libyan pupils to get laptop and web access
Guardian, Thursday October 12 2006

Libya could become the first country to provide every school-age child with a laptop computer and internet connection under a scheme supported by the UN Development Programme.

Anyone for Mecca?
Comment Is Free, April 13, 2006

In a rare bout of perspicacity, Colonel Gadafy suggests Jews and Christians - even George Bush - should be permitted to visit the Kaaba.

Disgrace in the desert
The Guardian, February 28, 2006

Libyan rape victims face arranged marriages or staying locked up in 'rehabilitation' centres.

Watchdog hails Libya's human rights progress
The Guardian, January 26 2006

Libya won praise yesterday for taking "important steps" to improve human rights but was warned it will have to do more to meet international standards.

US tests the air in reformed Libya
The Guardian, January 26 2004

With the words "United States Navy" emblazoned on its side, a plane touched down in Tripoli yesterday carrying six US congressmen on a goodwill mission: the first such visit since Colonel Muammar Gadafy came to power in 1969.

e-mail
The Guardian, January 26 2004

It was the sort of mini-break they never advertise in the travel supplements: a long weekend in Tripoli courtesy of Saif al-Islam Gadafy, son of the Leader of the Revolution.

New statesman: Gadafy turns reformer
The Guardian, December 22 2003

Receiving an interviewer from al-Jazeera television one day in his desert tent, Colonel Muammar Gadafy talked of world affairs and Libyan politics, then suddenly gestured towards a figure in the distance.

How Gadafy came in from the cold
The Guardian, December 20 2003

About the time that United States and Britain went to war to remove the alleged threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they secretly embarked on another project to achieve the same goal in Libya, but by a very different route - that of quiet dip...

Gadafy goes bananas for bananas
The Guardian, September 11 2001

Colonel Muammar Gadafy, the unpredictable Libyan leader, has offered to buy all the bananas grown in the Caribbean, according to officials who visited Tripoli recently.

Bush is Mr Nice Guy, says Gadafy
The Guardian, January 06 2001

George W Bush is a nice man. That's the word on the US president-elect from Libya.

Footballing son is latest Gadafy to drop in on London
September 26 2000

Britain has granted an entry visa to the 26-year-old son of Muammar Gadafy, in a move that shows how much relations have thawed with Libya since sanctions were suspended last year. Next week a British trade mission heads there looking for business.