I'm not quite as optimistic about Libya as Sirakor.

I've spent a lot of time over the years in Libya, starting in the late 1990s and lasting until my retirement in 2013. I trained aircraft pilots there.

The Libyans, collectively, are wonderful people. There's no problem with that. The problem is that when men become sufficiently passionate about a cause to start taking up arms to advance that cause, things get dangerous for everyone else nearby.

I'm not saying that lightly - I worked for the ICRC for many years, flying an aircraft in the middle of other people's civil wars. Angola, Mozambique, South Sudan, Somalia, Western Sahara, Liberia, Sierra Leone - I lived in all of those countries while the fighting was going on. Even though it was pretty obvious to everyone (because we were the only Caucasians for miles around) that my colleagues and I were neutral in the conflict and only providing humanitarian assistance, combatants made mistakes, and the 'fog of war' sometimes enveloped the non-combatants. I've been shot down, run over land mines, detained at gunpoint, stuff like that, and all that happened even though all the combatants had explicitly provided prior permission for the delivery of humanitarian services.

Would I go to Libya now? No, not at all, even though I know the country well (certainly well enough to drive around without getting lost in most major cities) and even though I have great experience working in the middle of other people's wars.

There are about 250 different countries in the world. At any given time, there are about a dozen of them that a thoughtful person would put on their "no-go for the time being" list. Right now, Libya is one of them.

Michael