In May 2006, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry forecast a split in the seemingly radiant relationship between Libya and the West. “Look for Libya to become more aligned with Iran in the near future,” he warned. “It gave up its weapons of mass destruction, as it leaned toward the West. But that foreign policy is going to change.”

That forecast came to mind last week as I watched footage of the hero’s welcome showered upon Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

Megrahi, the only person ever convicted in the deadly bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released Thursday last week after serving just eight years of a life sentence in a Scottish prison. Upon his release, Megrahi was escorted back home to Libya by the son of Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Qadhafi. A festive atmosphere surrounded his arrival.

And it seems the festivities are only beginning for Megrahi. Citing reports in the Arabic press, numerous Western media outlets reported this week that Megrahi will be a guest of honor during next month’s celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the military coup that swept Qadhafi to power.

Libya’s reaction to Megrahi’s return is revealing.

This accused terrorist was released on “compassionate” grounds, yet his return was not downplayed, or low-key, as you might expect the return of a dying terrorist ought to be. Instead, it was marked by unapologetic celebration, devoid of compassion or respect for the family members of the 270 massacred.

Many people are quick to laud Libya for its positive overtures toward the West in recent years, and Colonel Qadhafi has been praised and rewarded for his apparent repentance. But was Libya’s enthusiastic embrace of Megrahi actually a glimpse at Libya’s true ideological underpinnings? Actions speak louder than words. Libya’s near-worship of a man who had been convicted of terrorism (even if unjustly, as the evidence suggests) is a sober warning: Libya, like Iran, sanctions the actions and ambitions of Islamic terrorism.

On January 24 last year, a bomb ripped through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least 38 people and wounding another 225. Three days later, Associated Press, citing a local Sunni security chief, reported that “a son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi [was] behind [the] group of foreign and Iraqi fighters responsible” for the brutal attack. According to a former al Qaeda cohort, who became a police official in the Anbar province, the attacks were carried out by the Seifaddin Regiment, a group of terrorists supported by Seif al-Islam Qadhafi, the eldest son and likely heir of Muammar.

That the younger Qadhafi’s name was connected to terrorist attacks in Iraq was not surprising. In 2007, in remarks that in the very least condoned, if not promoted, terrorist attacks as a political weapon, he warned Europe that the “only solution to contain radicalism is a rapid departure of Western troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a solution to the Palestinian question.”

In December 2007, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point released a report summarizing a series of al Qaeda documents discovered during a September raid. “What stood out most in the report,” observed Stratfor, “was the growing Libyan component of al Qaeda in Iraq” (Dec. 21, 2007). According to the findings, Libya contributed far more terrorists per capita than any other nation, including Saudi Arabia.

Libya’s warm embrace of Megrahi last week is not really that surprising when you consider its connections to Islamic terrorism in recent years.

It’s also not surprising when you consider its growing relationship with Iran. In December 2007, Iranian Vice President Parvis Davoudi visited Libya in what was the first high-level visit from an Iranian official in 25 years. During the trip, Davoudi met Qadhafi and other senior officials and signed 10 agreements of mutual cooperation in fields ranging from investment and finance to culture and higher education.

According to a Libyan newspaper,

Qadhafi highlighted during the meeting the importance of the existence of good relations between the two countries as well as Iran’s role in the region and the world. Qadhafi said Libya welcomed Iranian businessmen and traders to work in Libya and take part in the huge infrastructural projects that are taking place.The two sides’ cooperation could be extended to other regions … such as African countries as well as countries in Latin America, he said. Expansion of relations between Iran and Libya would open new horizons for both countries, he said.

Perhaps the most interesting comment during the trip came from Libyan Prime Minister El-Mahmoudi. At a press conference after his meeting with Iran’s vice president, he said: “We discussed the issues related to Iraq, Palestine and other issues, and our views are identical on all those issues.”

But compare that with remarks by Libya’s Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam in Washington one month later: “We want a new friendship,” he said, before assuring America that Libya had no interest in backing militant Islam. “Our interpretation of Islamic heritage is completely different from the others who don’t accept the philosophy of coexistence,” he said. Libya’s foreign policy is woefully duplicitous: It swears allegiance to both Iran and the United States. Which statement ought we believe?

Libya’s reaction to Megrahi’s return last week reveals the answer.

It was Qadhafi himself who declared in April 2006, in a speech given in Timbuktu, Mali, that “Mohammad’s faith will conquer all other religions whether they like that or not.” Muslims have America and Europe trapped, he said. They must accept the fact that they will be Muslim in due course because “Islam is the fate of mankind and the faith of humanity.”

Later in the speech, Qadhafi confirmed Libya’s solidarity with its Islamic brothers:

From the Fertile Crescent to the River of Senegal, the tribes of the desert will not engage in a fratricidal war. We shall not carry arms against one another. We live as one family. We protect the desert.

It might sound like a pessimistic forecast, but it’s rooted in reality: Libya as a Western-aligned, peace-loving, nonconfrontational state is merely an enticing mirage shimmering on the North African desert. Libya’s heart lies with Iran.

When Mr. Flurry forecast in 2006 a coming split in relations between Libya and the West, and that Libya would increasingly align itself with Iran, he based his projection on a prophecy in Daniel 11. You can learn about this prophecy in his booklet The King of the South.

But this prophecy is supported by religious and geographic realities as well as historic principles. As Samuel Huntington wrote in his defining book, The Clash of Civilizations: “In coping with identity crisis, what counts for people are blood and belief, faith and family. People [nations] rally to those with similar ancestry, religion, language, values and institutions and distance themselves from those with different ones.” Hence we can expect Libya, in the coming months and years, to reorient itself toward its African and Middle Eastern family.

Libya may project friendship and warmth to America and the West, but as the hero’s welcome showered on Megrahi last week revealed, Libya’s true loyalties lie with Iran, the king of radical Islamic terrorism.