Libya has been in the headlines before

Libya is the latest Arab country to be roiled by street protests demanding democracy, and President Obama yesterday demanded the resignation of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy (or Qaddafi or Gaddafi, depending on the current translation of Arabic script). Unlike Tunisia and some other Arab nations, Libya has been a fairly regular fixture in U.S. news over the past 30 years.

How quickly we forget ... or push once-volatile fixations to the back of our mind. A 1981 confrontation between U.S. Navy jets and Libyan fighters over the Gulf of Sidra was one of the first demonstrations of President Reagan's forceful use of military power. Khadafy claimed the Gulf of Sidra, a large section of the Mediterranean Sea, as Libya's territorial waters. The United States and other countries refused to recognize the claim, and U.S. Navy vessels continued to patrol the area. Khadafy sent Soviet-built fighter jets to confront U.S. patrols flying off of an aircraft carrier in the gulf. The confrontation, later portrayed in the popular movie "Top Gun," ended quickly with two Libyan aircraft at the bottom of the Gulf of Sidra.

But Khadafy wasn't through. The bombing of a disco in Germany, which resulted in the deaths of two U.S. servicemen, was traced to Libyan agents. In retaliation, Reagan ordered a bombing raid on Libya, targeting one of Khadafy's homes. Later still, the December 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland was traced to Libya, and Libya ultimately offered compensation to victims' families.

After Libya renounced its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003 and appeared to be eager to be accepted among the community of civilized nations, the oil-rich desert nation, which had been the scene of World War II tank battles in the allies' North Africa campaign, faded from America's attention. (And let's not forget that Libya caused a political stir in the late 1970s when presidential brother Billy Carter was required to register as an agent of the Libyan government.) But with demands for democracy now filling Libyan streets, the seemingly least fragile of all Arab dictatorships is teetering. Khadafy, who took over the country in a bloodless military coup in 1969, has demonstrated his ruthlessness by attacking peaceful demonstrators with heavy weapons even as his ministers and diplomats have renounced him.

Whether Khadafy will go the way of Mubarak and other Arab dictators is not yet known, but his reaction to the protests has reminded Americans of the unpredictable nature of this long-time adversary. Khadafy seems determined to retain control at any cost, and that determination could mean years of civil war and the destruction of the Libyan economy.