Libya and the United States

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Alan Johnston introduces personal insights, reflections and analysis from correspondents around the world. In this edition, Andrew Hosken reflects on the chances for a new Libya swimming in ammunition and weaponry, while Christine Finn recalls taking a memorable Greyhound bus journey in the US soon after 9/11. Trigger happy? Libyans have suffered many kinds of shortages in the course of their revolution. We've heard of food and water, medicine and electricity being scarce. But right now, there's certainly no shortage of ammunition. How often have we seen grinning young rebels firing streams of bullets into the air - celebrating? But 'celebratory gunfire', as it's been called, is a dangerous habit. And as Andrew Hosken explains, the new Libyan leadership would like to bring to an end. Soaring American dreams brought to ground It's often said that some news stories are so big, so momentous, that you'll always remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard them. For most of us, 9/11 was surely one such story. Christine Finn will never forget where she was as the details of the attacks emerged. She found herself trying to follow events as she rolled through America on a Greyhound bus - and struck up an unexpected rapport with many of the people she met.