Ghadaffi: Not going gently into the night

—Are you suggesting the colonel committed suicide? —That was what it seemed to me- a needless and pointless waste of lives- his own, a number of his children and all the others on his side in the battle, and those on the NTC side. And all to what end?  To hold on to a position […]

—Are you suggesting the colonel committed suicide?

—That was what it seemed to me- a needless and pointless waste of lives- his own, a number of his children and all the others on his side in the battle, and those on the NTC side. And all to what end?  To hold on to a position that had all but evaporated as soon as the first Libyan jumped into the street shouting, down with Ghadaffi and let’s crucify him.

—Has it not occurred to you that that may be the way he wanted it- ‘’not to go gently into the night’’ as Dylan Thomas said? Remember he came to power in the same dramatic way in 1969 when he overthrew King Idris and he danced off the stage in the same dramatic manner, only this time megalomaniacal. Some would say he ended it in the same courageous way as he had started it, fighting to the end with a golden gun in his grasp. After all, what point was there in abandoning the pomp and pageantry that attended his life as head of state by walking away and live like Ben Ali and Mubarak – constantly dragged to court caged and in chains and made to account for all the monies they helped themselves to, which would have been his lot if he hadn’t taken the course he took?

—Well, at least they are alive- who knows a year or two down the road Ali and Mubarak may be walking the streets as free men and enjoying their loots. Tunisians have just voted for the first time in many years and they are enthused about it, for them Ben Ali would soon become a bad dream. As for Egypt, the military has effectively put out the feverish revolutionary fervor that unseated Mubarak, General Tantawi and his colleagues are safely ensconced in the saddle and they do not seem to enjoy being told to expedite the democratic process. But wait a minute; the colonel was not all gallantry to the end. According to accounts, he was ferreted out from his dug -out bunker, cowering in a disheveled state and begging the revenge- seeking, murderous mob to spare his life. That was not gallantry, neither was it courageous act. It was cowardice writ large.  What was the point then of all the garrulous verbiage that Tripoli streets would flow with blood of his enemies? Empty but costly braggadocio, that was what it has turned out to be.

—Now, that is not entirely correct and you know it. Were it not for the support given to the rebels, sorry the rag- tag army of the opposition, now the new ruling elite, the colonel would still have been calling the shots in Libya. It is the reason why many people see the whole thing as an orchestrated campaign by the West to unseat the colonel through fanning the embers of social and political unrest on the ground and then supporting it with their lethal and ferocious weapons of war. As soon as NATO stepped in with their weapons, everyone new the colonel’s days were numbered. And it gave vent to all kinds of conspiracy theories of a renewed empire building aspirations on the part of the West. Just wait, as soon as events settle down the Libyans would be presented with a long bill of what it cost to get rid of the colonel which would be paid for with oil under the desert sand.

—A point of correction. The world is not that lawless any more you know. NATO did not just start the bombings on its own volition, remember it was invited into Libya by the Arab League to avoid a pogrom and genocide which the colonel had threatened when the Libyans copied the Tunisians and rioted in Bengazi.  Anyway, the United Nations also voted in favour of intervention.

—Those fellows in the Arab League- they are lackeys of the West and drunk with their wine. Why didn’t they invite NATO to sort out Syria where, according to their media the real killings are taking place? They’ve since found out it was a mistake to have invited the West and its war machine because when the smoke and the dusts clear, we would realise Libya has been taken 50 years back.  All the beautiful edifices the colonel built with the oil money have been reduced to rubble and it will take rebuilding cities and towns from scratch. And by whom?  Western businessmen, who would come scrambling indecently for the reconstruction contracts of Libya. There, you see the real reason for the war?

—On whose side are you now—that of the Libyan people or the colonel?

—No one, am just tired of seeing the African continent being continually raped by the rapacious West on one pretext or the other.

—You have to be on the side of one. The way you have been going on it is obvious you are supporting the colonel and this means you are against the Libyan people. A man has ruled for 40 something years and when his people say enough, he took offence and proceeded to threaten them. A stronger force said you cannot do that… kill your own people and go free. No, I don’t see anything wrong in trying to protect the weak.

—Don’t try to make me into a Ghaddaffi apologist. What I mean is that something should be done to the West preening around ransacking anywhere they like. It was Iraq, now it is Libya only God knows where else next.

—Then our rulers must behave themselves. They shoot themselves or better still, they rig themselves into power and proceed to sit-tight for decades while at the same time stealing the place blind. By doing so, they have unwittingly invited a stronger power to intercede on behalf of the people, never mind its ulterior motive. As for your fears about the external force, digging in and staying put, they now know better than to do that. As soon as they accomplish their task they go back home. Recall that the Libyans before Gaddaffi chased out the Italians. It will happen again if the need arises.