I first heard of the country called Libya when I was 10 years old. That was when American F-14 shot down two Libyan Su-22 over the Gulf of Sidra. The country and Colonel Gaddafi (already the leader of Libya at that time), were soon forgotten since I was too young to understand the geopolitics of the world.
When I heard of Libya again, it was when the United States bombed it in 1986. I wasn’t really aware of the reason behind that until years later, but the fact that F-111 fighter bombers flew all the way from England around the Straits of Gibraltar to bomb Libya was nothing short of amazing to a 15 year-old. The reason was that the military history books which I had taken a fancy of at that time portrayed the flight of bombers from England to Germany in World War II as an impressive feat on its own. It was also the first time I was exposed to the weaponry like HARM (High Speed Anti-Radiation Missles) and AGM-65 Tactical Air-to-Ground Missile etc.
Since then, Colonel Gaddafi is nothing more than another crackpot Arab dictator which I had a low impression of. After all, whenever I heard of the country again it was always related to some anti-Israel rhetoric, atrocities like the Lockerbie bombing or United Nation sanctions. Over the years I even discovered that Gaddafi is afraid of heights, and he refused to stay in high rise buildings and refused to take a flight for more than a certain number of hours. Thus, Libya is not only a pariah which failed to behave accordingly in the modern world, its leader Gaddafi is a wussy!
When the United Nations lifted the sanctions on Libya in 2003, it came as a surprise to me. In my opinion, this was a shameless political deal. Libya was providing counter-terrorism intelligence to MI6 and the CIA in the aftermath of 9-11 and now it suddenly became as an ally of the West in the so-called “War on Terror”. All the crimes against humanity committed by the Gaddafi and his regime were seemingly forgotten (if not forgiven) and I wondered whether Gaddafi will ever get his just deserts. This simply added to my already low opinion of the UN as a useless organisation not only incapable of dealing with the issues between countries and the world, but nothing more than a rubber stamp to legitimise the actions of Western (in particular American) neo-Imperialism.
Then came the “Jasmine Revolution” which swept rapidly across the Arab world. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria were all caught. I thought things in Libya will become a long drawn out affair like that of Syria and Yemen (which are still ongoing). In fact, I was expecting the rebellion to be brutally crushed and the remnants of the rebels Libyan National Liberation Army to scatter to the four winds and prosecute a long, drawn out guerilla war against Gaddafi’s regime. I didn’t take into account how quickly France led the West in turning against Gaddafi, declared a no fly zone over Libya and then attacked his forces with air strikes. It is of no wonder Gaddafi’s regime to collapse like a house of cards, since this was like someone binding you in ropes and then putting you into a boxing ring with an opponent.
Gaddafi was captured and summarily executed by forces opposing his regime on 20th Oct 2011. Just like Saddam Hussein, the bitter end of Gaddafi was captured on video by a mobile phone. The video showed the once haughty leader being beaten in public while he begged for mercy. There were some reports that he was also sexually abused with bayonets, guns and cylindrical objects shoved into his anus before he was killed. I bet no one would pursue the matter on bringing those who tortured and executed him to trial for a war crime.
Comparatively, even though Saddam Hussein was executed after a show trial, he died a more “dignified” death. Not that I have any respect for Saddam, but at least he was clearly made of sterner stuff compared to Gaddafi. Saddam didn’t flinch before his executioners and he remained unrepentant to the very end.
Those who are pro-West will celebrate the death of Gaddafi and the collapse of his regime to be victory of the self determination of the Libyan people. Unfortunately, the reality is more than that. It simply demonstrates that there is no true self determination for any other country with a value system different from the West. Granted, the likes of Saddam and Gaddafi are plundering their own country’s riches and stashing them away in private coffers, but the same can almost be said for Wall Street and it is not like there aren’t pro-West leaders who are doing the same while the West turn a blind eye to that.
In the world of neo-Imperialism, where the right to reason and opinion is often dominated by the West, my bet on the next victim would be Iran as there is now rumors of preparations to attack Iran’s nuclear facility. I also wondered what other plots would be thrown at the cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who has survived several political plots which included referendums and military coups.
Anyway, I don’t mourn nor sympathise with Gaddafi. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
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