generalspeaking

"Like a Swarm of Locusts or Bees"

It all comes down to perspective. Moammar Gadhafi did not turn into a monster overnight. The Libyan leader was well recognized as being a psychopath. His regime was infamous for its efforts on behalf of international terrorism, and he was a direct sponsor of terrorism at home and abroad. He was inextricably linked to many events whose carnage was brutally aimed directly at those whom he considered worthy of being assaulted.

The petroleum wealth Libya could count on to fund these exploits, as so often reflects what occurs in the Middle East, was acquired chiefly through selling oil to the energy-and-production-hungry nations of Europe. Europe, then, indirectly funded Col. Gadhafi's fixation on instilling fear and wreaking havoc on non-Muslim, liberal democratic countries of the world.

He became an 'ally' of the West when he was finally persuaded, through a sense of perceptive fear with the second invasion of Iraq, to surrender his aspirations to acquire nuclear armaments. And he agreed to compensate the families of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing whose cause and planning was linked to his reign, and whose planner was found guilty and incarcerated in Scotland.

It is undeniable that this man was no more capable of altering his character and his fixation on violence and terrorist acts than a leopard is of losing its hunting instinct. But suddenly the European countries that welcomed him as an honoured guest and treated him as an ally, discovered that he remained, after all, a bloody tyrant when a nascent revolution was raised.

The European Union and the United States lobbied the United Nations to authorize overflight activities to offer protection to the insurgents and the civilian population of southern Libya. The UN obliged, with the proviso that there were to be no NATO troops on the ground, and the mission was for defence of civilians solely.

NATO has since directly and purposefully bombed structures where Gadhafi might be found, and in one instance killed one of his sons and three of his grandchildren. The determination to kill Gadhafi so the insurgent forces can finally be successful after months of pulling back under government onslaughts, is denied, but it is fact.

There is a certain element of another type of reality, almost a justification of the claims by Gadhafi loyalists that Western powers are intent on destroying a Muslim country's government to accord with their own ends when Gadhafi urged NATO to halt its intervention:

"Retreat, you have no chance of beating this brave people. They can attack your homes, your offices and your families, which will become military targets just as you have transformed our offices, headquarters, houses and children into what you regard as legitimate military targets."

From the mouth of a murderous tyrant, even from such a twisted orifice as his, more accustomed to hysterical harangues, sometimes emanates a sense of maniacal justice.

Labels: Africa, Conflict, NATO, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, July 03, 2011