Libya : A no lie zone

[Peter Lemkin]

What do you mean by "when the people taste freedom"?

Libyans under Gadaffi were some of the most privileged people in the entire African and Arab world, infact, in the entire world. They pretty much had everything.

I think there are only villians in this 'piece'. Gadaffi was a thug [yet, who did do some good things for some African causes] and had a large number of his own citizens in prison, murdered in and out of prison, under surveillance and fearful of the secret police - the typical tyrannt dictator. He lavished money on Sirte and a few favorite persons [as well as on himself]. The average Libyian was above the general levels in Africa, but that is not saying much. The education system had been limited to not encourage any independant thought, but rather the technocrats needed [similar to the USA model of today - but more so]. The citizens could leave and return, but they couldn't criticise. To some extent we do not really know the details. There was propaganda on all sides. Tripoli was fairly well off, the smaller towns were backward. I think the two of you have extreme positions and the truth may well lie in between. Calls for Bill to be removed are really off the mark. He is a respected researcher and decent person, even if you don't agree on this topic. Gadaffi was OUR dictator and it may well turn out [I'm not fully convinced - but see many indications] that we [the US and NATO] got rid of him by proxy. It wouldn't be the first time. While to me it is clear that NATO and US tried to control much after the insurrection broke out, I'm not fully convinced they started it - even if they had conceived of it for some reasons of their own. Clearly, our 'no fly zone' killed as many or more non-combatants as combatants and clearly was not primarily to protect non-combatants. I think it was mixed in Libya, those who would have welcomed a revolution and those who would not. I'm inclined to believe more would have and did, but at first many were afraid, with good reason and kept their silence until the front lines reached them. Others backed Gadaffi. It certainly was not as peaceful as Tunisia nor Egypt and was more complex, internally and with external interference. Time will tell better after the fog of war that still hangs over Libya clears more. IMHO.