The flag of independent Libya, not Gaddafi's blank green rag
Here at Politics by Other Means, we’ve taken to mocking Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi, Libya’s leader for the past four decades. We made him into a running joke, because taking him seriously seemed futile. How else do you handle a tin-pot psychopath who goes from bombing French civilian aircraft to greeting French civil servants on the Champs Elysees with a camel and 30 virgins?
Thankfully, it looks like this odious goon’s 42-year reign is finally ending. Unfortunately, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, Libya lacks a strong sense of national identity. Gaddafi stayed in power, experts say, by playing divide and conquer with tribes. Even the military is supposedly divided on tribal lines. Tunisia is having enough trouble figuring out what to do after the ouster of Ben Ali. What are the chances for Libya, a state that Italy cobbled together from three Ottoman provinces, to build a stable and benign regime to succeed Gaddafi? (and talk about bad luck—having Italy as your colonizer!)
Nobody knows who or what will replace the discredited tyrannies collapsing across the Middle East. Nevertheless, the Libyan people, like the Tunisians and Egyptian before them, are declaring that the fear of the known is worse than the fear of the unknown. We stand with them, and hope that out of this struggle they can build a new Libya based on freedom and justice.
Thankfully, it looks like this odious goon’s 42-year reign is finally ending. Unfortunately, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, Libya lacks a strong sense of national identity. Gaddafi stayed in power, experts say, by playing divide and conquer with tribes. Even the military is supposedly divided on tribal lines. Tunisia is having enough trouble figuring out what to do after the ouster of Ben Ali. What are the chances for Libya, a state that Italy cobbled together from three Ottoman provinces, to build a stable and benign regime to succeed Gaddafi? (and talk about bad luck—having Italy as your colonizer!)
Nobody knows who or what will replace the discredited tyrannies collapsing across the Middle East. Nevertheless, the Libyan people, like the Tunisians and Egyptian before them, are declaring that the fear of the known is worse than the fear of the unknown. We stand with them, and hope that out of this struggle they can build a new Libya based on freedom and justice.
