The Rise and Fall of Libyan Leader Moammar Gaddafi - Term Paper Example

The Libyan Revolution Muammar Gaddafi gained a position among the most cruel and cunning dictators of the world; ranging from Stalin, Hitler and Napoleon. The so-called revolutionary leader controlled the oil-rich Libya for a period of forty-two years. However, as the ‘Arab Spring’ swept across Middle East, the foundations of Gaddafi’s kingdom shook, and he met a fall that befits a dictator. Admittedly, the fall of Gaddafi was the end of a four decade long dictatorship that impoverished and tortured a population. The real Gaddafi explored Gaddafi was one of the most eccentric and unpredictable personalities among the world rulers. He was rightly termed ‘mad dog’ for the recklessness he kept throughout his dictatorship. As MacFarquhar reports, on the one hand, he allied himself with George W. Bush and pretended to share intelligence on al-Qaeda. On the other hand, Qaddafi’s compound in Tripoli shows old posters ‘Down, Down USA’. On the other hand, he admired and supported bloodthirsty monarchs around the world. To illustrate, the most-dreaded Idi Amin of Uganda and the former Liberian President Charles Taylor enjoyed support and active aid from Gaddafi. In order to fulfill his desire of a united Arab belt across the African Sahel, he nurtured various Arab and Islamist groups. Thus, in the international arena, Gaddafi was a man with various faces, and a man to be dreaded. His ability to sit on two chairs at the same time became evident when it was found that Libya was behind the 1986 nightclub killing. This resulted in retaliatory air strikes by the US. However, Gaddafi again showed his true colors by blowing up a Pan American Flight, killing 270 people on board. However, America’s ruthless attack on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq warned Gaddafi of imminent hardships, and he changed his position soon. As Petrau reports, the skilled dictator claimed that his nation was progressing with a chemical and nuclear weapon program. Then he declared his willingness to end the same for world peace. That was sufficient to ensure cooperation from the West and a number of oil contracts followed. As Finn reports, this unpredictable and crooked nature of Gaddafi was pointed out by Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya. He points out that Gaddafi used unpredictability to keep his enemies off balance. Gaddafi and Libya – the self-posed revolutionist Gaddafi was a man who was cunning enough to deceive a population by exploiting them in the name of socialism. It was at the age of 27 that he arranged a coup to end monarchic rule in Libya in 1969. Though he declared that his revolutionary government would bring socialism instead of capitalism, he only introduced dictatorship by manipulating the political system. Also, in order to ensure proper support for his rule, he supported and armed various bloody organizations including the African guerrilla groups and the Irish Republican Army. A look into the situation in Libya after his four decades of rule shows that the place does not have any signs of a government: no parliament, no unified military command, no political parties, no unions, no civil society and no non-governmental organizations. The interesting fact is that he managed all this in sharp contradiction with his declaration in The Green Book- the political tract he prepared- that “In the era of the masses, power is in the hands of the people themselves and leaders disappear forever” (Anderson) . Admittedly, Tripoli and Libya will not so easily get away from the haunting memories of the terror unleashed by the cruel dictator. In order to ensure that no one raises hands against him, he ensured shocking violence to terrorize Libyans. To illustrate, the 1970s and 1980s witnessed people getting interrogated in Kangaroo courts which were set up even on soccer fields and basketball courts. The scenes of the terror were televised to make sure that Libyans understand the consequences of opposition. In addition, a large number of students and other political party members were arrested and executed by Gaddafi during 1970s. It was done to ensure that political parties disappear from Libya. In addition, in 1976, he authorized his Revolutionary Committees to suppress university students who oppose his regime. Thus, arrests and public executions of students became common. In fact, Gaddafi’s atrocities towards his people did not confine to the boundaries of Libya. He chased Libyan dissidents in foreign nations and killed there. To illustrate, Mohamed M. Ramadan was killed by Gaddafi operatives in London on 11 April 1980. He was a journalist and announcer at BBC. Gaddafi did not allow his relatives to bury his body in Libya (“April victims of the Gaddafi..”). One such execution is reported by The Australian dated 14 March 2011. Sadek was a student who had his education in the U.S and came back to Libya to do post graduation. During his study abroad, he used to conduct forums about the future of Libya under Gaddafi. On his return, he was detained by Gaddafi’s police. On 6 June 1984, nearly 6000 students including primary to university students were told that Gaddafi was going to address them. Buses took the students to the Suliman al-Darat Sports Hall in Benghazi. In front of all the students, Sadek was hanged without a proper trial. As he was not dead, he was taken to hospital and injected poison. Finally, doctors had to push down his throat a sand-filled sock to kill him. In order to ensure that the whole Libya views this, the killing was televised three times a day (Lyons). Another such brutality was the killing in Buslim prison in Tripoli on 29 June 1996. In the prison, most prisoners were political prisoners. They started agitation for better food, sanitation and access to lawyers. As Gaddafi was not ready to let political opponents raise voice, he ordered his officers to start killing recklessly. Police officers started firing with machine guns, and the result was the death of nearly 1200 prisoners and some guards. Another important point is the high degree of eccentricity he exhibited. To illustrate, he suggested that all Libyans should raise chickens in an effort to raise self-sufficiency. Evidently, it is not plausible to raise chickens in apartments. What happened is that people ate chickens and used the cages as dish racks. Another important weakness of Gaddafi was his group of female bodyguards. No one knows if they were better than male guards. Still, they enjoyed a higher profile in Libya than any other person. However, according to Gaddafi, women were not equal to men. Gaddafi wanted to consolidate his power in Libya. So, he eliminated or isolated all other members of the Revolutionary Command Council. Strikes were punishable by imprisonment and news reports had to be authorized. Also, illegal political activity was a crime punishable by death. Thus, any movement against the atrocities of Gaddafi could result in death. It was in this total uncertainty about success that protests erupted in Libya. The Arab Spring- the end of dictatorship in Middle East The Arab Spring began on 17 December 2010 in Tunisia. Soon, the fire spread to nations like Egypt and Libya. The civil uprising was the outward expression of the frustration people felt under the dictators. The protests in the beginning were not as violent as the response from the governments. In Libya the civil unrest began on 14 November 2010 in Bayda in the form of a minor clash between protesters and police. However, by 15 February 2011, there was widespread protest against Gaddafi government. Gaddafi was not ready to give up. He tried to suppress the agitation by using elite troops and mercenaries. However, protestors, with the support of United Nations, successfully captured Gaddafi strongholds and killed him. Many of his officials ran away to Libyan Desert and other surrounding countries. Gaddafi was a man who believed that the whole Libya belonged to him and those who opposed the dictatorship were ‘cockroaches’. Though the protest in Libya was rather peaceful in the beginning, Gaddafi’s police responded with massacre as he always did. However, people were not ready to give up. When Gaddafi noted the imminent danger, he ordered his troops to search house by house and ‘cleanse’ them. That means he was ready to kill even the last citizen of Libya to retain his power. Admittedly, it was the support from NATO that enabled the National Transitional Council to achieve its aim of dethroning Gaddafi. As Gaddafi’s force unleashed extreme brutality with lethal weapons, the protestors had to retreat a number of times. However, with the help of sensible NATO air strikes and support, the protestors managed to withstand the attack (Libya Civil War (2011). Thus, Gaddafi became the first dictator who was killed in the Arab Spring. The cleverness he exhibited in keeping others in vacuum led to his own end. In order to appease the Arab tribes, he engaged in anti-West activities, and to please the West, he joined hands in the anti-terrorism initiatives by giving details on al-Qaeda to the West. In order to enjoy absolute power, he made social and political enemies and suppressed civilians. That means there was practically no one who really wanted to have Gaddafi in power. Thus, when a suitable time came, all the enemies were happy hunting Gaddafi down. There were Western forces, tribal forces and civilians. All wanted Gaddafi down; though for different reasons. Works Cited Anderson, Jon Lee. King of Kings The New Yorker, 2011. Web % May 2012 “April victims of the Gaddafi regime”. Human rights violations in Libya. Web 5 May 2012 Finn, Peter. The rise and fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. The Washington Post, Web 5 May 2012 Lyons, John. Awful journey into the mind of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, The Australian News, 2011. Web 5 May 2012 Libya Civil War (2011). Global Security. Org. Web 5 May 2012 MacFarquhar, Neil. An erratic leader, brutal and defiant to the end. The New York Times, 2011. Web 5 May 2012 Petrou, Michael. The demise of Moammar Gadhafi. MACLEANS.CA, 2011. Web 5 May 2012 Read More