ITV story on how Gaddafi troops terrorize children

Once a self-declared “King of Kings”, Gaddafi is now reportedly ready for a more modest title

As Mr Zuma reflects on the empty promises by Gaddafi of a ceasefire he never honored and elections he always mocked, he should be reminded of what had happened to his compatriot, the late Anton Hammerl. For weeks, Gaddafi had assured the South African president that Mr Hammerl, a photojournalist who had come to cover the Battle for Libya, was alive and well. It later turned out that he had been cold-bloodedly shot by pro-Gaddafi militias and left to die in the desert.

Strange as it may sound, Gaddafi, who lately has been under serious investigation by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Libya, is quoted ready to extend amnesty to his victims. He has even gone to the extent of promising his people a constitution, albeit only half-heartedly. In a speech delivered this past March to celebrate his day of “People’s Authority”, Gaddafi declared for the first time in 42 years that yes, they can have a constitution. “It is not a big deal”, he added. Sensing that winds have now changed, the beleaguered leader has been sending out a series of balloon statements, initially through his sons and more recently through his prime minister. The statements suggest that the once self-declared absolute “King of Kings” may now be ready to settle for a more modest figurehead title, like the Queen of England or even the Emperor of Japan. Gaddafi’s motives are of course deceivingly simple, relieve the mounting international pressure, ride out the current wave and wait for another day to reassert his grip on power and keep it in the family.

Most Libyans will tell you they were repeatedly exposed to false promises by Gaddafi in the past, so they are unlikely to be won by a sudden and wolfish change of heart. For well over four decades of heavy-handed rule, Gaddafi has used every trick under his hat to keep power. He has built a regime feeding on terror, corruption and tribalism. Early on in his rule, he dismissed the ideas of elections and representative government, abolished the constitution and ruthlessly crushed all forms of opposition and civil society. In its place, he invented an Orwellian police state and a unique political system he coined “Jamahiriya”, which literally means “State of the Masses”. On the surface, Gaddafi is quick to assure you that he holds no official position in this Jamahiriya, which he calls paradise and that the government of the people is run by the people themselves. In reality however, it has been anything but that. Most Libyans will tell you that Gaddafi has designed this system so that he alone can call the shots. Early on in his rule and in a bid to consolidate power, Gaddafi also moved to destroy the national army, considered a potential threat to his rule. In its place, he formed family-run private militias overseen by some of his own sons. It is these militias, supported by a network of Gestapo-style revolutionary committees and foreign mercenaries that he now finds handy to terrorize whole cities and towns across Libya. The bill of course is being paid for by the victims themselves. 

For many years, most Libyans have lived in poverty and have watched their oil-rich country fall into decadence and sheer neglect while sons of the Beloved Leader were throwing millions of dollars on New Year’s parties at exotic Caribbean clubs and elsewhere.  Faced with mounting dissent at home, Gaddafi gave repeated promises to distribute oil revenues directly to the Libyan people, only to go back on his words. As dissent turned to jokes about government lies and corruption, he invented a program of mock wealth distribution, which amounted to no more than selective meager handouts, tied to loyalty to his regime.

While Libyans have been suffering for many years in silence under Gaddafi, recent unrest in Libya and the gruesome acts of the regime finally drew attention of the rest of the world. Gaddafi answered his fellow citizens call for freedom by unleashing a ruthless terror campaign against them, using his powerful arsenal of heavy weapons. Entire cities and towns were surrounded and indiscriminately shelled. Daily war crimes have been and continue to be committed by his militias and mercenaries, including acts of cold-blooded murder, rape and the use of cluster bombs and mines against innocent civilians. In a strategy of collective punishment, electricity, water and communication lines have been cut, water wells poisoned and looting encouraged.  When Misrata proved difficult to subdue and pushed back  his militias despite their superior arms and despite the sustained barrage of heavy shelling over many weeks, Gaddafi played his last and favorite card,  tribalism.  In a taped audio message, he incited the neighboring town of Ben Waleed to attack  Misrata on his behalf but failed in his attempt. Ben Walid has chosen to side with Misrata  and the revolution.

These days, a quick scan of Gaddafi’s daily media reveals an isolated and bankrupt regime in total disarray. To rally support for his crumbling regime, Gaddafi is finding himself appealing to a ragtag herd of semi-literate Imams and tribal elders. As notorious for committing crimes and then blaming others for them as he is known to be, Gaddafi is denying responsibility for any wrongdoing. Interestingly, as atrocities multiplied and the sheer size of destruction and human suffering has become impossible to deny,  the regime is now starting to acknowledge, even if still only whispering, that “yes, gross mistakes may have been committed in Misrata and elsewhere, but it is the other side who is to blame. Our Beloved Leader could have never ordered such atrocities”. Just in case the International Criminal Court rules otherwise, Gaddafi and his close circle of accomplices should of course face justice, for only when justice is served can the wounds of Libya finally heal.

The new Libya I dream of calls for more toll, sweat & wisdom

While the rest of the Arab World is also facing dictators and fighting for change, it is probably safe to say that Gaddafi represents the worst of the bunch. Not only has he been a model for ruthlessness and excessive terror, but he also suffers from a large dose of megalomania and self-worship. Worse still, in his bid to cling to power, he has dedicated his long and heavy-handed rule to establishing a system feeding on terror, corruption, poverty and tribalism.

Early on in his dictatorial rule, Gaddafi adopted a strategy of mass terror, as an effective instrument to secure his grip on power. Students and activists alike were persecuted and public hangings of regime opponents were orchestrated and televised on numerous occasions to promote a climate of fear across Libya. Civil society in all its forms was always discouraged and the forming of political parties, NGOs and trade unions was banned.

Promoting corruption went hand in hand with promoting fear to serve the regime. Loyalty replaced competence as a prerequisite for high-level government jobs, favors and scholarships. Education was systematically destroyed to promote ignorance. Early on in his rule, Gaddafi understood that the overly-simplistic political and voodoo economic thoughts laid down in his tiny Green Book would appear more convincing to an illiterate or semi-literate youth than to someone with a good education. English as a foreign language was dropped from school curricula for many years and books were banned.

Fueling corruption was an economy solely based on the oil curse, which was grossly abused by the regime. A strategy of buying loyalty for cash was put in place. Vast sums were vainly spent on grand schemes and failing military and political ambitions. The rest was diverted to personal gain benefiting the regime and those who supported it. There was absolutely no accountability and no government oversight. Worse, there was neither the capacity nor the interest on the part of Gaddafi to modernize the economy and diversify it away from its vulnerable commodity-base state, which persists to this day. As a result, unemployment has skyrocketed, the infrastructure is in shambles and poverty is strikingly prevalent in the oil-rich country.

For Gaddafi, tribalism also went hand in hand as a useful tool, conveniently used to divide and rule. Even as people were striving to rise above old tribal lines and aspiring to build a modern civil society, Gaddafi was working hard to recreate old and when necessary invent new tribal divisions.

Once Gaddafi disappears from the scene, the New Libya will have to undo all negative ills entrenched by the dictator and embark on the difficult task of rebuilding whatever he had destroyed. The new Libya I dream of is one where fear is replaced by freedom and respect for basic rights, where all citizens feel their country belongs to them and where justice is balanced with national reconciliation. The Libya I dream of is a modern, civil and secular state, where religious freedom and freedom of expression are cherished concepts and racism is not tolerated. The Libya I dream of is one which elects its government based on competence and integrity rather than tribalism and cronyism, a government with a credible program to eradicate poverty, stamp out corruption and reduce bureaucracy, a government able to diversify our economy away from the oil curse and assure a fair distribution of wealth, a government which is held accountable and can be dismissed by the people when it does not deliver. The new Libya would be one where separation of powers, transparency, equal opportunities and a neutral military are assured. The new Libya would be one, which aligns itself with the young revolutions of the Arab World, integrates its development programs with theirs and learns from the experience of the rest of the world. The new Libya I dream of is a country where good education, science and technology, vocational training, youth programs and gender equality are valued and taken seriously and where self-expression, creativity, diversity and culture are cherished.

In his first speech after becoming war prime minister, Winston Churchill said that he had “nothing to offer but blood, toll, tears and sweat”. By all accounts, this was a bold statement by a visionary, which came in the darkest hour of Britain when Europe and other parts of the world were facing a ferocious war campaign by Hitler and his allies. Seventy years later, Libya is finding itself in a similar situation. Its own dictator, in a bid for power and personal glory, has unleashed his military machinery, paid for by the Libyan people, to crush their genuine aspirations for freedom and democracy. The immediate goal for the Libyan revolution is of course to achieve victory against this tyrant, serve justice and heal the country. Granted, this is still work in progress and in itself a difficult and daunting task. It has cost Libyan blood and suffering and engaged concerted international efforts that Libyans gracefully acknowledge. However, defeating the dictator and uprooting his rotten regime will only be a partial victory. Building a New Libya from the ruins of the old one is an even more difficult and daunting task, but nevertheless essential to achieve full victory. This will call not only for more toll, tears and sweat but also for a demonstration of unity and wisdom by no other than the Libyans themselves.

Gaddafi in 1996: I want to work for the CIA!

Psychologist traces Gaddafi rape victims in Libya

Gaddafileaks by Monatov

Gaddafi's Ministry of Truth

In his reaction to a recent NATO bombing, Moussa Ibrahim, Gaddafi’s cousin and as of now "Minister of Truth”,  said that one of the buildings hit was an anti-corruption office where files implicating members of the newly formed Transitional National Council,  were being kept.  Thanks to him, we now know why Libya was always rated at the bottom of the corruption index by Transparency International.

The ministry of Truth is of course not a Gaddafi invention. Before him, “Big Brother”, the famous George Orwell character in “1984”, knew of its virtues and methodically practiced it. However, it may be so that Gaddafi is now raising it to new dimensions. As the rebellion swept Libya and the regime struggled to contain it, Gaddafi kept assuring the world that all Libyans loved him and that he was only facing a handful of Al-Qaeda elements aided by drugged and hallucinated kids. Many in the Arab World joked that their people may need some of those hallucination drugs that Gaddafi was talking about.  Addressing Libyans in one of his recent ramblings about prospects for him leaving office, Gaddafi reiterated his standard reply that he has not held any office in Libya since 1977 and that if he did, he would have thrown his resignation in their faces.  Before finishing his speech however, he threatened to crush all opposition “rats” challenging his rule, alley by alley or “Zanga-Zanga”, as he famously put it.

There was also the episode of an earlier NATO bombing of one of Gaddafi’s command and control centers in Tripoli. Again, according to the ministry of truth, one of his sons, Saif Al-Arab and three grandchildren were presumably killed.  Now, Saif Al-Arab is a shady character and not a lot is known about him. This much we know about him from Spiegel. In 2006, he was living in Munich and reportedly scuffled with a night club bouncer for forcibly removing his girlfriend who was stripping on the dance floor. Despite the orchestrated funeral, many Libyans refuse to buy the story, discrediting it as simply a ploy by Gaddafi to misinform and attract sympathy from his followers.   In the aftermath of the raid ordered by Reagan on his headquarters in Tripoli in 1986, Gaddafi had thrown out a similar story about an adopted daughter, claiming she was killed. Even then, many people did not believe it.

As NATO intensified its air campaign against his heavy armor, Gaddafi resorted to a new tactic, using troops in civilian cars, pickup trucks and buses.  In order to camouflage his military moves, his ministry of truth started drumming up stories about busloads of tribal leaders and imams, allegedly on “peace missions” to cities and towns out of government control.  Not long before, the regime  was threatening to annihilate these very cities, in particular Benghazi and Misrata for daring to fight for freedom. As his command and control capacity took a severe blow by NATO, Gaddafi had to  resort to coded messages to contact his field units.  The state Libyan TV, mouthpiece of his ministry of truth, delivered these under the guise of voodoo magic sessions performed by a certain Dr Shakeer, a familiar and loathed public face of the regime.

Since he came to office, Gaddafi occasionally took liberty to deliver other statements of truth, even if they were not always easy to authenticate.  In order to convince simple Libyans that they enjoyed democracy, he claimed the Greek word somehow had to do with similarly sounding Arabic words which imply “sitting on chairs”.  He also went on record claiming that the name Obama actually came from the  Arabic name Abu Omama and that the word "desert"  somehow refers to his hometown Sirte. Last but not least, he claimed that long ago, a certain Sheikh Zubeir had emigrated to England to become  known as no less than  the  famous Shakespeare.

Heroes of Libyan western mountains defend border crossing

الحاجة رجعة اسماعيل أم الثوار في اجدابيا

Old man surrounded & mishandled by Gaddafi thugs

مصير الثورة الليبية مرتبط بقراءة في تاريخ الثورات

التاريخ  الحديث مليىء بتجارب ثورات قامت ضد أحكام طاغية  لكن البعض منها نجح والبعض الآخر فشل  في تحقيق آمال شعوبها ولابد للثورة الليبية من قراءة كل الملابسات التي أدت إلى نجاح أو فشل هذه الثورات أو تلك في برنامجها حتى لاتقع في المحظور وفي مايلي بعض الأمثلة:

1.       الثورة الأمريكية استفادت من موجة التنوير الفكري الذي اجتاح أوروبا متمثلا في أفكار جون لوك و جان جاك روسو ومونت سيكيو وغيرهم و توجت  هذه الثورة بإعلان وثيقة الإستقلال عن انجلترا  سنة 1776 وبعد ذلك بإعلان الدستور ووثيقة الحقوق وقد تميزت هذه الثورة باعتماد التسامح الديني و وضع القوة العسكرية تحت إمرة السلطة المدنية وتغليب المصلحة العامة على المصلحة الخاصة كما أنها حظيت بقيادة أشخاص لم يسعوا إلى الكسب الشخصي فقد رفض جورج واشنطن أن يتقاضى راتبا لنفسه  مقابل قيادته لجيش التحرير  ضد الجيش الإنجليزي ولا مقابل توليه منصب رئيس الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية فيما بعد مما أعطى مثلا أعلى يحتذى به. الجدير بالذكر أن هذه الثورة مرت بصعوبات في بدايتها لا تختلف كثيرا عما تواجهه الثورة الليبية بما في ذلك اعتمادها على جبش مدني كانت تنقصه الخبرة و التدريب و  كذلك السلاح والتمويل وقد لجأ قادة الثورة الأمريكية إلى طلب المساعدة من فرنسا وغيرها من الدول الأوروبية لسد هذا النقص.

2.       الثورة الفرنسية انطلقت بهجوم العامة على حصن الباستيل وتحرير المساجين سنة 1789 وقد تأثرت بالثورة الأمريكية وكذلك أفكار التنوير المنتشرة آنذاك في أوروبا و كانت ردا شعبيا على الظروف الإقتصادية المتهاوية واستبدلت نظام الحكم الملكي و الإقطاعي و الكنيسي  في فرنسا بنظام جمهوري وبرلمان شعبي أثار سخط وتخوف الملكيات الإقطاعية في أوروبا.  لكن سرعان ما تحولت شعارات"الحرية والعدالة والأخوة" إلى حكم دموي يقوده روبسبيير الذي اعتمد سياسة المقصلة والتي راح ضحيتها الملك لويس السادس عشر نفسه الذي كان قد أسند الثورة الأمريكية ومن بعده آلاف الضحايا في ما عرف بسنوات الرعب. في الوقت نفسه ازدادت الأوضاع الإقتصادية سوءا وتعرضت فرنسا الجديدة لحملات خارجية مما أدى إلى سنوات من  الحروب والفوضى  انتهت باستيلاء نابليون بونابارت على مقاليد الأمور في البلاد.

3.       الثورة الرومانية  انطلقت باحتجاجات تيمشوارا ضد حكم الدكتاتور نيكولا شاوسسكو في نهاية سنة  1989 وسرعان ما انتقلت إلى العاصمة بوخارست حيث تم الزحف على قصر شاوسسكو وزوجته اللذين سرعان ما فرا على متن طائرة مروحية ما أن حطت بهما حتى تم اعتقالهما ومن ثم إعدامهما بعد محاكمة صورية سريعة وتجدر الإشارة هنا أن القذافي علق آنذاك على أحداث رومانيا  ناعيا صديقه الدكتاتور ومحذرا الشعب الليبي من مغبة أية محاولة شبيهة ووعد بسحقها  و سرعان ما سرقت هذه الحركة الشعبية والعفوية في رومانيا  من قبل فلول الحكم الشيوعي المخلوع تحت ما سمي بجبهة الإنقاذ الوطنية بقيادة إليسكو الذي رغم وعوده بعدم ترشيح نفسه مضى ليحكم رومانيا لسنوات عدة مستعيتا بالبلطجية ضد حركة الطلاب الاحتجاجية.

4.       الثورة الصومالية أطاحت بنظام سياد بري في بداية التسعينات بعد سنوات من الحكم الدكتاتوري المطلق وفق ما كان يسمى بتجربة "الإشتراكية العلمية" والتي قضت على الأخضر واليابس  في الصومال زد على ذلك سنوات من الحروب والجفاف أدت إلى انهيار اقتصادي شامل وقد لجأ بري إلى بعض الأساليب المشابهة لأساليب القذافي في مواجهة الثورة بما في ذلك تسميم آبار المياه والقضاء على مصادر الرزق للسكان و لإن نجحت الحركة الشعبية في إسقاط نظام بري إلا أنها  فشلت بعده في إقامة دولة نظرا لتغلغل الفكر القبلي و المتطرف وعدم توفر رؤيى موحدة وواضحة لبرنامج ما بعد سقوط  ذلك الدكتاتور.

5.       الثورات العربية المزامنة حاليا للثورة الليبية نجحت إلى حد ما في تونس ومصر  نظرا للحياد النسبي للجيش وكذلك لاعتمادها أسلوب المجتمع المدني النائي عن القبلية لكنها في نفس الوقت ما زالت تواجه مخاطر تسببها النعرات التي تذكيها فلول النظام السابق وربما أيضا جهات أجنبية تبحث عن مصالحها في كلا البلدين ثم  هناك ثورة اليمن التي ما زالت في أوجها والتي تستمد قوتها من انتهاجها مسارا سلميا رغم شراسة قمع السلطة لها و تستفيد في نفس الوقت من قيادة شبابية فعالة تبدو على درجة لا بأس بها من التنظيم والوعي وكذلك لدينا ثورة سوريا التي باتت تتنامى  سريعا و للأسف هي الأخرى تتعرض الآن لقمع مشابه للذي تعرضت وما زالت تتعرض له الثورة الليبية.



Ali Tarhouni: Finance Minister of the New Libya

ليبيا ما بعد القذافي: الأهداف و الوسائل

·         أولا - الأهداف 

لاشك أن أهداف الثورة الليبية واضحة وضوح الشمس وتكمن في 

1.       تحرير ليبيا من الحكم الدكتاتوري العائلي

2.       بناء دولة للمجتمع المدني الحديث يكون شعارها "ليبيا حرة  للجميع" و  تكون فيها الحكومة مسؤولة بالكامل أمام الشعب وتحت رقابته

3.       ضمان الحريات العامة و وحقوق الإنسان و سيادة القانون بعيدا عن أي تعصب قبلي أو عرقي أو ديني

·         ثانبا – الوسائل

لا شك أن ما حققته وانتزعته هذه الثورة العفوية في غضون أسابيع  فقط  بفضل التضحيات التي قدمها ومازال يقدمها ثوار 17 فبراير في كافة أرجاء ليبيا وبروز المجلس الوطني الإنتقالي كرمز لهؤلاء الثوار قد فاق  المتوقع و لا شك أنه سيؤدي إلى النصر القريب بإذن الله فهناك عدالة القضية و هناك الإصرار على المقاومة و رباطة الجأش والمعنويات العالية وهناك أيضا دعم الرأي العام العربي و الدولي.

 لكن يبقى أن تحقيق الأهداف المشار إليها أعلاه ما زال يتطلب المزيد من تظافر الجهود وتوسيع القاعدة والإستعانة بكافة الخبرات المخلصة نظرا لأن الوسائل المتاحة ما زالت تبدو حتى الآن متواضعة نتيجة لقلة الإمكانيات والخبرة من جهة وشراسة وخبث هذا النظام الفاسد الذي تواجهه هذه الثورة وآثاره المتراكمة على مدى 42 سنة من القمع والتجهيل  وانعدام المؤسسات من جهة أخرى وأيضا لتداخل المصالح الدولية والإقليمية التي أحيانا تلتقي وأحيانا لا تلتقي مع مصالح الثورة.  

  وفي مايلي بعض ما تحتاجه هذه المرحلة من وسائل:

1.       فتح قنوات للتواصل مع الليبيين والليبيات لتكوبن قاعدة عريضة تملأ الفراغ السياسي والدعوة الملحة لمؤتمر وطني تثقيفي استشاري موسع  يعقد في إحدى المدن المحررة  في القريب العاجل يكون مفتوحا للجمبع  في الداخل والخارج للإستفادة من الخبرات المتاحة و تسخيرها لتحديد  أهداف ومعالم المرحلة الأنتقالية ولكون هذا المؤتمر  سيمثل قاعدة  أكثر اتساعا لثوار 17 فبراير وأنصارهم   فإنه  لا شك سيضفي شرعية انتقالية أكثر وضوحا للمجلس الوطني في هذه الظروف الحرجة  

2.       اتباع منهج الإدارة الذكية لمشروع الثورة و سبل التنظيم الحديث وعدم  السماح بالخلط  ما بين إدارة الجبهة و إدارة الثورة  وما بين الدور العسكري والدور السياسي

3.       كسب الثقة و مزيد من الدعم الدولي عن طريق اتباع القوانين والمعايير الدولية في أسلوب  الإدارة والمعاملة و التزام أسلوب إعلامي حديث صادق وشفاف والرد بالحجج على كل أكاذيب النظام بطريقة منتظمة وتسخير متحدث كفىء أو بالأحرى متحدثة تتمتع بالذكاء وتتقن اللغة الإنجليزية في مؤتمر صحفي مساء كل يوم يلخص الأحداث من وجهة نظر الثوار والمجلس الوطني بطريقة حضارية صادقة وذكية تتميز عما يقدمه النظام  الفاسد وكذلك الحرص على تحميل كل ذلك على صفحة المجلس الإلكترونية بشكل مستمر

4.       الإلتحام بالثورات الشبابية العربية الأخرى وفي مقدمتها الجارتين تونس ومصر والإستفادة من تجاربها

        

 

ارحل عن بلادي

يا جملا من الصحراء

لم يلجم

يا ملكا توج نفسه

لم يفهم

آن الأوان أن ترحل

يقولها كل طفل قتلته

يقولها كل طفل أيتمته

يقولها كل طفل أرعبته

ارحل عن بلادي

فقد سئمتك

خذ جواريك ومرتزقتك وارحل

خذ الذهب الذي سرقته

خذ كتيبك الأخضر الساذج

وأفكارك المريضة

وارحل  عن بلادي

أربعين عاما أو يزيد

ما أنجزت 

غير النهب والتجهيل

ماأخلفت 

غير القمع والتقتيل

فيا أيها الدجال المريض

تأبط شرك

وارحل عن بلادي

شاكير الساحر الشخصي للقذافي يبث الرسائل المشفرة: سوف نتقدم إلى مزيد من الفوضى

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زرع الخوف والجهل والفقر من أهم الوسائل الدكتاتورية للسيطرة على الحكم