Gaddafi thugs torturing a Libyan freedom fighter in Zliten

At gun point, they are forcing him to repeat the new Gaddafi SS slogan:"God, Muammar, Libya and no more!

A disturbing pattern of savagery shown by Gaddafi troops

In this video, which speaks for itself even without translation, the prisoners, apparently from the Western "Nafusa" Mountains, are shown to be subjected to harsh abuse, both physical and verbal, and are forced to declare allegiance to Gaddafi. At one point (~3':47), one of the Gaddafi troops suggests to kill them while another pleads with his group to wait and not finish them off with their boots, as "they might still have some useful information to give". "They will be executed anyway", he added!

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.

Winds of change sweep Libya

When Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu fell and was executed in the midst of the Timisoara revolution of 1989, Gaddafi quickly took note.  In a televised speech to the Libyan people shortly after, he sent them a direct warning. “What happened in Romania could never happen here…Libya is a large country and not as densely populated and any attempt to revolt will be easily crushed”.  This week, as Libyans, emboldened by events around them, have been taking to the streets chanting for freedom, Gaddafi delivered on his promise. He unleashed his paid and heavily-armed mercenaries and trigger-happy snipers to crush a largely peaceful and unarmed population, using the only language dictators know, terror.  So far, hundreds have been indiscriminately killed and hundreds others wounded. Ill-equipped hospitals are overflowing with dead bodies. These scare tactics are not new. In 1984, true to the title of the famous George Orwell’s book, Gaddafi orchestrated nationally-televised, extra-judicial, public executions of several student activists and political opponents.  In 1996, in the wake of a Tripoli prison riot, more than 1200 political prisoners were cold-bloodedly shot dead by security forces. 

Over the years, Gaddafi has also shown his Machiavellian side and that he could be flexible under pressure. In the wake of Saddam Hussein’s fall, he was quick to play the card of giving up his nuclear program, so that he could be acceptable to the West. In recent weeks, as the wind of change swept through the Arab region around him, he volunteered to mellow his title. Not long ago a self-proclaimed “King of Kings”, he quietly settled for the more modest title of “Brother Leader”. Erratic and paranoid by nature, he first rebuked Tunisians for triggering the wave of revolutions in the region and for deposing Ex-dictator Ben Ali. Later, as millions of Egyptians marched on the streets of Egypt calling for Mubarak to leave, Gaddafi rushed to his support, describing him as so poor “he could not afford to buy his own clothes”. This came as news were circulated about Mubarak‘s multi-billion wealth. When Mubarak fell in disgrace, the Libyan dictator quickly switched sides and embraced the change in Egypt as somehow influenced by his self-styled “people’s democracy”. This is not the first time Gaddafi expresses sorrow for the loss of a fellow dictator. Mourning the loss of Ceausescu after his fall, he declared him so poor “he was living in an old 18-century mansion”.

One can say without fear of exaggeration that Libya, with its strategic position, small population and abundant natural resources could have been in a much better state, had it not been for Gaddafi. Currently the world’s longest-serving dictator, his 41.5  years of absolute rule have been marked by an excess of terror, corruption and personality cult.  All these years, Libyans have been quietly asking about the whereabouts of their money. The country they live in is supposed to be rich. Nevertheless, it is in a state of shambles and has been so for years. Education, health and infrastructure services are extremely poor to say the least and over 30% of the population, mostly young, cannot find jobs. Meanwhile, Gaddafi has been diverting funds and spending fortunes at will on grandiose and mostly failing projects of his imagination, including African coups, obsolete armament, man-made rivers and of course his Green Book. In theory, his booklet claims there is no president in Libya and indeed no need for one, as “the masses are ruling themselves by themselves”. The country according to Gaddafi is “the closest you could get to utopia”. In practice however, ask any Libyan while not being watched by a government minder and they will tell you that all strings in Libya are controlled by the dictator himself and his sons who are lining up and competing to inherit his rule.

Despite some having been termed benevolent, dictators are historically bad and Gaddafi belongs to the more despised type. Not only did he have nothing to offer his people but terror and backwardness, he also took every opportunity to humiliate them and threaten them. A glimpse of that became widely publicized to the world during a bizarre UN speech by the self-styled dictator himself when he tore up the UN Charter and threw it at the session chair desk behind him, where his own representative was seated. On an earlier occasion at home, he took liberty to tear the country’s budget to pieces, as he was addressing the “People's Congress”. Yet on another occasion, he threatened to abolish all government institutions in Libya but backed down when told this might plunge the country into unforeseen chaos. In a bizarre statement made during a visit to Italy in 2009, he even suggested that Libyans should immigrate to Europe and take the place of Africans working there. 

In recent years, Gaddafi has managed to market his new image to the West as one of the few trusted and reliable anti-terrorist, anti-fundamentalist allies in an oil-rich and otherwise volatile region.  However, as recent events have clearly shown, stability can never be guaranteed by oppressive regimes. Libyans have been suffering for so long under Gaddafi and for once now, they seem adamant to pay the ultimate price for their lost freedom. Meanwhile, the shrewd dictator knows this may be his last stand and is therefore bound to use all methods and tricks under his hat to try and cling to power. Despite its sinister face, his regime suffers from a large dose of inefficiency, backwardness and lack of organization. If the young Libyans currently on the streets manage to dodge his tricks, get their act together, adapt an enlightened and unified political agenda and learn from the tactics of their peers in Tunisia and Egypt, they may soon achieve their victory.