Gaddafi an extremist, but he was not mad

Gaddafi an extremist, but he was not mad



Illustration: John Shakespeare

The ABC, BBC and CNN seem to be singing from the same song-sheet and have made Colonel Gaddafi the ''mad dog of the Arab world'', a name invented by the US President Ronald Reagan.

Gaddafi was a man of many parts. Allow me to say something on his behalf, as I have no Libyan connections.

In his 42-year rule, according to United Nations reports, the livelihoods of Libyan citizens have increased by 800 per cent and they have enjoyed modern hospitals and healthcare. All are free, services which 60 million citizens of the United States do not have. Libyan boys and girls go to high school free and women can openly drive cars if they can pass the tests. By contrast, women in Saudi Arabia, the darling of the US and the West, face public floggings if caught driving in public.
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Gaddafi gave cheap loans to the poorer Third-World countries and built infrastructure for them, such as the highway running from Libya to neighbouring Niger.

Before his bloodless coup was the helpless King Idris, a stooge to Mussolini and then to postwar Italy and the victorious West, especially France, Britain and the US.

Gaddafi helped other opponents of the US in Central and South America, such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, much to the annoyance of the US. Hence the Mad Dog tack.

Gaddafi was perhaps an extreme version of Hugo Chavez, but he was certainly not mad. His execution was against all international laws, so the new regime is starting with an illegal act.

Libya is tribal country and unless there is a strong centre it will degenerate into something like Somalia. But with oil, it will be more troublesome and a more tempting prospect to the capitalist West.



: http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/gaddafi-an-extremist-but-he-was-not-mad-20111027-1mm4z.html#ixzz1cPQiFb1z

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