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The Spectacle Blog
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that deposed Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi has been killed “after being captured and wounded in both legs near his hometown of Sirte at dawn.”
The killing and capture of Gaddafi at the hands of the rebel forces is a tremendous psychological win for those brave Libyans who dared to mobilize against him.
And make no mistake: their actions reverberate throughout the Middle East and North Africa, where people now know that tyranny is not something they must accept; it is, instead, something that they can change.
Gaddafi’s demise also strengthens America’s image in the Islamic world.
It may be pure coincidence, after all, that Gaddafi was killed and captured just days after Hillary Clinton arrived in Tripoli to visit with wounded rebel soldiers and officials of the National Transitional Council. However, that’s not how Clinton’s visit will be viewed on the Islamic street. Ordinary Muslims will think, and rightly so, that the United States had a hand in Gaddafi’s killing.
For critics such as myself, the Obama administration acted too timidly and too belatedly. It foolishly and oxymoronically “led from behind.”
Fortunately for Obama and Clinton, Gaddafi was weak enough, and the rebels strong enough, that it ultimately didn’t matter — or so it seems. We’ll have to see how events in Libya progress in the weeks, months and years to come.
In any case, now the really hard work begins. The rebels must begin to resurrect a state and governmental institutions which were allowed to atrophy under Gaddafi. And they must guard against Islamists who would love nothing more than to hijack their revolution for illicit and illiberal ends.
And so, they will need the active help and good offices of the United States. Clinton’s visit to Tripoli was a good start. The Secretary of State pledged American aid and American support.
“I am proud to stand here on the soil of a free Tripoli; and, on behalf of the American people, I congratulate Libya,” Clinton said. “This is Libya’s moment; this is Libya’s victory. The future belongs to you.”
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More Blog Posts by John R. Guardiano
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/20/freedom-gains-a-fledgling-foot
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ncatty| 10.20.11 @ 9:49AM
Why oh why do we have to give oil rich Libya US taxpayer's dollars?
jgarcia| 10.20.11 @ 10:17AM
I think Obama got it right this time, rushing in early with US power would have given Ghaddafi the ability to unite the Libyan people against an outside aggressor so by first building up the international coalition with the Arab League and given the rebels time to get organized and trained , this resulted in a Libyan peoples victory, not an American or French victory, with no loss of life for any NATO country. I say well done Mr. President.
Dixie Pixie| 10.20.11 @ 12:19PM
Do you realize this is the first of years if not decades of civil war as the various tribal groups battle for the resources of Libya?
Trinacria| 10.20.11 @ 12:36PM
With respect, this is a shockingly naive view. The historical record is clear, and there are few things in life about which we can have greater certainty than the fact that in the middle east today's freedom fighter is tomorrow's despotic dictator. True freedom requires something that simply isn't in their DNA.
Conservative Bob| 10.20.11 @ 12:51PM
I do not mourn the violent passing of this tyrant but do not share your optimism that fredom has arrived in Lybia. Time will tell whether or not greater liberty replaces the tyrant or if they are just switching masters.
John Guardiano | 10.20.11 @ 1:46PM
Bob,
I never said that freedom is secure in Libya. In fact, quite the opposite: I have written that freedom there is fragile, fledgling and at risk.
Which is why it is incumbent upon the United States to aid and assist reform-minded Libyans.
Time might tell, as you say; but time will be affected greatly by what the United States does and does not do. Let us act, and let us do the right thing -- for Libya and for America.
V/R
John
Smirking Weasel| 10.20.11 @ 2:25PM
Guardiano, you're simply a disgusting traitor. The best interests of the US would have been served by Qaddafi slaughtering the cowards and leeches of the 'TNC', who will attempt to suck welfare from the US for decades. The US has no business doing anything for those creatures, and those who pimp this idiocy, like yourself and Clinton, willingly act against the best interests of this nation. Just where is the 'aid' to the vermin supposed to come from in a bankrupt nation, you chickenhawk coward? If you're so concerned about that third world hellhole, give up American citizenship , move to Libya and share your brilliant views with the dregs-even they will eventually grow tired of your stupidity.
Bob K.| 10.20.11 @ 2:36PM
The same kind of "fledgling foothold" Egypt got when Mubarak was overthrown?
But Egypt has no oil. Maybe Libya can buy freedom with it's oil? Lots of western countries and maybe even China could then afford to send troops there to enforce freedom.
Trinacria| 10.20.11 @ 4:03PM
John,
Why, exactly, is it incumbent on the United States to assist "reform-minded" Lybians (after all, didn't Gaddafi start out as a "reform minded" Lybian?)?
Is there a single documented example of a successful and sustained transition to democracy in a middle eastern country with a historically tribal cutlure? Democracy is hard; it requires discipline, compromise, respect, and a profound commitment to resolving conflicts through civil discourse. Sadly, tribal cultures have yet to demonstrate even the slightest capacity for these important characteristics.
We all know the outcome of the present "revolution" in Lybia. Those who ascend to power will quickly realize the extraordinary difficulty of implementing a democracy in a country that lacks the cultural sophistication to participate in a system that requires displine, responsibility, and reason. Desperate to maintain order (and using the need to do so to justify their actions), they will quickly resort to the same totalitarian tactics against which they rebelled and, like it has for all who have gone before them, the maintenance of power will become the objective to which all other aims are subordinated.
The notion that a single US dollar (or worse, a single US life) should be spent in the pursuit of this dubious and profoundly unworthy goal is simply absurd.
yisong| 10.24.11 @ 11:07PM
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