A long - somewhat over-long - piece on BBC4 I think, on the radical Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Back in the day, when I was an Africa hack, I was seduced, albeit briefly, by Gaddafi's apparent originality of thought. Mounting evidence of the brutality of his regime, and his increasingly obvious megalomania, soon put me off him.
He was an object lesson in what can happen if you give an uneducated, feudal-minded Bedouin spiv a billion quid a week and an army. The fool thought he was going to unify Africa under his command and overthrow European imperialism, something he didn't really understand. The leaders of cash-strapped sub-Saharan countries queued shamefacedly for cash handouts, but didn't take him seriously as an African. They saw him as an Arab, a 'white man', and moreover as someone who had fomented and financed local conflicts that killed tens of thousands of black Africans. Uganda has yet to recover fully from the rule of Idi Amin, who Gaddafi protected and financed.
People who met Gaddafi were struck by his courteous, gentlemanly demeanour. He was also extremely good-looking. As with Iraq's Saddam, those not too bothered by the ever-increasing body count thought he was a necessary tyrant to keep the Libyan tribes from each other's throats. And it's true that like Iraq, Libya since Gaddafi's hideous lynching at the hands of infuriated Libyans has been in a state of chaos.
Nasty piece of work even by tyrant standards.
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>>A long - somewhat over-long - piece on BBC4 I think
Has that already been on the telly, Sire, or is it due to come on?
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Past my bedtime! .. I shall watch it tomorrow evening, thanks Focus.
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That's the one. Thank you Focusless.
Well worth a look Perro.
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Will do Sire. Friend of mine who worked in the oil industry - mainly in Oman, played polo Mad Dog once upon a time.
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I am not so sure what this BBC Program is going to prove.That he was a monster hated by his own people? I have not travelled to Libya,the old man did when Gaddafi was alive.What is Libya now, any better than under the King of Africa?
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>>What is Libya now, any better than under the King of Africa?
What is Iraq now, any better than under Saddam Hussein?
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What is Germany now - any better than under Hitler?
(Ironic mode on, in case anyone really thinks I'm a neo-nazi)
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Fri 13 Mar 15 at 10:41
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Well run country Germany Cliff what do you mean? Also Iconic mode}{ Libya total mess liberated from Gaddafi.
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>> Well run country Germany Cliff what do you mean? Also Iconic mode}{ Libya total mess
>> liberated from Gaddafi.
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I mean of course that the allied intervention in Germany was the best, possibly the only example, of a crusade to overthrow an unspeakable regime that seems to have had only good consequences.
But the key distinction is that unlike Iraq, Libya, etc, we went in and stayed for as long as it took to set up a decent democratic system, and police it with as many personnel as it took.
Also we (ie America) poured in money to rebuild the entire country.
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The King of Africa - Dog
