Over 95 percent of the country is under the control of the pro-democracy camp, including Zawiya, a key city just 30 miles away from the capital Tripoli. Benghazi, where life goes on almost as normal, has formed an alternative government made up of judges, professionals and elders.
Key military headquarters have been taken; his palaces in the east and their underground bunkers have been trashed. Most of his diplomatic corps and several army brigades have deserted him. Pilots ordered to bomb protesters have fled to Malta or have crashed their planes in the desert. One of his closest aides, his cousin Ahmed Gadhaf Al-Dam, has defected to Egypt where he denounced his boss’ “grave violations of human rights and international laws.”
His former head of protocol Nour Al Masmari is appearing on satellite TV channels accusing Qaddafi of “genocide.” His youngest son Saif Al-Arab, sent to quell the Benghazi uprising, is believed to have joined the rebels. His wife, daughter Aisha and daughters-in-law are rumored to have escaped to Vienna in a private plane. His famous Ukrainian nurse has flown home to mama.
Most crucially, the international community has banded together in an unprecedented fashion to condemn the multibillionaire dictator who has been masquerading as a simple man of the people for over 40 years. By some estimate his family’s wealth exceeds $20 billion, most of it hidden in secret bank accounts. Just recently, the Libyan leader deposited $3 billion in the hands of a London-based wealth manager. When Libya resembles a poor Third World country where at least one-third of the population subsist below the poverty line, the Qaddafi clan should be ashamed.
I visited Libya in the early 1980s and was shocked at how rundown and depressed it was. It seems like nothing much has changed. A state rich in oil and gas with a population of just 6.5 million could easily rival the UAE and Qatar in terms of standard of living and lifestyle. Instead, Qaddafi chose to keep his people trapped in the Dark Ages.
Never before has an ambassador to the United Nations pleaded with UN Security Council members to help rid his country of its leader. Never before had UN diplomats rushed to hug one of their emotional fellows. And rarely, if ever, has the cumbersome UN Security Council been as swift to pass a Chapter Seven resolution authorizing sanctions, travel bans, the freezing of wealth and assets, a ban on weapons sales and a referral to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. President Barack Obama and the Quartet’s Middle East envoy Tony Blair have all warned Qaddafi that he must resign immediately.
Any other leader so despised and disgraced by all and sundry would have headed for the hills long ago. Tunisian President Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were similarly in denial and, like Qaddafi, vowed to live and die on their own soil. But they were forced to face the inevitable by their own military leaders who when push came to shove put the interests of their country first.
It’s hard to believe that Qaddafi seriously believes that the uprising was the work of “trigger-happy, drug-addled youths” on hallucinogenic pills provided by Al-Qaeda, the Italians, the Americans or poor old Al Jazeera that always ends up being blamed.
Qaddafi appears to have planned well for this day by surrounding himself with highly-paid loyalist forces, burly female bodyguards and foreign mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. A top-level defector from Qaddafi’s inner circle claims that the besieged megalomaniac has stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and won’t hesitate to use them on his own people. Other insiders say he is ready to torch Libya’s oil fields or burn the country along with himself.
Qaddafi may have few friends left aside from his son Khamees, leader of a sophisticated Special Forces unit, and his educated, smooth-talking son Saif Al Islam, who threw off his progressive pro-democracy mantel, along with a coterie of international buddies in high places, to stand by his father. Now that the world has barred its doors to him, the crazed colonel has nowhere to go which is why, as each day passes, he becomes more desperate and dangerous.
Unfortunately, although the rebels possess heavy-duty weapons and tanks, they are unable to take him on because before they could reach Tripoli, they would first have to battle with tribal loyalists in his hometown of Sirte and would likely come under attack from the air. This is why a “no-fly zone” is crucial to their efforts.
However, so far, the US and European countries that rely heavily on Libyan oil and gas are reluctant to get involved militarily for fear that Libyans might rally against Western intervention and after their fiasco in Iraq they don’t have the mettle to be seen actively bringing down yet another Arab head of state.
Here’s where the Egyptian military would be wise to step in. When tens of thousands of Egyptian nationals are fleeing across the Tunisian border where they are facing food shortages and a lack of sleeping facilities, Egypt has good cause.
Such a move would re-establish Egypt’s role as an Arab world leader that was greatly diminished under President Mubarak and would take the internal heat off Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces whose relationship with Egyptian revolutionary youth is becoming more fraught by the day.
It’s probable that military intervention on the part of Cairo would be blessed by the international community and might give Egypt international leverage to obtain financial aid as well as the quashing of a portion of its foreign debt. More important, the army would consolidate its hero-status among Egyptians who would put aside their growing differences to unite under a nationalist banner.
The time to act is now before Qaddafi loses what’s left of his mind. Thousands have been killed. Thousands have been injured. Food, medical supplies and blood products are running out. Humanitarian corridors from the Egyptian and Tunisian borders need to be instituted to allow safe passage for those desperate to get out. Egypt has a highly-trained, disciplined and well-equipped army and air force. This is an Arab crisis. Egypt should take the lead.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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Egypt should help oust Qaddafi
The unhinged Libyan tyrant is cornered
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Linda S. Heard
Over 95 percent of the country is under the control of the pro-democracy camp, including Zawiya, a key city just 30 miles away from the capital Tripoli. Benghazi, where life goes on almost as normal, has formed an alternative government made up of judges, professionals and elders.
Key military headquarters have been taken; his palaces in the east and their underground bunkers have been trashed. Most of his diplomatic corps and several army brigades have deserted him. Pilots ordered to bomb protesters have fled to Malta or have crashed their planes in the desert. One of his closest aides, his cousin Ahmed Gadhaf Al-Dam, has defected to Egypt where he denounced his boss’ “grave violations of human rights and international laws.”
His former head of protocol Nour Al Masmari is appearing on satellite TV channels accusing Qaddafi of “genocide.” His youngest son Saif Al-Arab, sent to quell the Benghazi uprising, is believed to have joined the rebels. His wife, daughter Aisha and daughters-in-law are rumored to have escaped to Vienna in a private plane. His famous Ukrainian nurse has flown home to mama.
Most crucially, the international community has banded together in an unprecedented fashion to condemn the multibillionaire dictator who has been masquerading as a simple man of the people for over 40 years. By some estimate his family’s wealth exceeds $20 billion, most of it hidden in secret bank accounts. Just recently, the Libyan leader deposited $3 billion in the hands of a London-based wealth manager. When Libya resembles a poor Third World country where at least one-third of the population subsist below the poverty line, the Qaddafi clan should be ashamed.
I visited Libya in the early 1980s and was shocked at how rundown and depressed it was. It seems like nothing much has changed. A state rich in oil and gas with a population of just 6.5 million could easily rival the UAE and Qatar in terms of standard of living and lifestyle. Instead, Qaddafi chose to keep his people trapped in the Dark Ages.
Never before has an ambassador to the United Nations pleaded with UN Security Council members to help rid his country of its leader. Never before had UN diplomats rushed to hug one of their emotional fellows. And rarely, if ever, has the cumbersome UN Security Council been as swift to pass a Chapter Seven resolution authorizing sanctions, travel bans, the freezing of wealth and assets, a ban on weapons sales and a referral to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. President Barack Obama and the Quartet’s Middle East envoy Tony Blair have all warned Qaddafi that he must resign immediately.
Any other leader so despised and disgraced by all and sundry would have headed for the hills long ago. Tunisian President Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were similarly in denial and, like Qaddafi, vowed to live and die on their own soil. But they were forced to face the inevitable by their own military leaders who when push came to shove put the interests of their country first.
It’s hard to believe that Qaddafi seriously believes that the uprising was the work of “trigger-happy, drug-addled youths” on hallucinogenic pills provided by Al-Qaeda, the Italians, the Americans or poor old Al Jazeera that always ends up being blamed.
Qaddafi appears to have planned well for this day by surrounding himself with highly-paid loyalist forces, burly female bodyguards and foreign mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. A top-level defector from Qaddafi’s inner circle claims that the besieged megalomaniac has stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and won’t hesitate to use them on his own people. Other insiders say he is ready to torch Libya’s oil fields or burn the country along with himself.
Qaddafi may have few friends left aside from his son Khamees, leader of a sophisticated Special Forces unit, and his educated, smooth-talking son Saif Al Islam, who threw off his progressive pro-democracy mantel, along with a coterie of international buddies in high places, to stand by his father. Now that the world has barred its doors to him, the crazed colonel has nowhere to go which is why, as each day passes, he becomes more desperate and dangerous.
Unfortunately, although the rebels possess heavy-duty weapons and tanks, they are unable to take him on because before they could reach Tripoli, they would first have to battle with tribal loyalists in his hometown of Sirte and would likely come under attack from the air. This is why a “no-fly zone” is crucial to their efforts.
However, so far, the US and European countries that rely heavily on Libyan oil and gas are reluctant to get involved militarily for fear that Libyans might rally against Western intervention and after their fiasco in Iraq they don’t have the mettle to be seen actively bringing down yet another Arab head of state.
Here’s where the Egyptian military would be wise to step in. When tens of thousands of Egyptian nationals are fleeing across the Tunisian border where they are facing food shortages and a lack of sleeping facilities, Egypt has good cause.
Such a move would re-establish Egypt’s role as an Arab world leader that was greatly diminished under President Mubarak and would take the internal heat off Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces whose relationship with Egyptian revolutionary youth is becoming more fraught by the day.
It’s probable that military intervention on the part of Cairo would be blessed by the international community and might give Egypt international leverage to obtain financial aid as well as the quashing of a portion of its foreign debt. More important, the army would consolidate its hero-status among Egyptians who would put aside their growing differences to unite under a nationalist banner.
The time to act is now before Qaddafi loses what’s left of his mind. Thousands have been killed. Thousands have been injured. Food, medical supplies and blood products are running out. Humanitarian corridors from the Egyptian and Tunisian borders need to be instituted to allow safe passage for those desperate to get out. Egypt has a highly-trained, disciplined and well-equipped army and air force. This is an Arab crisis. Egypt should take the lead.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.