Gaddafi — An obituary for the notorious ex-leader of Lybia
The western mainstream perception of Muammar — al Gaddafi expresses itself as unambiguous: Gaddafi was a lunatic tyrant who has been terrorizing his own people for over four decades. Besides, he was best known for his private security guard consisting exclusively of female bodyguards, his participation at Berlusconis “Bunga Bunga” parties and his preference for living and travelling with his own tent.
Admittedly Gaddafi was a flamboyant personality, but this article challenges the notion of his tyranny.
In the wake of the Arabic Spring an opposition formed in Lybia and by force revolted against the existing order. For the United States and the Europen Union the overall situation in Lybia was, rather sooner than later, clear and the necessary actions even clearer: The people of Lybia are calling for, so Gaddafi has to get rid of!
However, the ordinary citizens of the U.S. and the EU are rather skeptical of acts of war. Unless of course it is for a really good reason such as the liberation of a nation or for the good of democracy. Thus, the media depiction of Gadaffi changed dramatically, he was transformed from a madmen into a mass murderer and from a welcomed business associate into a persona non grata.
The FAZ (19.02.11) and the NZZ (19.02.11) for example published news about the killing of innocent and unarmed protesters, those claims were never verified. The foreign secretary of Luxembourg spoke about a genocide, which was simply not happening and the UN ambassador of the U.S. testified that Gaddafi has lost his mind and kills his own people. Similar news about the situation in Lybia were broadcasted by die Zeit and other newspapers.
To cut a long story short, the UN Resolution 1973 was passed, Gaddafis troops were nuked with the U.S., France and Great-Britain leading the way, the opposition put in power, the people of Lybia finally liberated, barbarity defeated and Gaddafi killed.
So far, so good. However, what good did it do to the Lybian people? Nowadays there is hardly any news about this vast country, but one thing is sure, since Gaddafi was ousted, the situation has turned from quite tolerable to seriously f’’’ed up. Several armed militias fight over territory, there is basically no government in power, Lybia has become a hotbed of terrorism and thousands and thousands of people are dispersed.
Granted, Gaddafi was most certainly no democrat and led a totalitarian regime, though, he was also responsible for some astonishing achievements. Listed below an excerpt of some of the things he did for his people.
Electricity was free
No interest rates on credits
Education and medical treatment for free
To have a home was an unalienable right
50000 US Dollar for couples getting married
Lybia was debt free
Furthermore, Gaddafi started the Great-Man-Made-River-Project, the biggest project on earth in terms of providing the population and agronomy with fresh water. Likewise, with concern to Africa Lybia was the country with the lowest HIV-infection rate, the lowest rate of child mortality and the highest life expectancy.
This is just a snippet of what was done for Lybia under Gaddafi but the fact that our mass media made no mention of his ministrations is somewhat suspicious. Even more so when taking into account that anarchy and chaos were the results of the bold stroke to democratize Lybia.
Secondarily, Lybia has vast and easily accessible oil resources, could this fact have something to do with Lybia descending into chaos? No of course not! It is probably just that those people have not been ready for freedom and democracy and that nobody could have known!
Sources:
http://derwaechter.net/die-unvorstellbaren-grausamkeiten-des-gaddafi-an-seinem-volk
http://www.ag-friedensforschung.de/regionen/Libyen/henken2.html
http://de.qantara.de/inhalt/westliche-militaerinterventionen-zum-sturz-gaddafis-lehren-aus-libyen
