Lindauer on Libya
It was not that long ago that Western nations were taking a fresh look at Libya. Qaddafi is unquestionably an autocratic leader. It is true that he was mercurial and brutal. Libya is a tribal country and every clan, subgroup, family had its own version of Qaddafi - that or it was wiped from the storylines of this ancient warrior people. Nothing could be simpler than to try and convict the man from the lofty throne of blood the West has constructed beneath its broad bottom.
This is not an apologia for the man. No. This is merely an effort to understand the deep structure underlying what has got to be the biggest state-sponsored, multinational PR campaign the world has ever seen. Just at the point Colonel Qaddafi was to be admitted into the international community, This.
Let's recall that under The Leader', Libya was a secular society. The extreme conservative Islamist elements were indeed repressed; those who would have girls bought and sold like cattle, forbidden to go out in public without a male chaperone; forbidden to work outside the home; forbidden to drive; forbidden to use birth control; forbidden to go to school. Qaddafi did twist a few arms on these issues. And another thing: Qaddafi was an ardent force behind the growing pan-Africa movement, the saem people who oppose America's latest, greatest tool of Imperialism, AFRICOM. That, for the uninitiated, would be a massive US effort to counter Chinmeses economic in roads with brute American military force. Qaddafi presented a major obstacle to the West's designs on Africa's riches. And how convenient it is to have the constant spectre of Sharia law as justification for the iron fist of the US military machine permanently clamped around the Libyan throat.
That, that is repression, Friend-o.
Here's the link to Lindauer's article: nsnbc.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/3563/
- KBOO