Muammar Gaddafi and the Future of Libya

So the news of the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, like the news of the deaths so many tyrants before him, was met today with that awkward feeling of gladness that an evil person has left the earth, but at the same time not wanting to rejoice in the death of an individual.

Libyans are out in the streets cheering, as politicians in England, America and France congratulate themselves on a nice victory.

As I was watching the news this evening as events unfolded, I couldn't help thinking about Iraq, and the similarities between the two campaigns. The initial attack/invasion was relatively simple, and before we knew it, Iraq/Libya was free, as "the good side" entered the Capital cities to declare victory. After a few weeks of nothing, the tyrannical leader was found hiding in his home town, cowering in some makeshift hidey hole. And then ordinary citizens got their justice, as the tyrant was killed.

A new day for the future of the country. Well look what happened next in Iraq.

 

Of course, there are lots of differences too, not least between the military tactics and campaigns, but behind the cause for the regime change in the first place. Libya is profoundly different than Iraq because, like with the Arab Spring, it began with local citizens organising themselves, and encompassed almost the entire population. Libyans fought to be free by themselves, before NATO offered support.

And yet, there are lots of rivalries between these freedom fighters, lots of divisions along ethnic and tribal lines. And so, while politicians may rejoice at "a successful intervention" and claim victory very easily, what they ought to be doing is remembering Iraq. Now is not the time to take your hands of the ball.

Libyans naturally deserve to make their own future, to shape a future constitution, a future society. A country where every Libyan is free, and has an equal say in how their country is run. But the US, the UK and France should not disappear now. They should be on hand in every way, helping the interim Libyan government in every way their help is wanted. They should be providing aid and support to help rebuild the towns their bombs have destroyed. They should be showing their good nature and genuine care to every Libyan citizen, and encouraging the new Libya to make strong ties to democracy, and strong ties to the West.

Hopefully, lessons were learnt from Iraq, and together, a prosperous, democratic Libya can be created from the fallen shackles of Gaddafi's regime.

Comments

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Very true, but on the bright side Libya has a couple of things working in its favor that Iraq did not have. For one, there are far fewer people in Libya -- the population of Iraq is about 30 million, whereas there are only 6.5 million Libyans. If the nation's oil wealth can finally be properly and fairly distributed it should be relatively easy to raise the standard of living for Libyans across the board. If everyone has enough material needs that tends to help unity and at the very least reduce (or even eliminate) the threat of violence tearing the country apart. Secondly, Libya is almost entirely Sunni. There is no sizable Shi'ite population like there is in Iraq to work as a dividing factor.