Wednesday, February 23, 2011

EDITORIAL

As if his 22-second “umbrella” appearance on television wasn’t bad enough, the leader of Libya has provided an equally bizarre follow-up, in the form of a nearly two-hour, rambling diatribe against his people, and the world.
The international media has felt comfortable in the past labeling Moammar Gadhafi as “crazy,” using terms such as madman and megalomaniac; today we are hearing a more serious line of discussion about the colonel: the butcher of Libya comes to mind, as terms like war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide increasingly dominate the coverage.

Not only does Gadhafi’s regime have blood on its hands, its leader has done the equivalent of waving these bloody hands in the air and declaring that he is far from satisfied with the murders he has committed so far.

Gadhafi’s regime has used tanks, airplanes and foreign mercenaries to mow down people in the hundreds. But Libya is cursed with having a “leader” who shamefacedly trots out the usual lies that are heard when a dictator faces a popular uprising (it’s the work of foreigners) and adds his own, ridiculous embellishments (they’re on drugs). Declaring his solemn “right” to fight to the last Libyan, Gadhafi recalls another madman, who perished in his bunker in 1945.

The world’s intelligence agencies and diplomatic missions are of course full of reports on the pathological colonel, and one can imagine the amount of cocktail conversation that has touched on notable instances of his mad behavior. One might also wonder how many similar reports have been filed on the suffering of the Libyan people under this mass murderer and his despotic clique.

Speaking of the international community, and the Western powers that wield ultimate control, when will the verbal condemnation and expressions of naïve hope – that the Libyan government will treat its people better – become something more useful? In recent weeks, these same governments berated the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes as they used force to suppress demonstrations, but faced with full-scale, daily massacres in Libya, the world’s leaders have done nothing practical, such as endorse a blockade, a no-fly zone, or other measures to stop the slaughter.
The murky world of oil interests and business contracts are probably behind some of the hesitation, but Western and other countries that fail to act should realize that they’re aiding and abetting the murder of people fighting for freedom, democracy and dignity.

The West’s record on deciding which regimes should be treated like outlaws and which can “get away with it” is now in sharp focus. The failure to put this madman away for good can only raise questions about who exactly is complicit in the horrors we are seeing every day.