Tuesday, February 22, 2011

EDITORIAL

Some might continue to cling to the notion that “it happened in Tunisia but can’t happen in Egypt,” or “it happened in Egypt but it can’t happen here.” But the latest developments in Libya have provided an eerie repeat of earlier regime collapses.

The protests swell, the government fights back, and eventually, the head of state is obliged to address the public on television.
When it was Libya’s turn, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi appeared on television screens, suggesting that he has been cut off from all international news over the past few months.

Alternatively, he might have closely observed how Zein al-Abidine bin Ali, and then Hosni Mubarak, responded to public anger by waving red flags in front of the charging bulls, which eventually led to their departure from office, and decided to outdo the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.

Decked out in a designer suit, the son of Moammar Gadhafi offered a rambling, threatening and provocative diatribe to the Libyan people, expecting them to calmly disperse, and peacefully end their protests.
Saif al-Islam unleashed threats and blackmail, and a string of strange warnings about what would happen to the country if protests continued: civil war, secession, Islamist takeover, American takeover.

After the raving about doomsday scenarios, Gadhafi then wielded his “carrots,” in the form of salary increases, better services, and enhanced local government power – this from a regime that prides itself on being decentralized to begin with, under its “Jamahariya,” or state of the masses.

In this bizarre system, the elder Gadhafi is a de facto head of state, which is bad enough, but for his son to address the country, holding no official position and saddled with his history as a country-hopping playboy, is yet another affront to the people of Libya.

What does a person with no official post, armed with arrogance and the look of a Mafioso, repeatedly shaking his finger at a public reeling from massacres by their own authorities, expect as a response?

It was as if nothing had been learned from the examples of Tunisia and Egypt; instead, the regime put forth its worst face, crowing about the need to fight to the last person to defend a corrupt, autocratic and bloody clique.
The people’s response was swift, when they attacked and burned state television offices the next day.

The most useful thing that Saif al-Islam, his father, and their cronies can do, after this insulting and dangerous performance, is to seek out places in the world where they can find refuge.
They will require some place to hide, since they have been guilty of crimes against innocent people, and deserve to be held accountable for their actions.