Muammar Gaddafi: A Fight to the Finish
The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is now in a fight to the death against the Libyan people in the streets of the capitol Tripoli. In the eastern part of the country it appears that the revolutionaries have gained control of major cities including Libya’s second largest city Benghazi.
Gaddafi has ruled his own country with brutal force and exported terrorism throughout the Middle East and Europe for decades. When I served in Germany during the Cold War it was Libyan agents that attacked American servicemen and women and blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland.
Saif El Islam Gaddafi: Civil War
The Gaddafi regime has turned to brutal force to attempt to curb demonstrations that began in the wake of the successful Tunisian and Egyptian revolts that overthrew Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. Gaddafi is a ruthless animal when it comes to his readiness to violently crush any dissent against his regime and has not hesitated to use political assassination on Libyan dissidents abroad. However he is survivor who knows how to use money and oil to get his way with governments. He has occasionally reached out to appear in a more moderate and reasonable persona such as when he gave up his Weapons of Mass Destruction to the Americans and British in 2004 and when he paid 271 million dollars to the victims of the Lockerbie attack.
Libya is different than Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. The rulers of those countries, Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt while dictators they were not psychopaths and ceded power peacefully. Likewise the Bahraini leaders have backed down to opt for negotiations over the heavy handed force that they employed last week. Gaddafi has long viewed himself as the leader of the Arab World and Africa although his stock has fallen in recent years. He will not go peacefully. His son Saif El Islam a Western Educated Ph.D. went on state television last night and predicted thousands would be killed in a prolonged civil war and said that “Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms, we will not be mourning 84 people, but thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya…” He further said “We will take up arms… we will fight to the last bullet… We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other.”
Saif’s threats are being taken seriously. Since the protests broke out Gaddafi’s security forces have launched vicious attacks on protests and even the funerals of those killed. Using heavy weapons, aircraft and helicopter gunships Gaddafi has turned dogs of war against his people, reportedly using mercenaries from other nations to do what native Libyan soldiers and airmen will not do.
Protesters are being joined in some places by Libyan soldiers and elsewhere two Libyan Air Force Colonels defected with their fully armed Mirage F-1 fighter aircraft to Malta stating that they refused to fire on their countrymen. Around the world Libyan diplomats are condemning the regime and even in the country the Justice Minister and many judges in Benghazi have joined the protests. Other reports suggest that Libyan Border Guards and Coastguard personnel have left their posts along the Egyptian frontier. Libya’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s told reporters on Monday that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has “declared war on the Libyan people and is committing genocide.”
Protests in the city of Tobruk (Reuters Photo)
The situation is escalating. On Tuesday the United Nations Security Council will meet for the first time to discuss the issue. Some have suggested that the Security Council impose a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace to keep Gaddafi from flying in more foreign mercenaries or use his air force against the protesters.
What is certain is that blood will continue to flow and that if Gaddafi goes down he and his sycophants will kill as many of their own people as they can. The most interesting thing about this whole situation is that if Gaddafi falls it will be the first time an anti-Western or American regime has fallen signifying that the flames of protest and revolution are much more about overthrowing despots and bringing the people some measure of freedom than anything else. The situation is dangerous, fraught with peril and fluid but it could be the start of a change in the Middle East that takes the wind out of the sails of Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups who draw their support from those repressed by dictators.
It shall be interesting to see how this continues to develop. Pray for the people of Libya.
Peace
Padre Steve+
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 
I’ve just finished reading your last four posts and wanted just to drop a note and say I found them helpful in sorting through the situation(s).
I’ve been surprised by the Libyan events. Your thoughts are interesting, and I suspect we’ll have a sense of which way things are going sooner rather than later.
The two Air Force colonels who defected show a hopeful crack in the facade of Gaddafi’s defiance. With any luck, either more pilots will defect, or ground crews might help ensure there are fewer aircraft available. Unfortunately, Gaddafi is ready to use ground forces to create devastating casualties as well. The geography and demographics of Libya may help to reduce casualties, though. The southern half of the country is open desert. The eastern cities of Benghazi and Tobruk (the Afrika Corps’ old stomping grounds) have been reported as being in the hands of the anti-government forces. Depending on how dedicated to a “last stand” mentality the military is, this could limit combat actions to Tripoli and the other, smaller western coastal cities. While there could still be substantial casualties, if Libya’s second city (Benghazi) and one of its’ major ports (Tobruk) have already shed the government, that could make the possibility of limiting bloodshed with no-fly zones much more practical, and with Libya’s neighbors Tunisia and Egypt already freed, Gaddafi’s limited options will hopefully convince him NOT to go down fighting. Then again, this is the man who backs terrorism and has willingly sent his pilots to die trying to make the US blink. Libya, like Iran, will most likely end in terrible bloodshed. We can hope for common sense to prevail, but I doubt if Gaddafi will go away quietly. May God help and save the Libyan people.
Deutsche Welle TV just reported (14:10 Eastern) that Algeria is dropping its’ state of emergency, which has been in place for many years. One more North African nation moving peaceably toward a more free and open government. A small ray of sunshine through the clouds of Libya’s strife.
That is a good thing, hopefully they can avoid the violence and bloodshed of Libya.
As you pray for Libya and her people, spare a thought for New Zealand. The ABC and BBC are reporting 75 dead and over 300 missing in Christchurch, with more fatalities expected. Power is out in Christchurch, most phone lines to the South Island are down, and the eponymous cathedral, landmark of Christchurch, has been heavily damaged, its’ spire toppled and destroyed. It’s been a bad summer for that area, with the cyclone hitting northeast Australia, heavy flooding in Queensland, and now this. The footage is heart-breaking.
For sure, it is a terrible situation down there, just devastating
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