Written By Dr. Inyang Oduok
The savage treatment of Col. Gahafi while injured but alive and the cannibalistic treatment of his lifeless body do not allow for easy closure of Gadhafi’s death in the hands NATO and its Rebel allies.
It is reported that his “mutilated body was laid out in a commercial freezer as a trophy for public view flanked by his slain son Mautossim and former defense chief Abu Bakr Younis.
One Rebel fighter is seen pulling his hair and others beating his limp body. Some struck his head with a gun butt. There is gun shot wound to his forehead and abdomen. The body looked like half naked. Excited Rebel fighters hovered around his lifeless body like maggots toying with his body and yanking his head up and down as they flashed the victory sign.” “Gadhafi who is alleged to have been dragged out of a drainage ditch alive was executed according to forensic pathologist.” The Rebel behaviors were gory, gruesome, despicable and brutal by any civilized standards.
The Western powers’ whose daily air strikes -26, 000 sorties including 9, 600 strike on 5, 900 military targets assisted by rag tag Rebel forces cut down Qaddafi, were equally jubilant. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hoped that “Gadhafi is captured or killed so that the Libyans will have their freedom.” Precedent Obama said “we can definitely say that the Gadhafi ‘s regime has come to an end.” Nothing was said about the gruesome images which in no way reflect the culture, practices and values we in this country share.
Sirte, Qaddafi’s birth place is reported “to be a ghost town. There is hardly a building without a bullet hole. The stench of putrefying bodies waft through the air combined with fetid smell from standing water in the main streets. There is no place for Siterans to lay their heads, cook or eat.” I thought the no fly zone and the NATO military intervention were intended to protect the civilian population? What happened?
GADHAFI THE MAN:
As human, our work is not measured by taking the sum of our good deeds and the sum of our bad deeds and averaging them out. The measure is our heart and for this, Gadhafi stands tall in the world stage.
When Col. Qaddafi came to power 42 years ago, Libya under Idris monarchy was divided among three loosely confederate provinces and dozens of insular tribes. He forged Libya into a single nation and unified the people under a democratic principle –people’s democracy where every one is a ruler.
Qaddafi had wide support from his people. He loved them and they in turn loved him. “Life under Qaddafi was good says Zidane standing on the roof top. Now he is dead. God give him mercy.”
Libya is clearly an African country. But under Idris the late Monarch, it was identified as one of Arab States. It was Qaddafi that returned Libya to where it belongs-Africa.
Across Africa, the King of Kings is widely admired. His tone is fighting but he symbolizes civil and religious liberty and a caring heart. He had a wide range of friends. In Bamako, the Capital of Mali, Gadhafi stands tall larger than life. A new campus building bears Gadhafi’s name.
Gadhafi had a deep pride in Pan Africanism. He was the driving force -the pillar of an emerging United States of Africa. Across African continent, his murder has brought home a growing awareness of the rebirth of NATO colonialism with oil as a predominant factor.
Gadhafi supported several African liberation movements. He offered substantial financial support to Black South Africans in their years of struggle against white South African Apathy regime. He generously contributed for the liberation struggles around the globe.
Gadhafi offered Louis Farakan millions of dollars to assist African Americans in their struggles against poverty. The offer was allegedly blocked by the Bush’s Administration.
His faith is deeply rooted in our founding principles- the sacred right of the people to govern themselves and hated colonial exploitation of third world nations by the West with a passion. He promoted the cause of the Palestinian people and empathized with their plight.
Libya
GADHAFFI’S THAWS WITH SOME ARAB STATES:
Gadhafi hated some Middle Eastern leaders with a passion. He saw them as puppets of the West and traitors. Some Arab leaders also hated Gadhafi. The late Egyptian President Sadat thought “he was a mad man.”
LIBYAN’S REBELLIOUS PATH:
Benghazi gave birth to the internal armed insurrection whose sole purpose appears to have been to topple Gadhafi’s regime. Gadhafi like any government tried to put down the insurrection by force after the rebel forces refused to disarm. Qatar, Arab Emirates, Jordan and Sweden joined NATO war efforts against Gadhafi.
It is important to note that United Nations Security Council authorized the no fly zone and military action if necessary to protect civilian population in response to an Arab League’s request to try to halt Gadhafi’s military advancement against the Rebels and their civilian supporters. The question is, why did Arab League request protection of Rebels that rose against a sovereign state? This raises a case of Arab states’ complicity in the Rebel uprising in Libya and as co-conspirators with NATO to topple Gahafi’s regime and kill him.
Compare:
SAUDI ARABIA:
Arab League did not seek United Nations Security Council resolution to protect civilian population when Saudi Arabia mounted a pre-meditated military assault on rebels in the Kingdom years ago. The Kingdom is still ruled by autocratic and despotic leadership and we are right in the middle of it and are doing nothing about it, why?
JORDAN UNDER KING HUSSIEN:
Arab league did not seek military intervention when Jordanian Palestinians protested against inhumane treatment by the late king Hussien of Jordan. Several Palestinians were killed in that uprising by Jordanian troops. NATO did not intervene, why?
BAHRAIN:
King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain mowed down protesters against his regime in March 2011. The Saudi sent in troops and fighter jets to quell the insurrection. Why did NATO not intervene to save civilian lives and property?
SYRIA:
How about Syria where the crack down on protest has allegedly “led to the death of 3000 people and scores injured” Why is the Arab League not seeking military intervention to save civilian lives? Sheik Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Al THani is heading a committee of Arab States to find a peaceful solution to Syrian conflict. “What is important to us” he says, “is that there are no victims from any side in Syria” The fighting should stop and the dialogue should begin between Syrian brothers. …”
ISREALI –PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:
Sharon was a brutal dictator and killed so many Palestinians in their protest against Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza. Why did NATO not sent in troops to defend the Palestinians?
YEMEN:
Is an example of government gone awry, the country’s brutal crack down of the uprising has killed thousands of citizens and yet neither Arab League nor NATO has sought military intervention, why?
The entire Arab world is ruled by autocratic or despotic leaders whose bizarre and eccentric behaviors over decades define the woes and plights of their people. Why is there no military intervention by NATO?
NIGERIA:
Nigeria, a country whose wealth is being squandered by various military dictatorships determined to snuff off any opposition despite costs in social and sectarian tension. Several freedom fighters and Delta people were killed during Abacha and Obasanjo’s administration projecting the distance between power and the powerless. Where was NATO if I may ask?
The shoot on site order of Jonathan Good luck against Akwa Ibom State people did not draw even warning from NATO, why?
GADHAFI’S THAW WITH THE WEST:
Gadhafi undoubtedly posed a formidable challenge to the West. He saw the West as exploiters and their brand of democracy as a disguised form of colonialism. He blamed the West for Arab woes mostly ruled by autocratic or despotic leaderships sustained by Western power. He was accused of sponsoring attacks against Western Nations such as the bombing of Berlin Night Club in 1986 and the downing of Pan Am airline over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988. The Regan administration retaliated after the Berlin bombing by U.S. air strike on his residence. His family members were killed in the attack.
CLOSING THE CHAPTER OF A PAINFUL EPISODE:
But over the years, everything had changed. The countries sense of hatred for Gadhafi had been replaced with forgiveness we thought. Mistrust had been replaced with trust and Gadhafi had reinvented himself. Children who lost their parents in Panam bombing had grown into young adults. Gadhafi “had paid millions of dollars of monetary compensation to victims of Panam bombing.”
The republican leadership had sent Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s Secretary of State to Libya. She so impressed Gadhafi he had an odd fixation on her, created a photo album of her and commissioned a song titled “Black Power in the White House” when she visited Libya in 2008. His government became an ally of George Bush in his fight against terrorism. He surrendered Libya’s weapons of mass destruction in 2003. The odd couples were now back together. So what went wrong again under Obama administration to warrant NATO proxy war against Libya? What caused the political fall out.
“The Arab Spring they call it.” But you all know what is going on in the Arab world. But let’s call it “Arab Spring.”
Recall that eight years ago we attacked Sadam Hussein’s government. The stated causes of the attack was the need to secure Hussein’s stock piles of weapons of mass destruction and to retaliate for his part in the September 11, terrorist attack against United States. We all now know how that turned out. There was no weapon of mass destruction. Sadam Hussein had no connection to the September 11, attack. And Iraqis did not strew roses in the path of American Soldiers as Vice President Dick Cheney represented to the American people. All turned out to be false.
Was the United Nations resolution authorizing NATO bombing to protect civilians, a pretext for regime change? The answer is categorical yes.
The deception practiced by NATO to get into Libya to take out Gahafi demeans us and shows that we do not play by the rules. More importantly, that NATO cannot be trusted.
Mapp v. Ohio, teaches us that nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws or worse, its disregard for the charter of its own existence. We cannot continue to operate as if we are a lawless nation or as if we are policemen of the world.
Also, the summary execution of Gadhafi after he was caught alive by Rebels and NATO offend laws of nations, Geneva Convention, justice and reason.
I find it highly unlikely that the field commanders were not instructed
what to do if Gahafi was caught alive. Therefore, I am persuaded to believe that Gadhafi was intentionally executed in violation of the rules of war by NATO and its rebel allies and should be called to account.
Chambers v. Baltimore, instructs that the right to use and defend in court is an alternative of force. In an organized society, it is a right conservative of all rights and lies at the foundation of orderly governments. “All criminals are entitled to their days in court.”
Also, the summary execution of Mommar Gadhafi by NATO proxy warriors, and the savage and brutal attack on the lifeless body of Mommar Gadhafi soils NATO and United States image around the globe.
Russia, China and all African Governments that voted to authorize the use of force to protect civilians and the no fly zone have been made to look like idiots by the WEST.
NATO and United State’s role in the world is now going to be viewed with more suspicion -a new form of military adventurism -to topple sovereign governments by fighting proxy wars? The credibility of United States and NATO is now questioned around the globe.
There is no greater injustice done to Qaddafi’s memories than for African Heads of Sates to remain muted over Qaddafi’s gritty end.
True Kings do not die. We beseech the good Lord to bless his soul as he enters the sleep from which there is no waking, wearing what he loved most -Africa and pouring his heart to the people he loved so much as his own children “my son don’t kill me” to his eternal rest.
Oduok is an Eket son based in Atlanta, Georgia.
