When Dictators Go Mad – Gaddafi Sentences Libya to Death

February 22nd, 2011 by zen

“Any Libyan who lifts an arm shall be punished with death….Any Libyan who undermines the sovereign state will be punished with death.” “Those who commit crimes against the army shall be punished with death. Anybody who works for a foreign company that undermines the country will be punished with death.”

Twitter is absolutely amazing on reporting events on Libya the last few days. What they lose in passing on rumors the make up for by being hours or days ahead of MSM and USG reaction.

Col. Gaddafi, who looks these days like a cross between a has-been rock star in Celebrity Rehab and Ethel Merman in her dotage, is desperately trying to cling to power and has unleashed artillery, naval bombardment, warplanes, helicopter gunships and African mercs on his own people. No word if the honorable member of the UN Human Rights Panel has employed poison gas yet, but the Libyans appear to be holding their own in fierce fighting in Libya’s largest cities.

The USG response has been muted on Libya. This sober restraint may reflect the vulnerability of American oil industry workers trapped in the fighting as well as the discomfort of anticipation of the details of recent deals between Western corporations and former government officials and the Libyan regime coming to light if Gaddafi falls. Or alternatively, Gaddafi tearing lucrative agreements up if he remains in power.

Posted in africa, arab world, dictator, diplomacy, extremists, Failed State, foreign policy, geopolitics, government, Human Rights, islamic world, mercenary, mideast, open-source, politics, public diplomacy, revolution, state department, state failure, state terrorism, tribes, twitter | 3 comments

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  1. J. Scott:

    February 23rd, 2011 at 2:18 am

    Gaddafi appears "other-worldly" in  the photo. My gut says we’re keeping mum for just the reason you cite, Zen. There are too many irons in the fire and not of US to go around (no pun intended)—even if we could change much (we can’t). As HR Haldeman said during Watergate; "once tooth-paste is out of the tube, you can’t put it back." Given the demographics of the region, coupled with technology much of this isn’t a surprise—-only the speed and resolve—-in a good way.

  2. zen:

    February 23rd, 2011 at 3:05 am

    Hi Scott,
    .
    Evidently we have been unable to even evac our US embassy dependents, which has been ordered.  Which means there are probably running gunbattles in the vicinity of the embassy itself

  3. A.Zagros:

    February 23rd, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    Thanks for the post,

    I find it amusing how the U.S. Government only chose to remove one dictator inte the region, giving the signal of – as long as you are my ally, it’s to be a dictator.

    (Which leads us to The irrelevant conclusion that the war in Iraq never was about implementing democracy.)