We Write What We Like

I have just finished listening to Colonel Qaddafi
I did not get wiser, nor did my opinion change.

40 years is enough even if the ruler is Mother Tereza
or Nelson Mandela…………

One thing I must agree with Qaddafi:
If and when Qadafi shall leave Libya,
it will no more be ruled by “a Libyan”.
Raja Chemayel

Raja, I am surprised.  How did you get the strength to listen to Gheddafi’s speech all the way to the end?  I tried but couldn’t do it.  I got too sick.  I did even vomit. 

I met the man several times.  I prayed behind him on the sand outside his tent.  I visited his home and sat with his ordinary and humble wife and lovely daughter, Aashea.  I was impressed.  I loved what I saw.  Aaesha told me that she will soon be studying law to defend the oppressed.  I must say that my home is better than theirs.  I am not rich.  I saw no servants.  It was Aaesha and her mom who brought lemonade, pistachio nuts and baclawa.  The living room was tiny and had simple furniture.  Only the home of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan impressed me more.  It was even tinier and simpler.  The couch I sat on was an old iron bed.

Nasser was a dictator, but we loved him.  He was our champion. As a matter of fact, we almost “worshipped” him.  He built Egypt.  The Arab people realized that we are one nation.  Despite our defeats, we felt proud. He was one of the pillars of the non-aligned nations’ movement.  He continued to live in his house that he owned as an officer.  The home had only one bathroom.  Nasser was surprised when his children complained and told him that they knew some families who had two bathrooms.  The Nasser family members had to stand in line to wash, bathe and do the other thing; you know what I mean.  After he was poisoned, he left behind less than 100 dollars for his family.

Gheddafi was a dictator too.  But we tolerated him.  He financed several liberation movements around the world.  He didn’t succumb to Zionism.  He didn’t open an Israeli embassy at this bad time when the majority of Arab leaders are caving in.  We also thought that he didn’t deposit billions of dollars in foreign banks.  Of course, it is too early to find the truth.

I personally dropped Gheddafi from my “book” when he paid over two and a half billion dollars to the Lockerbie Pan American crash victims.  Libya has nothing to do with this horrendous crime.  It was a false flag.  It was a CIA operation.  The White Prime Minister of South Africa was warned in advance to not take that plane. Gheddafi also paid for the attack on a night club in Berlin.  Two American soldiers died.  This crime was carried out by the German Red Brigade that worked for the CIA.

My “respect” for Gheddafi ended when he capitulated to Bush the son on nukes and sent all material and equipment to Washington.  The guy even demanded that Iran should do the same to avoid destruction by America.

I was delivering a speech titled “Africa’s Brain Drain” in Tripoli, Libya when the Tunisian President fled to Saudi Arabia.  Almost 500 people from Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand attended a conference on African Immigration to Europe.  I was shocked to discover that the organizers were not interested in the papers we delivered.  They packed us as cattle and drove us to listen to Gheddafi and his puppets.  The great “revolutionary leader” delivered another speech telling the Tunisians that they should have kept Ben Ali for life as a president.  I couldn’t believe my ears.  He repeated the same nonsense later when the Egyptian youth revolution erupted.  He wanted Mubarak to stay.

The only thing that I loved about my trip to Tripoli is the fact that I met some good people.  Abdel Hakim Jamal Abdel an-Nasser was one.  Fortunately, he didn’t speak.  I felt that he was disgusted.  We embraced.  I saw Nasser in him.  But I also wept.  I am “weak”.

I do apologize to the Arab people of Libya.  I thought that they would never rise up.  I thought that they are not prepared to face the enormous firepower of Gheddafi’s army. Fortunately, I was wrong. To my greatest surprise, they did.  The price was too high.  My Libyan brothers and sisters continue to pay.

Today, Gheddafi accused the Libyan youth who demand his ouster of being on drugs.  Now I am convinced that the man himself is hallucinating.  He should check what his Ukrainian “nurse” is giving him.  He should leave now.  He must not forget to take his sons.  Libyans want to be free.  The Gheddafi “kingdom” must come to an end.

Ali Baghdadi