In days gone by we were taught to respect the dead even if they happened to be evil. Anyone's death is supposed to remind us of our own inevitable end. But obviously in the post modern world that we are living in, with its materialism and failing economies, there is no space for such old fashioned moral values.
No Western leader exemplified this sad state of affairs more than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as they competed with one another for the best gloat over Gaddafi's gruesome murder. Clinton beat them all when she said over CBS TV 'We came, we saw, he died' in a pathetic attempt to paraphrase Julius Caesar whilst laughing away in jubilation over the latest murder of yet another third world leader.
Sickeningly, her host couldn't hide her glee either as she too joined in the fun. And this on a TV network that brags about journalistic values and all the hogwash that goes along with such snow-white claims. So much for an unbiased American media!
But there was a slip. CBS was conducting a formal interview with Clinton when her aides interrupted the recording to convey the 'breaking news' of Gaddafi's murder. As she, her aides and the TV crew joked over Gaddafi's murder the reporter slipped in a question. 'Did your recent surprise visit to Libya have anything to do with Gaddafi's death?" 'No' replied Clinton. Then she rolled her eyes adjusted her jacket and confessed 'I am sure it did'.
This raises a question. Was there a sense of relief in Clinton's gloating? Did she or her fellow politicians in the US have something to hide? After all it was not so long ago that President Barack Obama gave Gaddafi a firm handshake. Was Gaddafi more dangerous as a prisoner of war than head of state? Would he have spilled the beans on Western leaders like Clinton when he had nothing to lose?
Apart from Obama we had Tony Blair grinning from ear to ear in Gaddafi's tent not many moons ago and Prime Minister Berlusconi was captured on camera kissing Gaddafi's hand when he was on a visit to Italy. Then there was Nicolas Sarkozy looking like a million dollars when greeting Gaddafi whilst he was on a visit to Paris. Could there be any truth in Gaddfai's son saying that his dad had funded Sarkozy's election campaign like as if his dad's money were his grandfather's inheritance? Relevant questions all.
Lest we forget, Condoleezza Rice, not to be outdone by her rivals, paid her respects to Gaddafi in his tent. Has Gaddafi taken his secrets to his unmarked and unknown grave? Is there someone who knows the secrets that Gaddafi knew?
Actually there is one but he's on the run. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is his name. Apart from aiding and abetting his father in his crimes against his own people, he was at one time doing the rounds in Western capitals boosting his image with the aid of heavily paid PR companies as a 'Western educated economist who has plans to bring his backward African nation to the modern world'. That is the world of banksters, conglomerates, the war industry and corrupt politicians. But will he be allowed to live to tell the tale? His apparent decision to surrender to the ICC could be his 'life' insurance assuming that the ICC is not hand in glove with the empire.
The Libyan saga teaches an expensive lesson to all aspiring leaders in the aftermath of the Arab Spring as well as those of the 'developing world' formerly referred to in disparaging terms as the 'third world'. Never trust a Western leader. They should, instead, place their trust in their own people.
To their credit African leaders stood by Gaddafi in his time of need, but being the obstinate fellow he was he couldn't read the writing on the wall. If he had listened to his African friends he would probably be alive today.
No non-Western leader gloated over Gaddafi's ghastly murder. Not even the leaders of Libya's NTC said a word that smacked of triumphalism despite the fact they had suffered much during Gaddafi's tyranny though they must be held accountable for their 'happy' days with their erstwhile boss.
Meanwhile the NTC must find itself in a catch 22 situation. They have got rid of Gaddafi's tyranny but by virtue of that 'victory' they now find themselves at the mercy of the US-NATO alliance. Have they exchanged one master for another?
Already the NTC is in a bind. The UN has called for investigations into the murder of Gaddafi and about 56 others who were executed by an overzealous mob of 'rebels'. If the NTC doesn't conduct an investigation the West, along with its media, will go after them like a pack of hounds. If they were to conduct an investigation there will have to be someone who will have to pay for the crime. Therein lies the rub. Punishing those who killed Gaddafi and his 'loyalists' might break the fragile unity that has withstood the entire 'revolution'. It's a case of damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Besides, the West has got an ace up their sleeve already. If the NTC leaders refuse to obey their dictates they might get the UN, which is in their pocket, to impose sanctions on them using Gaddafi's murder as a pretext. That would be the supreme irony.
The writer is Vice President of the Sri Lanka-Palestine Solidrarity Movement |
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