NATO Ends Gaddafi's 42-Year Terrorist Reign

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 22, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

      Libyan rebel forces, called the National Transitional Council, led by Benghazi based Mustafa Abdel Jalil and backed by the U.S. and NATO finally captured most of Tripoli Monday, driving 69-year-old Moammar Kadafi deeper into oblivion.  While his whereabouts remain unknown, Kadafi’s Tripoli-based command-and-control compound known as Bab Al-Aziziya was finally leveled by NATO bombardment, ending whatever resistance of isolated pockets around Tripoli.  U.S. and NATO-backed rebel forces finally moved on Tripoli, a war that began in the wake of Tunisia’s Jan. 15 and Egypt’s Feb. 12 revolutions.  While few though it would take this long to get rid of Gaddafi, his command-and-control centers and organized resistance finally collapsed.  French President Nicolas Sarkozy staked his reputation and future on ending Gaddafi’s 42-year-old reign of power.

            Gaddafi became an international pariah when Libyan agents bombed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 270 passengers and crew.  Bombing Pan Am Flight 103 was considered retaliation for the late President Ronald Reagan’s bombing of Tripoli April 18, 1986, in response to Gaddafi’s bombing of a Berlin nightclub April 5, 1986, injuring 79 US. troops, killing two U.S. Army sergeants.  When President Barack Obama lit up Tripoli Feb 17 with Cruise Missiles, he was following a longstanding U.S. tradition against Gaddafi’s global terrorism.  Libya’s Benghazi-based rebels took months convincing Western powers that they were committed to Democratic reforms, eventually winning the backing of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, French President Niclolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron.  Relentless U.S.-backed NATO bombing toppled Gaddafi. 

            After capturing three of Gaddafi’s sons, rebel forces won’t stop until they either find or drive the 69-year-old dictator out of Libya.  Shortly after the war began Feb. 17, Obama decided to cede control back to NATO and the rebels, providing only covert logistical and military aid.  “Your revolution is your own,” said Obama, offering U.S. aid but putting the heavy lifting into the hands of rebel leaders.  “The Libya you deserve is within your grasp,” reserving the ultimate satisfaction of toppling Gaddafi to the Libyan  people.  While Sarkozy and Cameron staked their reputations on defeating Gaddafi, the U.S. knew that the more slow-moving NATO would eventually prevail.  Today’s developments have cleared NATO’s methodical approach, taking months longer than originally expected.  While Gaddafi’s not yet found, rebel troops now occupy most key areas of Tripoli.

            Attesting to rebels’ threshold of victory, Gaddafi’s 38-year-old son Khamis, leader of Libya’s elite forces Khamis brigade, was found dead together with Libya’s security chief Abdalla Sensussi, spelling the end of any organized resistance to the rebel’s civil war.  “Today is a great day for Libya,” said Ali Awidan, ambassador to the African Union in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.  Though Gaddafi once helped found the African Union July 9, 2002, he enjoys virtually no support, despite his generous financial donations.  While Gaddafi’s tried to reform himself after the U.S. bombing in 1986, he still celebrated Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi when he was released from a British prison July 20. 2009.  Gaddafi threw him a hero’s welcome Aug. 21, 2009, prompting renewed calls for Gaddafi’s head.  One the opportunity arose, Sarkozy and Cameron jumped at the opportunity.

            Refusing to relinquish power, Gaddafi holed up in his bunker and let NATO to pound Tripoli into the Stone Age.  Now that his arrest, killing or exile is inevitable, Sarkozy called on his supporters “to turn their back on the criminal and cynical blindness of their leader by immediately ceasing fire.”  Pockets of armed resistance by Gadaffi’s loyalists are still seen in Tripoli.  “I call on all Libyans to exercise self-restraint and to respect the property and lives of others and not to resort to taking the law into their own hands, said Libyan rebel leader and expected first president Mustafa Abdel Jalil.  Jalil, a former justice minister under Gaddafi, has reassured world leaders that his rebels seek Democratic reforms and reject extremist groups like al-Qaeda.  When the civil war began Feb 17, Gaddafi blamed the uprising on al-Qaeda, refusing to accept a well-developed rebel movement.

            On the verge of toppling Gaddafi, Libya’s National Transitional Council won’t stop until the 69-year-old leader is captured, killed of exiled.  Having convinced the U.S. and NATO that he’s serious about Democratic reforms, Mustafa Abdel Jalil now enjoys the support of the vast majority of world governments.  While Obama took a backseat, Sarkozy and Cameron stuck their necks out and should benefit politically from toppling Gaddafi.  They both refused to back down, leaving the dictator only inches from falling.  When Gaddafi’s 42-year reign of terror ends, it should give North Africa a real boost, considering constructive revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.  U.S. and world financial markets, especially global oil markets, should respond positively to news of Gaddafi’s demise.  It won’t take long for Libya’s oil production to ramp up and help rebuild a war-ravaged nation.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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