Thread: The Demise of Colonel Mo

The Demise of Colonel Mo
.
It is no secret Colonel Mo lies dead in a morgue alongside at least one of his sons. Of course, it really is no one’s business other than those poor souls who have lived for four decades under his rule. We foreigners merely read what the media has printed and those guys do not always tell the whole truth.

Undoubtedly it was our airmen, sailors and probably our soldiers who took part in what can only be described as a civil war which gives us the right to even comment. Thankfully for us, as far as we are told, none of our boys and girls were killed this time around. One could ponder as to whether guided missiles know right from wrong.

We English largely gave up killing our own Kings in 1685 but somehow ever since our political leaders have thought to embroil us in so many foreign wars. However, writing as one individual with an interest in history, I am sorry that we Brits yet again felt the need to go back to the same desert to fight a war against yet another dictator who also refused to accept the inevitable. He, too, was one who fought to the last drop of blood of many of the citizens he was supposed to represent. In defending his exalted position be brought down the wrath of the Asian hordes and the widespread incineration by fire bombing of his followers both loyal and disenfranchised. Finally when even to him the game was very obviously up, he committed suicide. He had no descendants to claim his throne neither did either his personal assistant nor the head of the state security forces have either the time or opportunity to succeed him, although both thought to do so.

No, the Colonel came to the same undignified demise at the hands of an excited mob as an Italian politician, who for a brief period proceeded him some sixty six years previously as the Supreme Autocrat of Libya. In the end from the safety of a drain pipe, the Colonel pleaded for mercy from a humble part-time soldier. In the circumstances, one doubts if even an ardent plea from Portia would have dissuaded the baying mob. They shot him summarily. At least the Colonel did not suffer the indignity of the meat hook but an undignified gory photo of him laying limp in death did make the front page of newspapers for the world to witness.

Suddenly amidst all this regurgitated history arises a question for we modern democrats to consider. If, whilst enrolled as a member of a guerrilla army, one suddenly discovered hiding in a drainpipe, a known and hated tyrant who was covered in blood, even if not actual but certainly figurative, would it have been justifiable to pull the trigger?

or

Would it have been more appropriate to shield him, at the risk of one’s own life, from the mob and pass that same deposed despot into the vagaries and possible mercy of a trial held in another country, in a foreign language and under an unadopted legal code? Mercy it seems to me, might have come at the cost of an enormous bill for legal fees.
When can we claim cost effective and justifiable homicide?

How think you?
Dv

There are no answers to anything at all that involves humans. I’m ashamed to be one and can only pray we will all be one day wiped out.

I was surprised and more than a little irritated that the US got involved in yet another messy conflict. Truthfully, I am glad that Colonel Mo was dispatched quickly, as callous as that sounds, so that we can hopefully move on and concentrate on the problems we are having in our own country.

The question I have is what comes next? Are these corrupt and brutal governments going to be replaced by more of the same? Something worse? We can only hope that there will be leadership that works for the needs of the people. (If such a thing truly exists.)

I have been told that my original article wasread a little obtusely. Certainly it was not a popular read. So herewith an aide memoire to help clarify some of the cryptic comments.

Colonel ‘Mo’
- Gadhafi’s christian name was Mo(u)ammar, hence ‘Mo’ as a nick name. But he would have thought to be addressed in such a way to be highly disrespectful. On Mo’s orders, students who previously had showed disrespect at demonstrations were hung publicly. Mo was being honoured by being called ‘Colonel’ when he chose to dress like a Field Marshal. No mere General in the Libyan army could expect a salute from Gadhafi, who was a mere Colonel.

‘”The Demise of”
- a polite phrase meaning: ’having died’. Used so as to avoid writing : ’having been killed’, ‘executed‘, ‘deposed’, ’shot,’ Mo was most likely summarily executed by the mob but the big question is whether his killing was authorised and if so by whom?.
Para 2
We know British planes were used to bomb Libya but it has not been confirmed that British special forces assisted on the ground. Such confirmation is unlikely to be forthcoming from Her Majesty’s Government, who had a questionable UN mandate to do so.

Several enigmas remain to be answered:
Robotic guided missiles cannot discriminate between rebels and loyalists. Who was killed by them?
Who knows how many of the good guys were killed by the missiles aimed at the bad guys?
Who exactly were the good guys and at what stage did the Loyalist troops become the bad guys?
When did the ‘Rebels’ swop from being the original bad guys to being the good guys?

1/ The last British King James
The last king whom the British executed in England was the Duke of Monmouth who had declared himself to be ‘King’ with some degree of authority in several towns in the SW of England. Eventually after a failed insurrection he was beheaded publicly with an axe.

About a century later the British fought against ‘the colonists’ during the American War of Independence and lost. Actually the ’rebels’ must have been British citizens until the Declaration of Independence.

2/ The North African Campaign in WW2
In 1940-43 the British Army fought first the Italians and later the Germans under across the coastal tracks of North Africa in defence of the Suez Canal in Egypt which had been built by the British and French and at the time was still ‘owned’ by them. Several famous WW2 battles were fought in the deserts of Libya particularly around Tobruk, an important wartime harbour. Major battles were fought on Libyan soil which had little to do with the politics of Libya

3/ The influence of Hitler
Hitler might well have been the role model for Gadhafi. Both supreme dictators held on until the bitter end and in doing so caused the citizens immense harm. At the end of WW2 the British and Americans had agreed with Stalin to hold back from entering Berlin at the end of the war thereby making way for the Russians to occupy Eastern Germany. Hitler and his Generals sheltered in an underground bunker until he finally committed suicide in 1945 by which time the Russians were within yards of the entrance to his bunker. His body, found by the Russians was taken away secretly and for years few knew if he had escaped at the end. Stalin knew about Hitler’s suicide and had ordered the news to be suppressed. The Russian Army which conquered and entered Berlin was ruthless. With Stalin’s blessing thousands of German female civilians were raped by Russian soldiers many of who originated from Asiatic Eastern Russia. Towards the end of the war, captured German soldiers were rounded up and shipped to Russia for work as slave labour. This mirrored what the Germans had done to Soviet soldiers earlier in the war. A majority of the soldiers did not return to Germany. If only Hitler had surrendered to the West earlier it would have been more difficult for the Russians to have taken over the sector of Eastern Germany control of which they held onto until 1989.
The British and the US Army Air Corps together fire bombed most of the major German cities including Hamburg, the cities of the Ruhr Gebiet and notoriously Dresden, until there was nothing left worth bombing. Tens of thousands of women and children were killed by the allies in this way largely because Hitler refused to surrender ‘unconditionally‘ - which is exactly what Gadhafi was being asked to do. If Mo had surrendered to the UN when first asked to do so then the destruction of Libyan coastal cities and the significant loss of life amongst both the rebels and the loyalists could have been avoided.
Inheritance
Two men senior Nazis were planning to replace Hitler and The Fuehrer(the leader) namely Martin Bormann, Hitler’s deputy and Himmler, the head of the SS Bormann was killed leaving the bunker after the suicide of Hitler. Himmler shortly after his capture by the British is recorded as having committed suicide and he never faced trial in Nuremberg as did Admiral Doenitz whom Hitler had appointed as acting head of state.
Mo had no likely political successors except for his eight sons. One son, Saif al Islam was being groomed to be ‘King‘ of Libya. In theory the family would be entitled to inherit Mo’s worldly possessions including his ill gotten gains secreted around the world, The sons and grandsons would become the focal point of any resistance to a newly emerging Libyan regime. Gadhafi himself would have been welcomed by several nations most notably Venezuela or maybe Syria - if he could have got there. But he chose to stay in Libya to the cost of everyone.
Capture
Mo was eventually caught hiding in a surface water drainage pipe by a rebel soldier. Bennie Mussolini, who had been the leader of the Italians during WW2, was also eventually caught and executed near Lake Como by so called Italian ‘rebel’ partisans. The body was taken for public display in Milan and was left hanging upside impaled on a meat hook in one of the town squares. Later the body was buried, then dug up and transported around Italy for ten years before eventually being put to rest in a grave in his home town.
Mo’s bloody dishevelled body was initially publicly humiliated by being shown on the front page of every world newspaper . However his body remains a potentially potent focus of dissent against whatever happens next in Libya. The Gadhafi family, who has already asked for the return of his body, is likely to consider forming a Government in exile.

Libya’s history
Back at the turn of the twentieth century Italy had occupied Libya and claimed it as part of Italy’s Mediterranean Empire. It was with the idea of annexing Eritrea that Italy entered WW2 on the German side whereas Italy had fought with the Allies in WW1. During the period when ‘Il Duce’ Mussolini was the supreme leader of Italy and its empire, Libya would have been controlled from Rome. After the end of WW2, once Libya had been freed from the yoke of Italy, King Idris (formerly known as the Emir of Libya) ruled for 18 years from 1951 to 1969 as an all powerful monarch. Idris had one big problem in that he could not procreate an heir but producing sons was one ability which Mo had no difficulty with.

The influence of Oil
Oil had been discovered in 1959 and not unsurprisingly not long after Gadhafi staged a revolution against King Idris and stole the power of the throne and with it control of the oil revenues. After coming to power Mo was to prove to be an awkward negotiator for the international oil companies to deal with. Oil and Gas is what Libya is economically all about and is vital to Italy. Much of it is shipped across to the USA largely because the crude oil is light and ideal for refining into gasoline.

Portia
The reference comes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice when Portia speaks that: ‘The quality of Mercy of is not strained‘. Mo did not deserve mercy.

A soldier’s dilemma
The part time soldier who discovered Mo hiding in a drain would have been in serious danger if he had tried to shield Mo from the wrath of the mob. And why should he take the risk? Until that moment the soldier was trying to kill members of Mo’s official bodyguard who probably in law had more right on their side to kill him. Why should the soldier be concerned about shooting a dictator who was carrying a golden gun? Did the rebel soldier know that suddenly the rules had been changed and he was not allowed to kill Gadhafi. His brigade commander has since offered to take the blame for the death of Mo.
If Mo had been captured alive and taken to the rebel authorities in Tripoli or Benghazi then a highly likely scenario is that Mo would have eventually been put on trial at the International Court in The Hague.
The language of that court is English and perhaps Dutch but certainly not Arabic.
The UN legal system is somewhat unique and is certainly not akin to that held under Muslim law.
The Netherlands is in the Continent of Europe and not Africa.
Plus the descendents of Mo would have had a better chance to sue in Europe for the proceeds of the Father’s estate and that cannot be justice.
It is questionable whether Libya has the legal system to try Mo for his sins worldwide.

Comparisons
If a policeman in Britain has authority to shoot a suspect for merely pointing a gun why can’t a volunteer soldier in Libya justifiably kill a recognised tyrant holding a golden gun? The policeman’s action would have been investigated and perhaps he might have been accused of ‘justifiable homicide‘. If any crime was committed surely it was justifiable homicide?

End Game
With a population of just 6 million citizens and untapped underground reservoirs of oil, gas and water ,Libya holds the prospect of being a very wealthy state. But in order the for the citizens to benefit dictators have to be banished and the rule of law established. It will be interesting to witness if they succeed. It would be a shame if a successor to Gadhafi rose to power but no doubt several of his sons have been groomed to do so.

Obtuse?? I didnt think so.

You have to consider the risk-benefit ratio in all decision making situations. If the value of due process is worth more than the threat of being dragged into the mob with him, then the benefit would outweigh the risk... but I would probably stop short of risking my life for a known despot!