Muammar al-Qaddafi

The past few months have been difficult for cult leaders. Tito has been dead for 31 years but can it be truly argued that the break-up of the former Yugoslavia has improved life for its citizens. Saddam Hussein has been dead for 8 years, is Iraq any better off. Osama bin Laden was assassinated in a commando raid after decades in hiding but what damage that has done to Al-Qaeda is debatable. In a continuing Arab Spring Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was deposed and most recently Muammar al-Qaddafi was killed in Libya. It remains to be seen what form of government will replace his often eccentric behaviour.

 

Afghanistan in recent decades has suffered under a Soviet Invasion followed by the Taliban and extreme Islamic Law. In the wake of 9/11 with the excuse of the suspicion that Bin Laden was harboured there the US invaded abetted by the United Kingdom and Canada.

 

I find it debatable if the average citizen of any of the countries mentioned here understand democracy or have seen any benefits from regime change. Feudal Tribalism has existed in Afghanistan for millennia and little has changed in all that time save for the weapons the West has supplied to support more efficient killing. Tribalism and ethnic unrest trouble most of these nations. Feuds and inbred hatreds date from time immemorial. Too often as we have seen in a place like Cyprus the opposing sides would rather score points against their supposed enemies than better their own lots.

 

By interfering the West succeeds only in placing its troops in the middle of these disputes and in so  doing creates for itself more enemies. The chief beneficiaries of these conflicts are the arms suppliers and too often America finds itself facing its own weapons. The one point at which I do agree is that there should be no terrestrial grave for Qaddafi that might serve as a shrine to his memory. Bad enough that the manner of his death made him a martyr to the cause.