Former America President, Barack Obama speaking after the murder of Muammar Gaddafi, said his death as a warning to authoritarian leaders that iron-fisted rule “inevitably comes to an end,” and as vindication for his cautious strategy toward Libya.
This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya.
Our leadership at NATO has helped guide our coalition. Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives, and our NATO mission will soon come to an end."
Obama said in the White House Rose Garden.
Today, Libya as a Nation State has been destroyed by US-NATO.
What do you think of when you hear the name Colonel Gaddafi? Tyrant? Dictator? Terrorist? Iron-fisted? Authoritarian? Well, Gaddafi had his flaws - and lots of them, but he isn't the man the West painted him to be.
The 2012 political satire comedy film titled "The Dictator" was an attempt by the West to portray Gaddafi in a bad light and although the movie was made to have a rather 'comic' ending, the message - albeit not entirely true, had been passed. The world believes Gaddafi was a monster - but was he?
For 41 years until his demise in October 2011, Muammar Gaddafi did some truly amazing things for his country and repeatedly tried to unite and empower the whole of Africa.
So despite what you’ve heard on the radio, seen in the media or on the TV, Gaddafi did some powerful things that are not characteristic of a “vicious dictator” as portrayed by the western media.
Obama would later say his “worst mistake” in his presidency was not planning for the aftermath of Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster. Obama was reflecting on his time in office on Fox News when he dropped the bombshell. Though he expressed regret over failing to plan for Libya after Gaddafi, he said the intervention was “the right thing to do”.
Speaking to Fox News anchor, Chris Wallace who had asked what Obama’s worst mistake was, he said, “Probably failing to plan for the day after, what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.”
This, many feel were the words of a man who was in guilt after realizing that Gaddafi wasn't what he was made to believe he was. Yes, Gaddafi was a sharp bone in the neck of the West, but that was solely because he was an unrepentant Pan-African who was going to do everything in his power to liberate Africa from Neo-colonialism and the shackles of the West.
Before he was killed - a murder orchestrated by the West through NATO, Gaddafi was planning to introduce a one currency system in Africa (like Kwama Nkrumah always wanted) through the Gold Dinar and he was willing to fund this!
He was always trying to talk Africa out of her dependence on the West and was the only African leader to have completed massive capital projects and infrastructure without help from the West or loans from the World Bank, IMF and China.
Here are some things about Gaddafi that you may not know about…
- A declassified email reveals that Libya was invaded due to fears that Muammar Gaddafi would establish a pan-African currency based on the country’s gold Dinar.
- Osama Bin Laden was declared wanted man by Gaddafi three years before 9/11 attacks.
- Muammar Gaddafi. was long time friends with Nelson Mandela.
- It is believed that Gaddafi was actually murdered because he challenged the existing monetary system, by his bold plannings for the African Gold Dinar which would effectively free Africa as a continent from its dependence on the West.
- Gaddafi government built the Great Man-Made River without the financial support of major countries or loans from world banks. It is also the largest underground network of pipes and aqueducts in the world.
- Gaddafi’s last words as he begged for mercy were: “What did I do to you?” His murderers did not have an answer!
- Under Gaddafi, Libya grew to have one of the highest per capita income and life expectancies of all African nations.
- He was determined to challenge the old colonial powers and was convinced that Northern Ireland was very much like Libya. The Catholics, he believed, were fighting a revolutionary struggle against the yoke of British imperialism. So he offered to supply them with money and arms.
So, was Muammar Gaddafi nothing more but an iron-fisted authoritarian?
Source: reuters.com, kickassfacts.com
Image Credit: Bloomberg