Gadhafi Dead

Mike & Friends Blog

Dan Rackley

Dan Rackley is a US Naval veteran living in Philadelphia and a contributor to "Will They Ever Trust Us Again?"

28 Comments Print

October 20th, 2011 11:48 AM

For the past forty two years, Muammar Gadhafi had ruled Libya with what could best be described as an iron fist. I do not have to perform a massive amount of research to tell people the various atrocities that occurred under this man’s rule. It’s well known. You can turn on CNN, or look at a copy of Newsweek and get a glimpse of the horrors that took place under his thumb. That glimpse is more than most of us would ever want to see.

Today, October 20, Gadhafi was reportedly killed in a NATO airstrike. Most of us in the United States awoke to the news of his being killed. Until recently, Gadhafi was just that crazy fellow from Africa that liked living in tents. The harsh reality of it, he was another example of prolonged genocide against his own people that hasn’t been seen since the fall of Saddam Hussein. There is nobody in the civilized world that can defend this man’s actions, or the actions of anyone that supported him.

Innocent people died under this man’s rule. Men, women and children. People that were concerned with their farms. Abdulhakim Khaditha al-Kabir was an innocent beekeeper, trying to support his family. One of Gadhafi’s son’s took him and several others and maliciously killed them. For no damned reason other than they could. It’s something that could make even the hardest person sick. al-Kabir was just one of thousands, many of which we will never know their names that died all because they disagreed with someone. Or even worse, because they were out after curfew.

Very gruesome cell phone video aired on most of the major news networks of Gadhafi’s body. The decision by the networks to air this footage is almost a direct mirror of the decision to not air the death photos of Osama Bin Laden. The difference here, is that unlike Bin Laden; nobody will look to Gadhafi as a martyr. He will be forever looked at as a man that died fighting for a country that was no longer his. That the world recognized was no longer his.

The Libyans have their freedom now. They have the right to do what they will. Hopefully, NATO will soon vote on a resolution to pull troops out of Libya and let the people of that country do what they have ached to do for generations; govern themselves. We’ve seen the mistakes that have been made in Afghanistan and Iraq. Outside forces have been in those areas for far too long. The jury is still out on when exactly they will be gone, if ever. The fall of Saddam Hussein, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, now the overthrow of Gadhafi. Three very historical events. Hopefully the world can learn from its mistakes and let Libya be Libya and not a watered down version of another country.