When King Idris al-Sanussi heard the chants against him that said “Even Eblis [the devil] is better than Idris”, on the eve of Muammar Gaddafi's coup, he said: Amen, Amen, and both him and the chanters' prayers were answered. But there is one positive aspect of Muammar Gaddafi's clinging to power for 42 years, heavy as stone as he is on the chests of the Libyans. This positive aspect has been invisible to everyone and I alone discovered it, and it is that all the Libyans have secured for themselves palaces in heaven since they were tormented long enough in the Colonel's hell on earth. I pray for a quick end to Gaddafi's regime. It is much worse than its reputation would otherwise make it appear, even when its reputation is indeed dreadful. I thus vent public anger with some mockery, which is easy with the Colonel. All that a writer has to do is convey to the reader what this madman says for the reader to laugh, or convey what he does for the reader to cry. We thus laugh with an Egyptian who said: “We used to say that Mubarak is a dictator because his term saw five U.S. Presidents come and go. But what should we say about Gaddafi who saw three Egyptian Presidents come and go”. Hellfire is the fate of disbelievers and tyrants, where they shall be roasted in the flames of hell. But today, I suggest a hell where punishment is even more severe: A closed crowded hall with no seats or doors where Colonel Gaddafi gives the audience an eternal speech. Is Gaddafi insane? He indeed is. However, I would rather prefer for him to be accused of sanity so that he may be prosecuted. I know that the Libyan people say that Gaddafi is a madman, while Gaddafi insists that it is the people that are insane (and are rats and mice as well). However, any poll in Libya or beyond will confirm that Gaddafi is insane, and that the people of Libya are sane. Nevertheless, I have evidence for Gaddafi's madness, also unthought-of by anyone other than me, which is that Gaddafi could always afford to leave Libya, and yet, he chose to stay under the Gaddafi regime. I recently heard that Gaddafi takes drugs, and then heard that he takes anti-anxiety pills, because he is enraged by the ingratitude shown by the Libyans. They do not seem to appreciate his services, sacrifices and how he sacrificed his entire life to pleasing the people of Libya. In another account, Gaddafi went insane when he heard that one of his sons took drugs…with the problem being that he took his father's drugs. Perhaps Gaddafi is a megalomaniac, since his egoism borders on insanity. This month two years ago, we heard him proclaim at the summit in Doha, “I am a universal leader, the dean of Arab rulers, Africa's King of Kings and the Imam of the Muslims…” But if Gaddafi is an imam, then I am the Sheikh of al-Azhar. There is a general known response to this where I live in London. Women who keep asserting they are ‘ladies' are not ladies at all. Similarly, the man who keeps saying he is a leader, the dean of rulers, and the king of kings, is not so at all. I had written about the Doha summit at the time and proposed other titles for Gaddafi including, as a reminder, Lord of the two lands and the two seas, the undisputed leader, the prince of the sea, the sheikh of the mountain, Abu Khananeh, Abul Jamajem, Abul Layl, or Abul Wayl…Where is he now and where is King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, whom Gaddafi attacked at the summit. I read that the London School of Economics (LSE) – which is a university and one of the most important economics universities in the world – is going through a crisis because of its ties to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. He holds a PhD from this famous university, which he paid for in cash, and all what he did to get the doctoral degree is visit the university, just like I went to the LSE to visit my daughter who studied there. Actually, I have more important doctoral degrees than him, because I also went to Oxford and Cambridge, also because my son and daughter studied there and I visited them back in the time. If Saif al-Islam Gaddafi holds a PhD because he visited the LSE, then I do too. I heard Saif al-Islam speak at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos a few years ago, as a thousand others must have heard him too. He said that Western governments rely on taxes paid by their citizens, and for this reason, they must listen to them and do what these citizens want. However, in Libya, the government's revenue comes mainly from oil…in other words, he means that the Libyan government does not have to listen to the people's opinion as though Saif al-Islam considers Libya's oil to belong to his mother and father. Like father like son, or the apple does not fall far from the tree and the snake begets a snake, as the Arab saying goes. I ask myself here, what would happen if Muammar Gaddafi triumphs over his people? The price that would be paid by the Libyans would be terrible. However, in the end I need to look after my own self, and I think about the day when I get kidnapped from an Arab country, sent to Libya, and “pinned down” by the colonel with a speech that lasts an eternity, before he sends me to where Imam Musa Sadr and brother Mansour Kikhia disappeared. The above changed an old habit of mine I had, as I used to read the obituaries page to see if someone I know had died. Today, I suffice myself with the front page because the name I seek would be published on the top of this page if he dies. I conclude with a Libyan story, the accuracy of which remaining the responsibility of the people behind it. The story's bottom line is that the Libyan people were once taken to a large stadium to hear a speech by Colonel Gaddafi. As usual, there was a checkpoint at the entrance, and so a man was caught with two yellow pill-shaped objects. He confessed the objects were drugs, and was taken to prison, tried and sentenced. After the man served his sentence, he was released, and was received by his wife who said that she did not know that he did drugs. He said that the objects were not drugs, but were two small ear plugs so that he would not have to listen to Gaddafi's speech, and that he had to pretend they were drugs because the punishment for the other ‘crime' was much worse. [email protected]
