And so many Maltese are in business with this man
Saif Al Islam Gaddafi
Once committed to democracy, Gadhafi’s son now crushes all dissent
DOUG SAUNDERS/LONDON
Globe and Mail (Canada) – Tuesday, Feb. 22
After we took turns throwing raw meat through the cage bars to his hungry Bengal tigers, talk turned to democracy, and the activists who were pressing him for change.
“If they are accusing us of lacking democracy in Libya, I have no problem with this, I like this,” Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and presumed heir to dictator Moammar Gadhafi, told me as we sat in the hot Saharan sun in his remote desert compound. “Even criticism of human rights in Libya is a positive thing, and I will support them, I will join them.”
He added, in fluent English with a slight stammer, that foreign democracy activists were welcome. “And please, I ask them to come here and help us to introduce democracy to Libya, to help Libyans have better records of human rights, to help Libyans with technical support to the Libyan economy, to help investment.”
It was the same hesitant, wandering, occasionally angry voice the world heard on Sunday night when the younger Mr. Gadhafi, 38, appeared on national television to threaten the lives of the thousands of protesters who had gathered in Libya’s cities, to warn that a civil war would ensue if people dared challenge his power, to declare that his father would “fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet.”
But when Seif Gadhafi ushered me into the desert at the end of 2004 to deliver an angry message to Canada, and kept me around his high-security luxury compound for hours to talk about democracy and politics, he was a different, far more optimistic man.
As the most prominent son of Africa’s longest-reigning and most bizarre autocrat, Seif seemed a promising figure in Arab politics half a decade ago, having done much to undo the damage caused by his father’s extremism. He had negotiated an end to terrorism and to Libya’s nuclear program, and had personally apologized and paid compensation for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
He declared himself a reformist. The floor of his sprawling house was littered with half-read books on such fashionable liberal topics as “soft power,” multilateral diplomacy and globalization. He spoke of becoming a democratic leader.
Yet also visible in our three-hour conversation were the seeds of Sunday night’s speech, and the horrors that followed on Monday as the Libyan military reportedly opened fire from ground and air on protesters. In a cascade of defections, dozens of senior Libyan ambassadors and military officers turned against Seif and his father Monday night, denouncing them as war criminals as images of mass carnage filled TV screens.
Those who knew the Seif Gadhafi of 2004 say they were alarmed to see what he had become. His bold, reformist initiatives, after the breakthroughs of the early 2000s, had produced little change in Libya’s authoritarian, socialist-inspired governing structure, and the human-rights situation had only worsened. Seif, still using the rhetoric of democracy, had become extremely wealthy through corruption. (He controls a large part of Libya’s economy, from part of the oil to the Pepsi-Cola franchise.)
“Watching Seif give that speech – looking so exhausted, nervous and, frankly, terrible – was the stuff of Shakespeare and of Freud: a young man torn by a struggle between loyalty to his father and his family, and the beliefs he had come to hold for reform, democracy and the rule of law,” David Held, a London School of Economics professor who tutored Seif , told the Guardian newspaper Monday. “The man giving that speech wasn’t the Seif I had got to know well over those years.”
Seif finished his LSE doctorate on democracy and soft power in 2008, and later gave $2.4-million to the university to create a “virtual democracy centre.” The university returned that money Monday and said, in the wake of the massacres, that it wanted no more involvement with him.
Shortly after earning his doctorate, he announced that he would no longer have any role in the Libyan state, and would devote himself to his well-funded charitable foundation and to his business practices. Yet it appears that his father pushed the shy young man into the forefront of the regime this week – and that he sided decisively, if awkwardly, with his father’s authoritarianism.
That side of Seif was also visible on that day six years ago, as he lashed out against opposition parties and those who dared criticize his father’s infamous prisons and torture chambers.
“They are liars,” he said of Amnesty International. “They said, in Libya they are still conducting torture and executions and so on. Therefore this is my response: Human rights in Libya are very well protected and maintained, and I think Libya is a good example for the Middle East. And I say this very proudly.”
And he made it clear that when he advocated “democracy,” he wasn’t speaking of full-fledged multiparty representative democracy. His model, he told me, was Switzerland, for its use of referendums – he believes, like his father, in “direct democracy,” in the sort of government-by-plebiscite that Napoleon Bonaparte used to secure his authoritarian rule. Still, he recognized that even this weak form of democracy was far from what his family was delivering.
“We deviated from our principles a long time ago. We deviated. And now we have come back to stick to our ideology,” he said. “The ideology is talking about the rule of the people, the rule of the mass and direct democracy. And in the last years, we did maybe the opposite thing.”
Opposition political parties, he suggested, would never be allowed.
“Why do we have any need for parties?” he asked. “We have individuals. And we have tribes. Tribes are parties.”
And he made it clear, too, that his ultimate loyalties lie with his father – a priority that would cause him to abandon the Libyan people this week, with horrific consequences.
“We agree on the main issues: about democracy, about the economic reforms, about rapprochement with the West, with Americans, WMDs,” he said, before allowing himself a sly smile: “But sometimes we have disagreement about my tigers, because he doesn’t like my tigers, because he thinks animals are dangerous and one day maybe they will get out of the cage and then we will be in danger.”
Six years later, those words would seem eerily prescient. The uncaged threat, however, would be far more numerous and more challenging than Seif Gadhafi’s pets.
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Only one thought of relief comes to mind when thinking of the Gaddafi clan: that they do not have nuclear weapons. On the other hand, I hope that they do not have hidden WMD like chemical weapons which they would unleash upon the citizens a’ la Saddam Hussein.
Other than this, the picture looks very bleak indeed, with the old man inciting civil war in his speech, ie enticing Libyans to go out for other Libyans.
“Min jaghti bis-sejf, bis-sejf jaqla.” I think it is written in the gospels.
PS. Despite what it says above about Lockerbie, in an interview with the BBC, this man never accepted Libya’s responsibility for the Lockerbie terrorist attack. And then, later, he was the man to greet the Lockerbie bomber back in Libya like a hero.
This must be Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s nightmare:
1) The Libyan régime is in tatters and Gaddafi is about to be overthrown.
2) Malta has not offered safe haven to him or his family.
3) Malta is being used as a base by NATO.
4) Malta is full of “barrani” journalists, agents and employees.
5) We’ve had to resort to NATO for protection.
6) We’ve had to follow EU foreign policy guidelines.
“Libyan Army have deployed troops at Sabratha town
Posted on February 22, 2011 by admin
Al Jazeera and Reuters report that the Libyan army have deployed a large number of troops in Sebratha, some 65km/40m west of Tripoli.
Al Jazeera also report clashes in the Sarman district of Tripoli” http://www.libyafeb17.com/?p=1825#comments
Smashing article!
Could it be the approach of 2012 and the cleansing of the Earth from evil?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12541080
Iranian warships in the Mediterranean; testing the waters, presumably. What a headache!
After years of relative calm and security, it seems that the proverbial boat is being rocked considerably.
Would KMB’s neutrality save us when the shit hits the fan? Malta would be better to act (to take care of its defence) pre-emptively before it is too late. Neutrality….a remnant of the long expired (and deceptive) Tito concept.
Politics often demands that business be done with brutes and tyrants; that has been the case as long as diplomacy has existed.
Yet there is a dividing line between holding your nose and doing what is necessary, and going out of your way to smarm up to a dictator.
PN and MLP have both crossed the line on numerous occasions.
Can’t understand the inexplicable optimism being shown by commentators on Al Jazeera and other news channels. They seem to really believe that time is running out for Gaddafi. All the news indicate that the regime is clamping down hard on the opposition and Gaddafi supporters roam the streets of Tripoli.
Some of the tweets on Twitter are quite scary. Clearly the regime had a contingency plan to react swiftly against an uprising and it seems to have worked. Hundreds of mercenaries are being flown in daily. To me the future looks bleak for Gaddafi’s opponents. What am I missing?
I hold the same view: the future is bleak. In my view, unless there is an imposed no-fly zone (for Libyan air-craft and others who might want to help the regime) over Libya and unless massive numbers from the armed forces defect, the Libyan people are in for a rough ride for quite some time.
Al Jazeera have just reported that there are two defecting Libyan warships inside Maltese territorial waters. Muscat’s marketing campaign is working wonders.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
2138: The former British foreign secretary Lord Owen, tells the BBC’s Newshour that the situation is “a humanitarian disaster”. He believes the UN needs to mandate a resolution. “We can’t intervene on the ground, but we can stop Gaddafi threatening his own people with his air force.”
Yes. And what has the Council come up with? A mere statement. Qatta nies bla bajd (just like most European leaders). Who knows what they are waiting for. Presumably more blood-shed so that an international intervention would be more acceptable. In the meantime, foreign mercenaries keep flying in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
2120: More on the Arab League’s decision to suspend Libya from meetings (see entry at 1828): Mr Moussa says Libyan delegations are banned “until the Libyan authorities respond to the demands that have been set”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
2227: Emily, from Hull, writes: “Reports on Libyan TV – pro-Gaddafi supporters entered hospitals, rounded the wounded and killed them in an unspecified location. Where is their help?! Who is out there defending these people??”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
2258: The United Nations Security Council has issued a statement which condemns the use of violence in Libya and calls for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held to account. The statement was agreed by the council after a day of debate on the situation in Libya.
Oh goodie! That should fix everything. Useless twits.
How could all these naive people – from his tutor David Held to the journalist who wrote this article – not have realised how stupid and dangerous this man is?
So first we go into the garden to feed raw meat to the pet Bengal tigers, but it’s OK because after that we go back inside the house and there on the floor are ‘half read’ (how did he know?) books about soft power on the coffee table – maybe Michelle Muscat was doing his PR. I mean, talk about an evil villain cliche. Austin Powers couldn’t have done it better.
The apple does not fall far from the tree.
If you know the Maltese who are in business with this man, you should name them.
The smile of Hitler, Mussolini and all the mad men who came after. I can’t think of an adjective to call this man, who can kill his own people. I hope he and his family get what they deserve.
Something about Lybia(Gaddafi regime):
-interest loans
-in the study receive the average wage for this occupation
-if you do not find a job after graduation, the state pays to work at a profession
-by entering into marriage, the state buys an apartment or house …
-cars at factory prices
-not owe anyone a penny to no one(no one!)
-free health and education
-25% of people highly educated
-40 bread cost $ 0.15 …
…and many more!
Freedom for Lybia, DEATH TO Al-Qaeda, NATO… !
My European brothers, don’t beleve to USA and UK, they r lying!
Open your minds and don’t watch bad/listen propaganda.
Most of Lybians r 4 Gaddafi, and u will see when Gaddafi wins.
Truth will prevail!