Alternative Insight
The Qadhafi Conversion
Conversion or Stratagem?
The numerous spellings of his name, his personal dress, his demeanor and his behavior, made Colonel Muammar Qadhafi a provocative leader. It's lonely enough in the desert, and regardless of intentions, Qadhafi's pronouncements, battles and policies alienated his nation from other governments and increased his loneliness. The reasons for the reversals in his positions, which were to halt development of weapons of mass destruction and improve relations with the Western word, are debatable and interesting to examine. Did the Libyan leader hope to accomplish on the "inside" what he could not accomplish on the "outside?" The implications of his moves could have been far reaching. Qadhafi showed there is no monolithic Arab civilization that wants conflict with the West. Other misconceptions might have been revealed.In order to ascertain reasons for Qadhafi's conversion and understand its implications, it's important to know the Qadhafi person. Who was Muammar Qadhafi? What in his past, including his failures and successes, impelled his decisions? Did the person fit the media description?
Muammar Qadhafi
Muammar Qadhafi was born in 1942 to a Bedouin family that lived in a tent in the Libyan desert. He graduated in1963 from the University of Libya with a diploma from the Faculty of Law. Two years later he graduated from the Libyan military academy. On September 1,1969, at the age of 29 and already a colonel in the Libyan army, Qadhafi engineered a bloodless coup that displaced King Idris. Since that date, Colonel Qadhafi has been either official or titular leader of the Libyan nation. Of present world leaders, only Fidel Castro has a longer reign.Qadhafi ruled Libya as President of the Revolutionary Council from 1969 to 1977 and afterwards as General Secretary of The People's General Congress. He relinquished the latter duties in March 1979 and remained as the chief of the armed forces and a sometime head of state. Later, Qadhafi did not hold any official public office but assumed the title of Revolutionary Leader. His detractors claimed he was always the "unofficial" Head of State of a Libya, although the nation had a complete legislative branch with an elected head of government, a cabinet and a Supreme Court.
The Libyan leader proved he was not just an over-ambitious military officer who used a coup to achieve fame and fortune. Interviews on American television have shown him to be intellectual, one who read American and English literature and studied American history. He had a message and an ideology. His message, as he described it, but which many don't trust, was to bring liberation, prosperity and freedom to the Libyan people. His ideology was defined in his Green Book as a "third way" to socialism and capitalism. This "third way" recommended an economy where small private companies existed with large national companies that operate in the public interest. His social programs emphasized welfare, education and strict morality and included bans on alcohol and gambling.
The problems that Colonel Qadhafi had with the United States and other Western nations arose mainly from Libya's previous training grounds for a variety of national liberation movements. Qadhafi explained these activities as a matter of principle. He personally suffered from his support of these groups and apparently has learned the efforts were fruitless and incorrect.Involvement of Libyan intelligence agencies, under Qadhafi's direction, in terrorist acts and assassination attempts have been verified. These include executions of plotters against the regime (several attempts have been made on Qadhafi's life), assassinations of Libyan dissidents (eleven exiles living in Europe were killed in 1980-81 by Libyan agents), shooting of a British policewoman by someone from the Libyan embassy in London and the beating death of a Norwegian sailor in Libyan police headquarters. Qadhafi's willingness to compensate families of French victims from a bomb that downed a French airliner over Niger in 1989 is a partial admission of guilt in that terrorist act.
U.S. intelligence agencies accused Libya of terrorist attacks on the LaBelle disco club in Berlin, Germany and Pan Am flight 103 that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. In November 2001, a Berlin court convicted three Libyans and one Palestinian in the disco club bombing. On Jan. 31, 2001, the court convicted one of two Libyan defendants in the Lockerbie bombing. Although, Libyan links to these bombings have been established, and Qadhafi has paid reparations and been willing to take responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, firm evidence of his participation have not been released.
Qadhafi's supporters plead that Libya's terror and assassination campaigns have been responses to provocations and are proportionally much less than U.S. behavior in countries in Latin America and the Middle East and to Israel behavior in the West Bank and Gaza,
A large problem with Qadhafi's image is that despite his years of rhetoric, spending, quarreling and pronouncements, his agenda lacked credibility. He had some overlooked successes and many apparent failures.
Qadhafi's Failures
Colonel Qadhafi had several political failures and acquired a number of enemies. The Libyan leader has several things going for him. He was courageous, his own person, willing to admit to his errors and not afraid to express himself and incur the wrath of others. In an interview conducted by ABC television, Qadhafi alleged that the Wahhabi sect in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should be held responsible for the emergence of the al-Qaeda organization and other terrorist groups, and that the Kingdom is based on fundamentalism. Saudi Arabia is no friend of the Colonel.
His individuality was often expressed in well designed and outlandish dress at strict functions, such as Arab summits. The costumes offended conservative Arab leaders who considered it to be grandstanding and an attempt to trivialize his greatest failure; his attempt to form a Pan-Arab union. Qadhafi's recommendations at Arabs summits were never well received. After the Arab countries decided not to challenge UN sanctions against Libya, an angered Qadhafi announced he was rejecting pursuit of a pan-Arab union. That union was a fundamental tenet of his Green Book philosophy. Libya closed its Ministry of Arab Unity.
Other failures:
- In 1971, the Libyan leader supported an unsuccessful coup in Chad. This bold action resulted in Chad breaking diplomatic relations with Libya, anti-Qadhafi groups being allowed bases in the Chad capital, and Chad claiming the Fezzan region of Libya. France and the United States became involved in a Civil war that see-sawed for twenty years. Qadhafi publicly conceded that his involvement in Chad had been a mistake.
- In 1974, Qadhafi signed an agreement to merge Libya with Bourgiba's Tunisia's. This merger never happened, and the agreement developed into animosity between the two countries.
- Qadhafi was a strong advocate of the despised Adi Amin regime. He apologized for his mistake,
- Libya's support of several national liberation movements brought financial ruin and political ignominy to Libya. No benefit to Libya from these delicate measures has been shown.
Qadhafi was not all failure. He had had several successes that have not been highlighted by an antagonistic American press.
Qadhafi's Successes
Qadhafi could claim he liberated the Libyan people from an illegal government and brought a measure of prosperity and stability to the Libyan people before sanctions crippled the Libyan economy. Libya's $7,000 per capita income was the highest in Africa. His detractors asserted that a coup against King Idris had already been prepared, that oil rich Libya would have achieved a measure of prosperity without him and that Qadhafi was personally responsible for the sanctions and Libya's economic demise.Other successes
- He wisely initiated one of the world's largest construction projects; the retrieval of ice-age rainfall from the sandstone beneath the Sahara and the pipeline transport of the water to cities and farms. Without this project, which still is not completed, it is possible that Libya would not be able to produce food, or at least depend on rainfall to collect water and be forced to use its petrodollars to purchase water.
- He expanded his influence in Africa by mediating conflicts, such as the civil War in Burkina Faso, and by financial assistance to several impoverished nations. The latter includes aid to Niger, oil subsidies for Zimbabwe and a pledge of $200 million to UNESCO to fund scholarships of 2,500 African students for eight years.
- He stimulated cooperation between African nations by promoting several pan-African plans; an African communications satellite project to facilitate communications between Africans and the world and a borderless "United States of Africa" to transform the continent into a single nation-state ruled by a single government. His success in relations with African nations is validated by the fact that African leaders at the June 1998 summit meeting of the Organization of African Union, declared that they would ignore the UN airline embargo against Libya.
One of Qadhafi's recognized successes was his choice of bodyguards. His female bodyguards were unique in any world and more unique in the Arab world. Their beauty and well designed military outfits captured attention wherever they appeared. They distracted and disarmed all conspirators. This small maneuver gave Qadhafi another dimension - a person who appreciated women and was willing to give them opportunities normally reserved for men.
Reasons for Qadhafi's Conversion
Sayf Qadhafi, the second son of Muammar Qadhafi's four sons and the likely heir to Libyan leadership, has given reasons for Libya's decision to no longer pursue weapons of mass destruction and change in attitude towards the Western world. His reasons are not the only reasons. There are more. Sayf 's summary of his interview with the London based journal al Hayat:
- "The first reason is the political, economic, cultural, and military gains [offered to us]
- "The second reason is that we were on a dangerous path, and had problems with the West. When the West came and told us that it didn't want to fight us, but to be partners with us why persist in being hostile to it?
- "The third and main reason is that we developed weapons for the purpose of war with the enemy. We have seen that the armed struggle of the Palestinians, which lasted 50 years, did not produce results such as those obtained by means of negotiations that lasted five years..."
- "In addition, the commander [Qadhafi] is hurt by some Arab stances that made him feel like the Arabs are exploiting him, laughing at him, and threatening him with the American card.
- "The commander is convinced that as long as there is no essential change in the Arab countries and reorganization of the Arab system, this nation will not be able to grow. The commander thinks that if this problem is solved, Libya will emerge from international isolation, will conduct dialogue with the superpowers, and will act with them to change the Arab situation. And when the West and the U.S. make a treaty with you, which did not happen in the past 50 years, this can [now] come about within a few years."
Libya fought a losing cause. Qadhafi finally decided that it was preferable to be on the side of the powerful and effective than on the side of the weak and ineffectual. Rather than leave a legacy of being vilified and have Libyans suffer economic consequences, leader Qadhafi decided to become recognized and bring Libya to economic prosperity.
Can a person who believes he fought for the oppressed of the Arab and African world and against foreign intervention in the nations of those areas suddenly disregard the mission and ideology that propelled his life? Although it's only conjecture there might have been other reasons for Qadhafi's change of behavior:
- Libya might have found support and protection from Western Europe, Russia and China. European nations were becoming less allied to United States military policies and less approving of Israel's policies.
- Qadhafi gave up nothing but received commendations for his exemplary behavior. Libya's developments of weapons of mass destruction were only in their initial stages. Libya had no means to finish the tasks without being pulverized by either the United States or Israel. Besides, Libya had no delivery systems for the supposed weapons.
- Libya had two major resources that are weapons for construction rather than destruction and are bargaining chips in international relations - low sulfur oil and fresh water. Qadhafi wanted to preserve these resources and not offer any country the opportunity to wage aggression in order to obtain them from Libya. The water resource is not well mentioned in the press but is significant. No desert nation has Libya's large amount of reserves of fossil water, some of which could be exported.
- Qadhafi changed from an idealist to a pragmatist. He realized he could accomplish more by working within a system than trying to puncture it from the outside.
- Qadhafi became totally disillusioned with the lack of solidarity, inaction and oppressive aspects of several nations in the Arab world and was telling them he has had enough. A prosperous and democratic Libya would set an example to other Arab and African nations.
Implications
Qadhafi's flip-flop proves that, in the final analysis, nations protect and further their own interests before looking out for the welfare of others. Other significant implications:
- Qadhafi might have accomplished what others have wanted to accomplish - a realignment of the Arab world against Arab despots and in favor of Arab freedom.
- He demonstrated that the Arab world is not monolithic, that Islamic nations don't necessarily support terrorism or Radical fundamentalists, There is no Clash of Civilizations.
- He showed that the Arab world had great internal conflicts and, as shown by the then canceled Arab summit, each Arab nation will be forced to pursue its own unique solutions to problems. Qadhafi's move might have served as an example for these solutions - reform and attachment to the West.
- He indirectly increased support for the United States and Israel and partially vindicated their policies. Actually, Qadhafi, despite the arguments against him, always argued against reactionary Arab regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, and in favor of social progress throughout the Arab world.
- His new alliance with America considered that a more democratic Arab world would gain support from the U.S. and better serve Arab interests, especially in the contest with Israel.
Muammar Qadhafi shifted strategy. The new strategy replaced defiance, arrogance and confrontation with diplomacy, humility and cooperation. He concluded that parading on the outside denied credibility to his vision and was only seeing in the dark. If he walked on the inside he might gain credibility to complement his vision and succeed in convincing others of his plans for re-shaping the Third World. His shift in attitude towards the West elevated his stature from "bit player" to a role in center stage of the world drama. He could not have been happier.
alternative insight
april 1, 2004HOME PAGE MAIN PAGE alternativeinsight@earthlink.net