I’m sorry Mr. President but I disagree.
I’ve always been fascinated by revolution. I think it has to do with the fact that both of the countries I claim as home put so much stock in how they managed to become democracies. The idea that people can get emotional enough about their situation to want to remove the existing regimes is so human to me. And I say emotional, because sometimes the ‘revolutionaries’ don’t really care about their fellow citizens. Sometimes they’re just angry and want to tear things down brick by brick.
Yes, Gaddafi was “the mad dog of the Middle East” and I have nothing to really say about his death. I never really expected anything different. However, I am happy for the Libyans who probably feel similar to how I did when we heard Osama bin Laden was killed.
But I don’t think its finished. Far from it. The rebels are now the governmental forces. But there are factions and tribes and students and so many groups that have a claim to stake in this Gaddafi-free Libya. I feel like it will devolve further before anything actually happens. He is dead, but there are still loyalists, and even if they change sides, or decide to hide in Argentina, there are still questions and crimes that need to be answered for.
Every revolution comes with a period of construction. We made a soldier our first president and Nehru spent all his time at Cambridge trying to prove that an Indian can be just as civilized as any British man. There are steps to being a stable player on the world stage, and while President Obama did acknowledge that it will take years of work for Libya, I feel like you shouldn’t consider the revolution done until all the fighting is over. And violence isn’t the only type of fighting there is.
