Don’t Expect Resignation: Muammar Gaddafi Has Nowhere to Go But Arrest or Death

Asking or expecting Gaddafi to resign is akin to pleading with Adolf Hitler to surrender during World War Two (WWII). Hitler was probably asking, "Where's the pride or superiority in surrender?"

De facto Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is a friendless man. That means there is no one who can influence or persuade him within a relational context or on a moral basis. Gaddafi is not Hosni Mubarak of Egypt who had a standing within the world community and among Arab leaders. Mubarak and Egypt had friends in the international community to exert pressure on Mubarak, or on Egyptian military leaders who could in turn persuade Mubarak. Except for the Italian leader, who is not much of a moral influence, Gaddafi is free of friendly attachments.

As an ostracized dictator, Gaddafi is dangerous and deadly, as the Libyan people have known throughout the 42 years of his tyranny. (The only other African leader who is similar to him is Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, but he’s a tale all to himself.)

When the 27-year-old Gaddafi first took power in a 1969 military coup, he wanted to make Libya an Islamic socialist state. He was also arrogant towards sub-Sahara Africa, thinking that his light skin makes him superior to his darker African brothers and sisters. Only after his giant ego estranged him from other Arab leaders did Gaddafi begin in the mid-1990s to lead an effort to form the African Union, which was later established in July 2002.

As we can see or hear since the inception of the revolt against Gaddafi’s long reign, no African head of state has defended the founding leader of the African Union. He has no friends there either. Fellow African leaders know that Gaddafi still despises them at heart.

Usually Saudi Arabia is the vacation spot or retirement home of deposed Islamic dictators, including Idi Amin of Uganda. However King Abdullah of Saudi Arabi wants no part of Gaddafi.

Those who are calling for Gaddafi to step down need to understand the man’s prison-like dilemma. He’s stuck. Nowhere to flee. No friend to take him in. To Gaddafi, only one honorable out is possible: be killed. That way he dies thinking he’s been a martyr for the cause of Allah, though it will be difficult to find any reputable imam to sign his name to the Libyan tyrant’s religious claim.

Another possibility is for Gaddafi to be captured or arrested to be tried for crimes against humanity. Believe it or not, this is the tougher option, and it’s better done by the Libyan opposition than by the international community, though events may unfold that way. Of course there’s always the suicide exit, which Gaddafi could take, but he has never chosen the no-fight way out before.

Somehow I pity Gaddafi, seeing that his rather flamboyant life may grind to a halt like that of his wealthy buddy the late Sergeant Samuel Doe of Liberia, my native country. President Doe refused all calls by Liberians, other African leaders, and the larger global community to step down. Determined to fight to the death, Mr. Doe finally got his wish when he fell into the crafty, cruel hands of rebel faction leader Prince Johnson. Johnson’s men tortured Doe – stripped him naked, tied his hands behind his back, sliced his ears, stringed his genital – before finally finishing him off. Since then Prince Johnson has become a Liberian legislator and a born-again Christian, eager to share the Gospel of love with any who will listen. Too late for Doe!

A bleak future for Gaddafi, but it may be a future that perfectly matches his series of stubborn choices since taking power about 42 years ago. When that time comes (hopefully soon), may his troubled soul rest in some kind of peace…somewhere, in case he does not awake to Paradise prepared for true martyrs.

Gaddafi's dream, and everybody's nightmare, is for the strong man to get Libya tangled up in a protracted civil war. God forbid! ~mogama~