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Previous Administration / Re: Qaddafi Interlude
« on: September 03, 2020, 05:38:56 PM »Not gonna argue with you that Malomar wasn't a killer, a scoundrel, a [fill-in-the-blank]
Cause he was. Period. But.....that ain't the point. There's been a gazillion of those guys. Most of 'em we supported at one time or another.
At the time of his Clinton-led overthrow, he was basically a semi-reformed run-of-the-mill dictator with a fully-functioning country.
As usual, U.S. intervention absolutely catastrophic, for Libya's people and the consequences outside of Libya.
Completely wrong. Qaddafi was the worst terrorist, progenitor of nasty wars and ugly coups, and ruiners of peaceful societies out there. Bar none. The horrors he fomented, supported and inflicted on Sierra Leone and Liberia were legendary atrocities. Not to mention the brutal coups and dictatorships he foisted upon Chad, CAR and Burkina Faso. Propping up Mugabe for an extra decade and a half, until that country was ruined. Congo, etc.
Qaddafi was completely unreformed and far from an ordinary dictator. He just mostly stopped attacking the West after Lockerbie and the Germany bombings, as the US credibly threatened to kill him. So he shifted his attention to ruining 100M lives and over a half dozen countries throughout Africa. No other dictator has done that and caused such suffering (let alone a gazillion). You come off as a total Qaddafi apologist. "A scoundrel", jeez. African lives matter. But glad the Green Book amuses you.
Yeah, the 7M Libyans haven't made out well. But installing a gov't after his death shouldn't have been that hard if the US hadn't abdicated involvement. Secure the oil wells and dole out riches to buy off and incorporate the militias, etc.