The Wall Street Journal has a great overview of events in Libya (h/t The Browser). It contains a recap of recent history which ought to remind us that Gadhafi (I'm going with the WSJ spelling today) probably doesn't see things anything like the same way we see them.
We see the tide of history sweeping across the region, and ask why on earth the dictator and his supporters don't realise the inevitability of their demise. But to Gadhafi, this is one in a succession of brutal battles in which he has so far come out on top:
The current unrest traces its roots back to an uprising by student Islamists in the 1990s that Col. Gadhafi viciously suppressed. He deployed the army's feared second brigade, commanded by one of his sons, Khamis, against the students. Many who weren't killed in the mayhem were thrown in jail, many of them in Tripoli's Abu Salim Prison.
About a year later, in 1996, prisoners at Abu Salim, many of whom were from Benghazi, launched an uprising. A regime bombardment left 1,200 prisoners dead, according to Human Rights Watch. The "Abu Salim massacre" has since been a rallying cry for activists and opposition in Libya and a thorn in the regime's side.
Gadhafi has been at war with his people for decades. He won't be calling quits any time soon.
On the spelling, Cringley had a nice anecdote:
“Spell it any way you like, ” he said (in pretty fair English, by the way — something else that seems to have strategically disappeared over the years). “All that matters is spelling it correctly in Arabic.”
http://www.cringely.com/2011/02/major-jolloud/
Posted by: Alan | February 23, 2011 at 03:09 PM
please check outhttp://www.islamicsolutions.com/government-of-the-people-that-is-islam/
Posted by: Liza18 | February 23, 2011 at 04:41 PM