Bu Nehad Ismail

The speech that marks the tragic end of Al-Ghaddafi’s Dynasty

In his speech on the evening of the 22nd February 2011 Ghadaffi the Libyan tyrant has written his own epitaph as a megalomaniac, arrogant and stupid man. His rambling incoherent utterances were full of obscene adjectives used liberally to taint the demonstrators and protestors. He said they were vermin, they were rats, drug addicts, and they were infested with lice. Looking haggard and confused his delivery in Arabic was erratic, ungrammatical and full of gutter idioms. Waving a green book and bits of paper, the ranting and raving went on and on for a whole hour like an urchin who lost his marbles. He was like a whore trying to give people a lesson in morality and good behaviour.

The guy is an illiterate ignoramus. He has not said anything to the slightest amount of wisdom, education or human interest. If it wasn’t for his sinister personality, it would have been a comical theatre of the worst kind.

Don’t you think that a man with immense wealth and power should have advisors, PR experts and Spin doctors to guide him how to conduct himself in dealing with the media and how to speak.

With his sons, Ghaddafi plundered billions of dollars of the country oil and gas revenue. One may be tempted to ask why they didn’t allocate a few millions to get some training in public speaking and to learn the skill of good speech and the handling of the media.

Saif Al-Islam the dictator’s son, who is supposed to be a suave and sophisticated London School of Economics graduate, delivered his speech on February 21st. His speech was not much better than that of his stupid father. The minute he started wagging his fingers menacingly threatening civil war and armed tribal conflict, he ruled himself out as a serious contender for the presidency of Libya after the demise of his father. His education did not serve him well when he pointed his fingers promising hell and mayhem and made himself a partner in crime against the Libyan people and thus liable for legal action for aiding and abetting in the crimes against humanity. The most disingenuous thing he said was something like this “who is to run the oil industry, we all eat our bread from this oil”.

He failed to mention that most people in Libya are poor and hungry and the oil money goes to his own pocket and those of his unruly brothers. It was reported recently that he had paid one million dollars to the singer Mariah Carey for singing 4 songs. He does this whilst millions of Libyans are suffering from shortages and poverty. In 2009 I did some research for an article and found lot of information about Saif’s plans for reforms in Libya and I thought he would be a better ruler of Libya than the nincompoop father of his.

The problem with all dictators is that they surround themselves with sycophantic yes men who only tell them what they like to hear and consequently lead them into catastrophic blunders. We all remember what happened to Saddam Hussein. When he invaded Kuwait some 20 years ago, not a single official, minister or anyone around him dared to say this was wrong, don’t do it. But they all acquiesced and supported him and helped in his demise as well as their own. The Iraqi people are still paying a very heavy price for the stupidity of Saddam and his henchmen.

The Ghaddafi’s fate is now sealed. The Ghaddafi’s era of nightmare is about to expire. The tragic end for this dynasty is a foregone conclusion.

nehad ismail

writer/broadcaster London