CNN 2011-10-24

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But we are beginning in Libya with news of the country’s former leader Moammar Gadhafi is dead. He was killed Thursday by revolutionary forces, who were finally able to get control of Sirte, that is Gadhafi’s hometown. 

 

Reaction to the news came in from all over world. President Obama saying Gadhafi’s death quote: marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya, who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny. Many of those people were out on the streets celebrating yesterday. Cars were honking¹ their horns. Some people fired sharts into the air. They weren’t just celebrating the news about Gadhafi. They were also cheering what’s probably the end of their country’s civil war. That started an uprising back in February. Protesters spoke² out against Gadhafi. They wanted him out of power. Security forces started fighting with the protesters, and eventually the violence and tension boiled over into an all out civil war. The rebels were supported by military forces including the United States. And now that the war is ending, Libya still has a long road to head. 

 

Clearly, this day marks a * for Libya. In the coming days, we will witness a scene of celebration as well as grief for those who lost so much. Yet let us recognize, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning. 

 

Now, Libya’s new leaders will have to figure out how they want to rebuild the country and its government. Before we look ahead, H* G* looks back at the man who ruled the nation for more than 40 years.  

 

As a 27-year old army officer, Moammar Gadhafi overthrew³ Libya’s king in 1969, and then set about wiping all foreign influence from the country including all vestiges⁴ of communism or capitalism⁵, publishing his personal philosophy in a three volume green book. Gadhafi always said that his goal was to change the world. But the way he set out to do it that amused, confused and often infuriated. But while he sometimes appeared a clown on the world’s stage, his actions were often deadly. 

 

In the mid⁶ 80s, he funnal the money and weapons to support the Palestine Liberation Organization’s fight against Israel. The Irish Republican Army’s efforts to defeat British rule in Northern Ireland, and he viciously targeted Americans. In 1986, Libyan agents were accused of bombing a Berlin nightclub killing⁷ two Americans and a Turk. U.S. President Ronald Reagan responded by bombing Tripoli, targeting Gadhafi’s house. The raid killed more than 100 people, including Gadhafi’s own daughter. Two years later, Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the tiny village of Lockerbie, Scotland, raining debris⁸ and taking 270 lives. Investigators⁹ traced the attack to Libya. When Libya refused to turn over the suspects, the U.N. imposed top sanctions, leaving the country isolated¹⁰ and increasingly destitute¹¹. 

 

After 11 years as an international outcast, Gadhafi cut a deal. He gave up the Lockerbie bombing suspects for trial, and after the U.S. invaded Iraq, he surprised the world by agreeing to destroy all of his chemical, nuclear and biological weapons. Gadhafi soon welcomed western oil company like BP and T* into Libya. But questions lingered about whether some Western oil contracts will treated for Scotland’s release as one of the convicted Lockerbrie bombers¹². Back home, patience was running thin. After more 40 years, rebelling bubbled up in the eastern part of the country, quickly spreading across the Libya. As his government disingdigrated, he addressed the nation from the same house bombed by the U.S. in 1986. 

 

This is my country, that country of my grandfathers. 

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