Live by the sword, die by the sword

Libya’s Moammar Al Gadhafi dies a tyrant’s death

Libya Head of State Colonel Moammar Al Gadhafi died the way he lived: via revolution.

The man South African President Nelson Mandela once called “my dear brother leader” was dragged through the street and murdered execution-style, ending a four decade long experimentation with socialism, Arab unity and totalitarianism.

So, what will become of Libya, a land torn apart by oppression? Numerous warring factions vie for control, willing to die for disparate and contradictory ideologies. Gadhafi himself inspired such disunity. The Great Socialist Popular Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah he created was exactly as dissonant and complex as its name suggests.

“Brother could not trust brother. In any group of three, at least one would have to be assumed by the others to be a regime informant,” Robert Grenier, former CIA chief of station in Islamabad, Pakistan, said in his Al Jazeera English opinion piece.

Optimists see democracy on the horizon. Pessimists fear another dictator will rise from the Sahara sand.

The National Transitional Council, the current interim government of Libya, has laid out plans for a constitutional democracy run by elected officials.

But the very nature of Gadhafi’s demise, an anarchic and brutal death, does not bode well for Libya’s stability. He is the first autocrat to be killed in the Arab Spring, a wave of protests demanding greater democracy in the Middle East.

There is no doubt that the popular uprising in favor of democracy is a positive and necessary movement in the Middle East, a region long governed by fundamentalism and totalitarian rule. Gadhafi’s violent death, however, does not reflect a democratic method of dealing with despots, no matter how vile.

In the hours after Gadhafi’s death was confirmed, people all over the world cheered and rejoiced. Rivalries were set aside as strangers congratulated each other in the streets. A great hush fell over the Libyan revolution as a collective sigh of relief was breathed. Surely, the fall of any tyrant is a cause for celebration, but what sounds will cross the lips of the people when the jubilation runs its course?

The eyes of the world are upon the National Transitional Council, which has already received the blessings of organizations as widespread and powerful as the U.N. and the Vatican. Despite the fragmented nature of Libya, there is much hope to be found in the transitional government. Unlike Gadhafi, whose feeble grasp on unity through socialism led to a convoluted state of terrorism and brutality, the Council seems to possess a true desire to establish a free democracy in Libya.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon may have said it best.

“The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges,” Ki-Moon said, according to a FoxNews.com article. “This is a time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge.”

It will be difficult, but the map has been drawn out. It is up to Libya’s people to explore its uncharted territories.