On Oct. 20, the National Transitional Council confirmed to the Al Jazeera news network that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi had been captured during an air strike.
Although he survived, Gadhafi was later shot by NTC fighters.
His son Muatassim and his former defense minister Abu Bakr Younes, were also killed.
Graphic footage of the assassinated leader was seen around the world.
Three days later Libya was formally liberated.
NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) officially ended their military campaign on Oct. 31. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general called the mission “one of the most successful” operations in the history of the 62-year-old alliance.
So what’s next for a newly liberated Libya? Rebuilding a country is not an easy task.
NTC requested that NATO assist in the transition to democracy, but NATO decided they have done enough. Analysts suggest it would have been better if NATO had stayed on longer to help with security sector reform, should supporters of Gadhafi choose to cause trouble.
Having followed the uprising since the beginning, and knowing that history has a tendency to repeat itself – most people seem to forget this – these latest developments in Libya come as no surprise.
French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre once said: “The king must die so that the country can live.”
While it is slightly disconcerting watching people celebrate the death of another human, regardless of the terrible things they have done, Robespierre had a point.
I’m not saying that all oppressive leaders should be killed, but things would have been a lot less complicated if Gadhafi had left office peacefully.
One would hope that the Libyan people and their new government take a look at what’s happened in the past and do what is right.
The new government should make the people’s interests, and not their own, top priority.
However, it does seem that the new government is starting off on the wrong foot when Libya’s interim leaders seem unwilling to look into accusations of atrocities committed by their fighters.
One of the principles of Democracy is equality.
There is no telling what might happen in Libya’s future.
The reason the uprising began in the first place was because the Libyan people were being oppressed.
Thinking positive is key; hopefully this new government will listen to the people and not be as corrupt as the previous one.
