Book on the fall of Qaddafi

Ali Muhammed

    Alison Pargeter has written many books on the Islamic world and has one of the first post Qaddafi books out there about Libya. Her book "Libya The Rise And Fall Of Qaddafi" looks at the colonels rule in Libya from day one of when he took power and initiated his Jamahiriyah brand of revolutionary rule on this small country in the late sixties. Libya was so ripe for revolution away from their royal rule that someone like Qaddafi could take control and rise to the top. The revolution of 1969 was long in the making and Qaddafi along with a few other minor military officers were able to take control. The author looks at the tough Bedouin upbringing where looking for World War II scrap metal left overs was essential for survival. His stubbornness in his childhood continued later in life and the guy burned plenty of bridges even among the Arab neighbors of Libya. Qaddafi soon began to be as irrated towards Arab rulers in other lands as he was with the imperialist Europeans he felt were still having much influence after independence. This guy would soon become very delusioned with the revolutionary experience and the lack of public support for all of his ideas. He would soon sweep away all existing political structures and set up his own for life rule for the next thirty years that put Libya as a pariah state and a closed society.

   Alison's book goes through all the neurotic behavior of Qaddafi and his state in the seventies and elites and indeed there were many unusual stances,changes,takeovers, and reactionary actions that made Libya a closed society similar to North Korea today. Public executions of suppose enemies of the state and Islam were a common site in this era and Qaddafi clearly was a leader deserving of war crimes. Spending on war materials drastically shot up as Libya tried hard to become an international player. He would soon have agents and his armies in neighboring countries trying to establish influence and ability to destabilize regimes he didn't like. Thisis a man who couldn't come to any agreement with any of the other big names in Mid East politics and meddling in the affairs with weaker African nations became the norm for Libyan forces many of who were just ordered into the army from rival tribes in Libya. Qaddafi' s conflicts and disagreements with both sides of the Cold War participants is well documented and the rise and support if his regime of international terrorism would soon make his name familiar in Western households. Eventually his domestic and foreign policy would be his undoing and this book clearly documents his last days slough I wish more discusion could of been done on the East West divide within Libya as this is another country that clearly could be divided into two more states.

The last few years did see Qadaffi try to reform and be accepted more onto the worlds stage and make amends with its battles with other Countries but it came to little and too late making him on the radar of Islamic radicals. A good book for those wanting to learn more on one of the recent dictators in history whose  rural ruled delivered a justified end. Although I have to admit him having strong and nice looking female body guards was pretty cool