Col Muammer Gaddafi has ruled Libya with an iron fist for the last 42 years, since he seized power in 1969. In the initial stages of his rule people considered him a handsome, charismatic, young military officer. He is a disciple of former president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

He made his own political philosophy, and over time forced students to read this philosophy in schools. Further, he banned all political parties from operating, imprisoned many critics, and led them to death in his period of governance. Decades of survival under tyrannical times, and unparalleled oppression under the Gaddafi regime have made people rebel.

He has been a great head-turner at most of the international gatherings so far. People in the Arab world call him flamboyant because of his outlandish clothing and blunt speeches.

The first Anti-Government demonstrations started with over-throwing the Tunisian and Egyptian governments that engulfed the Arab world. On February 17, protests took place in Libya calling for a regime change or for Gaddafi to step down.

Decades of suppression, economic sluggishness, stagnant standard of living and impossibility of political reforms, might have made the people of Libya revolt against the 42-year-old military rule. The spark of the regime change movement got escalated in the Arab world after the successful ousting of the Tunisian government early this year.

Gaddafi attempted to suppress protests even in the initial stages by curbing them down with the military use of live bullets, mortars, machine guns and anti air-craft missiles, leading to heavy loss of civilians in many towns of Libya.

Protests continued to turn violent in February. Witness reports said that there was bloody fighting between soldiers and rebel forces.  On February 20, rebel forces captured the port city of Benghazi, and the next day the Libyan Justice Minister resigned and said he was unhappy with excessive use of force against protesters.

From the beginning of this revolution, rebel forces fought tooth and nail in their aim to change the existing political system for democracy. Professor Daniel Serwer of John Hopkins University met with the National Transitional Group (NTC) and said “From what we know they want a democratic Libya, an Islamic state but a state that is clearly a multiparty state, clearly a liberal state”. The rebel (NTC) includes several very different groups including former Gaddafi Allies, long-time opposition figures, ethnic Berber fighters, and Islamists.

A five month long battle was aided by NATO forces that entered fighting in Libya, after UN secretary Council passed a resolution which authorized “all necessary measures” to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians. As far as the role of United States is concerned in this battle to oust Gaddafi, it has been subtle and American troops have not placed their boots on Libyan soil.

Now after five months of deadly hostility in Libya, rebel forces have captured Bab-al Aziziya, Muammer Gaddafi’s compound and the heart of his rule for the last 40 years. It was stormed and looted badly and the statue of the besieged dictator was demolished.

The huge complex was literally filled with anti air-craft shells and used bullets as rebels fighters found their way inside the compound amid dozens of bodies. Several NATO strikes and the onslaught eventually led to the fall of his compound.

It seems to be clear that decades of military rule in Libya has its days numbered. What can be counted on is the relentless and munificent execution of fierce battle against the Gaddafi troops: this is truly a mark of courage and determination.

 
igor kisselev / Shutterstock.com

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Barack Obama has been challenged this week. John Boehner, leader of the House of Representatives, wrote to the dear leader claiming that under the 1973 War Powers Act, his decision to authorize US military action in Libya without consulting congress was illegal under US law. The White House swiftly replied, stating that military action in Libya was not sufficiently serious that it necessitated congressional approval.

There is much to say merely on this footnote of the story. We might well debate the separation of powers, or the rights of the commander-in-chief, deep into the night. However, there is a much more important point to make, and one that Boehner’s challenge conveniently prompts. The war in Libya is undoubtedly illegal, regardless of US law.

Let’s begin with a little recent history. On March 18^th 2011, President Obama delivered a speech announcing a NATO military operation in Libya, and the imposition of a no-fly zone. The media was almost unilaterally supportive, as it has remained ever since. Later that same day, Mark Mardell (BBC North America correspondent) sycophantically praised this new “Obama doctrine”, which entailed “acting within limits, leading only as a first among equals”.

“Barack Obama has been morbidly belligerent from the very first day he took power.”

To argue that Mardell’s assessment proved to be mistaken would be to miss the point, because even the limited measures announced on March 18^th were transparently illegal (UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorized an internationally organized no-fly zone, not a NATO imposed one), and there was absolutely nothing ‘new’ about this facet of Obama foreign policy. Barack Obama has been morbidly belligerent from the very first day he took power. Within 12 hours of stepping into the elliptic office, he opted to order unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan – a precedent he has continued. George Bush authorized drone attacks in Pakistan a total of 45 times in his whole second term; just within Obama’s first year, he sent 53. The drone attacks themselves constitute a serious war crime, having killed at least 1,500 civilians and a mere handful of supposed ‘militants’. Obama has been carrying out an illegal bombing campaign in Yemen for the past two years, and still maintains the war in Afghanistan.

The White House response to Boehner openly claimed that the Libyan operation was not a war, but a mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power. Sickeningly, this script has become familiar to the point of tediousness. The US, UK or NATO announce ‘an intervention’, or a ‘humanitarian campaign’. The campaign, it is said, will be completely different from all previous wars. Strikes will be ‘targeted’, ‘collateral damage’ will be negligible, and of course just as the British government said in 1914, it will be so swift that it’ll all be over in a couple of months. Then the mission changes. A campaign that was authorized by UNSC resolution 1973 only to protect civilians in Benghazi by stopping Gaddafi’s airforce becomes a NATO “mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power”. According to any interpretation of Just War theory, this alone flagrantly disregards international law. Furthermore, the repeated air strikes on Gaddafi’s compound (and home) have made it absolutely clear that NATO are attempting to kill him. Whatever one thinks of the ‘intervention’ in Libya, we must accept that it is yet another illegal war.

Where does it go from here? On June 15^th UK armed forces chief General Sir David Richards spoke to relieve fears that Britain would be unable to maintain its part in the war: “We can sustain this operation as long as we choose to” he confirmed, “I am absolutely clear on that”. His statement will no doubt come as a salve to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has stated that the UK is in Libya “for the long haul”.

This is revealing in itself. Regardless of what happens, or of what the current Libyan leadership does, NATO has confirmed that it will be there “for the long haul”. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi announced on the 16^th of June that his father Muammar was willing to hold elections in Libya (monitored by the international community). NATO, I’m sure, will ignore this statement. The goal was never the promotion of democracy in Libya, or the protection of civilians, nor was it – I suspect – even “regime change”. The goal is simply ‘to be’ in Libya. Another oil rich Arab nation; another illegal war.

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