My puente poem Liberation is published today on the topical poetry website Poetry 24I still have a problem with Qaddafi and his rule. All the papers and media write of him as a mad tyrant, who deserved all he got. And it certainly seems he was hated in his own country, so there may be justification for this. But there is no 'genocide of the Kurds' accusation to level at him, no specific crime and reports say the internal security in Libya was certainly not as oppressive as that in other Muslim countries with stronger ties to the west. I am probably being uber-wary of western propaganda in suggesting that, maybe, he wasn't quite the crazy despot he was portrayed. Though Robert Fisk, a man I trust fully, is very anti-Qadaffi.
Looking back, he liberated his people from the poverty and corruption of the French government and greatly increased the standard of living for all. A hero in the Arab world for standing up to the west, he was reviled by the British and Americans for seemingly supporting anti-west terrorism. And the west will always win, one way or other, particularly when vast amounts of oil are involved.
I freely admit I don't know enough about it. I am just naturally cautious about disseminating the truth from the lies.
Jeez, I'm getting serious in my old age. Time for more poems about broccoli, methinks.
I thought your poem was very thought-provoking Peter. The images of Gaddafi one minute walking the next minute dead is something the world should never forget - but will. I don't agree that he had no support, that is just the way he has been portrayed on the media. In many ways no doubt he was a bad man, but Libya - until the NATO attacks was a relatively peaceful country. According to John Pilger the unrest in Misrata was fabricated to enable NATO no-fly zones (a euphemism for widespread bombing by NATO forces) to be implemented through a UN resolution. John Goss
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