Moammar Gadhafi Dead: How Rebels Killed the Dictator

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No body wanted him to talk!

How Gaddhafi was killed? They beat the hell out him, shot him, and dragged him through the streets. End of article.

I have a sad feeling that this marks the beginning of a long painful chapter for the people of Lybia.

Well, Gaddafi is dead, and the world celebrates. Another dictator, in power for decades while plundering his country and amassing a vast personal fortune, finally gets his comeuppance. We in the West view these “leaders” as quintessentially evil. And yet, surely there is something deeper at play here than simple malevolence. A merely evil person would simply take his fortune and run to a luxurious “exile” when the political tides turn against him. Why did Gaddafi and so many other despots cling to power so tenaciously, even at the risk of losing everything – including their lives, seemingly believing that they are “right” to do so?

The answer to this question lies in the dominant political and cultural force in much of the Middle East and in Africa. It is a force that is largely unappreciated by Americans in particular, for it plays little role here. That force is TRIBALISM – the loyalty felt and owed to members of one’s own tribe, over the myriad other tribes with which it competes for power and resources. It is a much stronger force than patriotism because it is rooted in blood and the kinship of extended families. What we westerners view as “corruption” – graft, nepotism and illegal patronage is considered not just the norm, but a duty in these countries. Other tribes may resent the leader in power for patronizing his own, but given the opportunity, they would do the same. The tribe comes first.

The importance of tribalism to the psyche of these “leaders,” can hardly be overstated. Tribalism was at the root of the genocidal carnage in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis. It is why the Baathists in Iraq, whose senior members were part of Saddam Hussein’s Albu Nasir tribe, fought fiercely to protect his regime – and their privileged position in it. It is why Gaddafi’s tribe, the Qadhafa, held out in Sirte, and why Syrian President Assad’s tribe, the Alawites, will fight just as fiercely to support him. It is why Gbagbo in the Ivory Coast clung to power until he was forcibly ousted, and why Mugabe hangs on still: It is their DUTY to their tribe on which they have bestowed decades of largesse and have received their loyalty and support in return. Abdicating power also means ceding the authority and privileges of the entire tribe. This cultural imperative is all the stronger in leaders of military background, for whom the soldier’s concepts of duty and honor are bound together with tribal allegiance.

This is also why colonialism has been so destructive in these regions. Mixing these tribes together in some artificial geopolitical entity that we call a “country,” and expecting them to “share” its resources “democratically” is a purely Western concept. It is a recipe for continuous strife until one tribe garners sufficient power to install a “strongman” in the leadership role and forcibly suppresses other tribes in this ersatz “country,” plundering its resources for himself and his tribe. It is a winner-take-all system, and always has been. “Peace” lasts only until another tribe, or temporary alliance of several tribes, obtains sufficient power to overthrow the existing order in favor of their own. I hope I’m wrong, but I very much doubt that western style “democracy” can be implemented in these regions where these tribal tensions have held sway for centuries. I suspect that what we are really seeing in the “Arab Spring” are essentially tribal civil wars that will continue to rage.

Let's hope the religious radicals don't take over. I'd take Gadhafi over that any day. There's no reasoning with religious radicals who believe their actions are ordered by whatever version of God they worship.

I'm not getting excited until I see who is taking his place. Could be worse! Who knows!!

and the U.S. will support a new democratic path........which means even more U.S. dollars will pour into a foreign country instead of helping our own people here.

We'll see how days the media can manage to keep this level of interest going. Nothing like frenzied mob killings in distant lands to distract the masses from their problems at home. Bread and circuses characterized the last days of the Roman Empire. I see that's true today as well.

Nobody denies Gaddafi was an iron fist ruler. But when you see these people, you get that the iron fist was the only way to deal with them.

Now it can be left to the history books to determine how to spell his name...

Too dumb to get out when he had a chance.

How Rebels Killed the Dictator? With USA's military and money, that's how. Otherwise it would've never happened.

As in Eygpt, the Libyans are about to learn that winning your freedom is far easier than keeping it.

"a new democratic path"?

Ha...this is just one gang of armed thugs fighting another gang of armed thugs
They will be chopping each others heads off when your grandchildren have grandchildren!

Gotta love the fact that no US Troops were killed.

Watching the new ARAB SPRING leaders in Egypt slaughter Christians on the streets of Cairo last week, makes me wonder what we have we gotten ourselves into! These countries are now being ruled by a gang of thugs.

let this be a lesson to ALL governments. this is what can happen when your people stand up for themselves.

well i just want the people of Lybia to know that there problems have just started.

no one is above the law. what comes around goes around.