'New Hitler' Gaddafi rounding up opponents

[Matilda]

Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The son of a retired Libyan academic who spoke out against Moamar Gaddafi's regime says he fears the worst for his father and three of his brothers after they were apparently kidnapped by the veteran leader's forces in Tripoli.

Abdul Rahman Sewelhi went to school with Mr Gaddafi and was insistent that he be identified when he spoke out in opposition to the crackdown during recent protests.

Now he has disappeared from his home in Tripoli and his son in London says he has been kidnapped along with other family members.

(snip)

The London-based doctor says many people have been kidnapped in the capital in the past three days.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/03/3154179.htm

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I'm very much afraid that this revolution will fail, because Gaddafi won't hesitate to use all the force at his disposal to make sure of it. And there will be a rounding up of all those involved once it has been quashed. Only the army turning its back on him could hope to ensure a good outcome.

He was always mad, and I think it's such a shame that cynical Western political leaders deemed it expedient to make peace with him after ostracising him for years. All in the name of oil.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Mad he may be but he has had many interesting buds over the years

including Chavez, Ortega, and Castro.

Gaddafi is the "Leader of the Revolution" and did indeed lead a popular revolution against a corrupt monarchy. Those who oppose him and his supporters are "counter revolutionaries" and "enemies of the people" in his mind and those of his supporters. They are even using the royal Libyan flag as their banner.

If those who support "popular revolutions" are forced to admit that the leaders can go bad, they would now have to face some of the same unpleasantness in nations who are in similar situations like...

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. also friends with Tony Blair, Condoleeza Rice, Silvo Berlusconi, George Bush...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. That was later and it was clearly a relationship of convenience to both sides

Castro et al are still backing him at some level

[Electric Monk]

6. Bush, Cheney, Putin, et al are still backing him at some level

See how easy that is to do?

[Matilda]

4. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

We have been seeing so much of this in recent weeks, and Gaddafi is just another example, although perhaps one of the very worst.

You might think that some of these leaders, after so long in power, and having amassed great wealth, would be content to depart the scene when the game is up, but letting go is a physical and mental impossibility for them. Whatever their good intentions at the start – and some of them perhaps are well-intentioned at the beginning – they are inevitably corrupted by power. I can't think of any exceptions to this rule.

[Alamuti Lotus]

3. 'New Hitler'?? really??

[Confusious]

7. I thought that too

he doesn't even rate 10 millihitlers yet.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=210&t=926445&mid=0

[Confusious]

8. wrong spot

what I get for thinking about midterms while surfing.