Regardless of why, regardless of which side you are on, whether you think someone is a brutal, tyrannical dictator and your father was a big revolutionary hero who had been on the Hajj and was "patient" about all his many struggles or your Mom is a saint worthy of praise and the best cook ever (rolled eyes; your cooking blog, while good, is extremely self-centered. It is NOT about the food, it is NOT about the culture, it is about YOU-YOU-YOU, showing how great of a cook you are under the pretenses of publishing recipes that your wonderfully, saintly mother never wrote down herself so you and I can create the food we miss and love... um... no... fail).
Or you're of the belief that many of those who opposed Col. Gaddafi was, in fact, traitors to the country of Libya and her people, or somewhere in between... you didn't much care for the father, but you saw the son as a reformer and now, think he deserves a chance...
Safia Gaddafi's grief is real, it is palpable. It is transcendent. It is hard to hear, without wanting to cry along with her. And remember. This is before Khamis Gaddafi was killed twice more. This is before Brig. General. Mutassim Gaddafi and his father were brutally executed, in definite violation of the Geneva Convention.
Either the so-called "rebels" WERE an ipso facto, legitimate fighting force, subject to the rules of any legit fighting force, and remember-- Libya was and is a signatory to this legislation. Or, if they were not, and were, in the beginning, an illegitimate fighting force fighting a legit government (which means they were acting against the laws of said society, for whatever reason), then the government of Libya was right to do what they did.
Or, if you're a tree-hugging, "socially conscious" asshole named Steve Pike (@stringfellow), you get to post things like this-- https://twitter.com/stringfellow/status/39808706183049216 and leave it up. Yes, this has led to my being personally harassed more than once. Yes, I was forced to change the blog URL because of it. And yes, I've told his company what kind of targeted harassment this individual does. To refer to me by name, when there is only ONE OTHER person in this country WITH THE SAME FIRST AND LAST NAMES (albeit, the other one has my Mom's name as her middle name), IS HARASSMENT.
Why? Because shortly after the revolution began, I declared that yes, I believed the government WAS right to control the rampaging hordes by using WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY. Yes, non-lethal rounds would be most prudent. But when you're on safari hunting leopards, and a rhino charges you, do you say, "oh please, Mr. Rhino, may you step aside, so I can shoot the leopard instead?" NO. You shoot what you have to shoot to save your own life and that of those around you.
If you weren't the Khamis Brigade and weren't fully equipped with all the best gadgets (the youngest is ALWAYS Dad's favorite, for the record).
We have seen in 7 years the wisdom of keeping our hands out of the quagmire that Libya has become. The militias control swaths of the country. There's more chaos in the country than there was in Austria in the months leading up to the German annexation of that country.
Libya, unfortunately, is the latest-- and greatest-- of American diplomatic and military clusterfucks.
Anyways, Mrs. Gaddafi's interview still touches my heart, and even more so, knowing the grief she's suffered even more of. And continues to... because nobody, nobody at all, from the US government or the West, has acknowledged her pain, her grief.
Just pray, y'all. For all of your Moms. THANK HER, too, for the pain she suffered giving birth to you.
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