A liberated Libya celebrates Qaddafi’s death

What happened

Libya’s new leaders declared their nation “liberated” this week, following the killing of the ousted dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. In the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution’s birthplace, tens of thousands of Libyans gathered in the central Martyrs’ Square to celebrate the despot’s death. “You are now in a free Libya,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Transitional Council, told the cheering crowd. President Obama congratulated the Libyan people, saying that after “four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict” they were at “the beginning of a new era of promise.” He urged the new government to live up to its “commitments to respect human rights” as the country prepared for its “first free and fair elections.”

But the nature of Qaddafi’s death in his hometown of Sirte raised questions about the country’s ability to heal its tribal and political divisions and accept the rule of law. After Qaddafi was dragged out of the sewage pipe where he’d been hiding, a cell phone video showed, he was beaten and taunted by rebel fighters, as blood streamed down his face. Subsequent video showed his bloodied corpse, with a bullet wound to the head, and it appeared Qaddafi had been executed. Meanwhile, human-rights groups have warned that some 7,000 prisoners—including former Qaddafi loyalists, as well as dark-skinned Africans seized as suspected mercenaries—were being held without charge in overpacked jails, where they have been abused and tortured by rebel troops.

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What the editorials said

“Now the hard part begins,” said The Washington Post. Libya is a “shattered country” that is “piled high with dangerous weapons,” lacks basic government institutions, and is wracked by regional and tribal rivalries. The good news is that the new leaders have a “reasonable transition plan” to allow for elections in eight months, and will soon be able “to draw on tens of billions of dollars” stashed abroad by Qaddafi. With continued aid and support from the U.S. and NATO, the Libyan people can achieve their democratic dream.

Obama deserves some credit for this victory, but not much, said The Wall Street Journal. European nations initially pushed for a NATO air campaign, and Obama “came around just in time to save Benghazi” from a Qaddafi counterattack. But the president’s desire to “lead from behind,” and his refusal to use U.S. forces to crush the dictator, unnecessarily extended the conflict and likely cost many Libyans their lives.

What the columnists said

Actually, this was a model intervention, said David Ignatius in The Washington Post. By working with our NATO and Arab League allies, Obama denied Qaddafi “the final, apocalyptic confrontation” with the U.S. that might have won him sympathy in the Muslim world. The president’s low-risk policy might also ease Libya’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, said Jay Bookman in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s because unlike Iraq, which had change “forced upon it by outsiders,” Libyans did most of the fighting and sacrifice themselves. “The blessings of liberty and self-governance are valued most by those who have fought for and earned them for themselves.”

Don’t count on a happy ending, said Doug Bandow in The National Interest. With Qaddafi gone, the rebel forces—“an amalgam of violent jihadists, tribal opponents, and liberal democrats”—will soon start fighting one another, turning Libya into Somalia on the Mediterranean. Anti-Western Islamists will probably win that civil war, which is unsurprising seeing as many of them honed their fighting skills battling “U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Don’t be so pessimistic, said Jeffrey Kofman in ABCNews.com. Yes, “Libya is a very conservative Muslim country,” so Islam will play a role in its new constitution. But after spending months there, I can tell you that the vast majority of Libyans are deeply inspired by the Arab Spring, and are determined to build a truly democratic state that respects both religious traditions and basic rights. As one man told me, “Other dictators should take note.” That means you, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen.