Qadhafi's Death and the End of the American Presence in Iraq

There are two news stories today and each one deserves a comment.

Let’s start with Colonel Qadhafi. His death is a great relief for the people of Libya, because he would have been a threat to their peace and liberty for as long as he lived. It is hard for westerners to understand the tribal culture on North Africa. The French understand as well as anyone because they’ve been there as the colonial power (although in Libya it was also Italy) for generations. And, today on French television, the commentaries are generally focused on this fact. Had Qadhafi lived, he would have been a block to Libya moving on - because he could always mount a force with tribal connections to him. That he was killed in Sirte, his tribal fief or hometown, and then taken to Misrata, the town that opposed him and was subjected to months of the most egregious attack and siege by Qadhafi loyalists, tells a tribal tale.

But, now that he is dead, Libyans are not so much focusing on how he died but on assuring that his body is treated with respect and given the proper Muslim burial rites.

We in the West have been shocked by the images of Qadhafi being mistreated and undoubtedly killed after his capture, but we did not experience the 42 years of his reign of terror. Ronald Reagan did not call him a Mad Dog for nothing. I don’t mean to excuse the fact of his mistreatment, but only to put it into context. Bernard-Henri Levy, the French philosopher who went to Libya several times during the insurrection, and who was one of the first to call on the world to help the freedom fighters, said today that Qadhafi’s treatment was not worthy of the goals of the revolution. He is right. But, perhaps we all need to walk a mile in the moccasins of the people he terrorized before condemning them.

And, the big story of the day for America - all US troops will leave Iraq before the end of the year. No one will stay behind to continue training Iraqi troops. Only the contingent needed to protect the US Embassy will remain, along with a few thousand mercenaries who protect American contractors. It almost feels like a divorce, doesn’t it? Who gets the kids, the family pets, the house…

All we can hope for is that Iraq will survive, that the Iraqi government will find ways to hold together the ethnic, religious and tribal mix in the country so that democracy, as they define it, can take root and flourish.

We surely think today about the American casualties and the families that will forever feel the hole where one of their sons or daughters should have been. Walking a mile in the moccasins of these brave young men and women would teach all of us a lot about being an American.