Vlad the Gaddafi

Mansour Daou is known as the “Black Box” of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime — like an aircraft’s data recorder, he knows some of Libya’s darkest secrets.

And as one of Gadhafi’s top security officials, who remained at his side until the final hours, Daou has a unique insight into the astonishing downfall of Africa’s longest-serving leader.

According to Daou, Gadhafi felt betrayed by world leaders he considered allies.

“He spoke of friends he said let him down, and did not stand by him, like (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi, (former British prime minister) Tony Blair, the French president (Nicolas Sarkozy) and (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan,” Daou said.

From CNN

The problem that people have in the West is that they are sheltered. Sheltered from the real horridness of daily life, and death, in our world. When you do not see the result of a drone attack, the blood, the guts, the gore, it is a lot easier to back it as a useful tool in the anti-terror crusade.

It is time to ask the people who have suddenly taken an interest in the ins and outs of international law concerning the execution of murderous dictators, or Gaddafi’s social welfare system, where were you through the 42 year reign of terror? Where were you when Gaddafi ordered the deaths of 1000+ political prisoners at Abu Salim? Where were you when Libyan students were hanged live on state television for the mere crime of speaking out? Where were you when Libyan dissidents were murdered abroad, chased to their deaths by Gaddafi’s agents? And for those who seem to think of Gaddafi as a Black nationalist, where were you when he invaded Chad, sparking off yet another war?

via Gaddafi and Libya through Western eyes

1973: Gaddafi  regime arrests Muhammad al-Sadiq al-Tarhouni; suspected of belonging to political party. Believed to be at Abu Salim, he is feared dead.

1976: Gaddafi regime murders Amer Deghayes in police custody.  Although his family is told he committed suicide by hanging, the regime denies them permission to view the autopsy report.

1980: Gaddafi regime assassinates businessman Abdul Jalil al-’Arif in Rome, Italy.

1980: Gaddafi regime arrests engineer Mahmoud Banou. He is tortured to death in custody.

1986: Gaddafi regime kidnaps and subsequently disappears Yusuf Hassan al-Huwayl on a visit home to Libya from the UK, where he was a resident.

1994: Gaddafi regime abducts Silvan Becker (German anti-terrorism expert) and his wife from streets of Cairo, Egypt. He will die in Tripoli.

2004: Regime admits that massacre at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli occured and concedes that families have right to know. However, no official account exists to date.

2011: Gaddafi regime murders Zaynab Al Jareeree in Benghazi. She was gunned down for taking photographs.

Extracts taken from the twenty page document Gaddafi Crimes since 1969

Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives.

I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death. The Libyan people should protect its identity, achievements, history and the honourable image of its ancestors and heroes. The Libyan people should not relinquish the sacrifices of the free and best people.

I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.

Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life. We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour.

Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations that choosing to protect the nation is an honour and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise.“