France has done well in mobilizing huge efforts to arrive at United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, and its implementation, with the participation of Arab and foreign states that were complicit with Gaddafi in recent years, for the sake of his oil and money. France has made up for its recent past behavior, when it received a murderous leader and tragicomic representative of his people, and pitched a humiliating tent for him in the country's historic palaces. This era of bargaining and collusion has ended, because Arab states have changed, and because French President Nicolas Sarkozy was subject to fierce domestic criticism for his dealing with the regime of bin Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. There were also criticisms about this or that minister taking vacations financed by these regimes, or paid for by those close to them. Sarkozy quickly repaired this stance and appointed former Prime Minister Alain Juppe as his foreign minister. Juppe is a skilled statesman, and he was chosen to take over the country's diplomacy, which had nearly erased France's impact in terms of being an influential country in the Mediterranean, after the fall of the regimes of its past allies, Mubarak and bin Ali. French diplomacy is now facing a new phase, one of compensating for the policies of the past, and helping the Libyan people and the Libyan rebels rid themselves of the leader who oppressed them for 42 years and impoverished a rich, lightly-populated country that could have become a jewel in the Mediterranean. The critics of the actions of the international alliance in carrying out Resolution 1973 should ask about an alternative to stopping the murderous insanity of this leader, who has used all of his money and capabilities to feed terrorism in the world, blow up two civilian airplanes, and spread ignorance in his country via the Green Book, as part of the disaster of his domestic policies. There are certainly a number of questions about the time that will be needed for the international alliance's military strikes, led by France and Britain. However, this does not mean that there is an alternative. Whoever criticized the resolution should offer a solution to the Libyan opposition, to save their lives and them from the crimes of Gaddafi and his sons, and the mercenaries he has imported from Mali, to kill his own people. He called them “rats” and said they were taking hallucinogenic pills, and were all part of al-Qaida. The question is: Who is actually taking the pills here? Isn't it the one who called himself the king of kings of Africa, or who claims on all the world's televisions that his entire people not only loves him, but adores him, or the one who said he would go after the rebels, “alley by alley”? It is a shame for the Libyan people to remain under the rule of a leader who destroyed every vestige of the state under the pretext that he was focused on popular committees. He sowed chaos in all parts of the public sector. Whoever says that Western intervention and the international alliance to protect civilians is for the sake of oil and money is wrong. These are traditional comments, made by those who do not follow recent history. For the last five years, Libya has been producing oil with no problems or Western sanctions, ever since Gaddafi paid compensation money for his crimes. All American, British, Italian, French and German companies were present in Libya and benefiting from their operations there, in full freedom, and under a corrupt regime that divided oil money between Gaddafi and his sons, to distribute to causes such as terror, or importing mercenaries. This is all now over. It is true that the aerial bombardment is not sufficient to get rid of his regime, and there are many questions about how long Gaddafi will survive. However, striking at his military capabilities and the presence of the international alliance in the skies of Libya has saved the anti-regime rebels from more massacres, and given them the courage to confront Gaddafi, and perhaps finish him off, sooner or later. This international alliance is not a “crusader war,” as some have said. It is a legitimate war, authorized by the Security Council and endorsed by the Arab League, which has also woken up, and this is not something to be sad about. However difficult the mission of the international alliance, the opponents of Gaddafi will, at least, no longer be alone. They should now organize themselves, in order to become a transitional force with credibility, and in order to benefit the international assistance, to rise up against a leader, his sons and cronies, who have spread chaos, oppression, corruption and ignorance for 42 years. Let Gaddafi go, so that Libyans can secure a dignified life, instead of being scrutinized because their leader is a tragicomic figure, with this corrupt and insane behavior!
