Congratulations to the people of Libya. Congratulations to the Arabs and Muslims. Congratulations to the whole world. After 42 years of darkness and oppression, the Libyans finally see light at the end of the tunnel. It was 42 bleak years. Today, the people of Libya can start looking forward to a better future. I want the best for the Libyans. Personally, I want to know the fate of Imam Musa Sadr, and Mansour Kikhia, and the thousands of people who disappeared under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. But I do not want retribution, physical liquidations, or to see one injustice be replaced by another. Every person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, not by the public (or by Tahrir Square for example). The senior figures of the Gaddafi regime and Gaddafi's minions, and even his family members, are therefore innocent until a court convicts them. If the revolution in Libya has proved anything, it would be that Muammar Gaddafi had not succeeded in brainwashing his people, or rendering them in his image and example, i.e. ignorance, backwardness and terrorism. When Gaddafi and his gang carried out the coup of 1/9/1969, the population of Libya was less than a million. Today the number is six million, and I assume the majority was born under Gaddafi's regime, and knew no other ruler. And yet, the revolution proved that the people of Libya are part of that imaginary global village, that they respond to external events and developments, and that they are aware of what is going on and thus aspire to exercise their right to having a decent life. The time of the Libyans is coming and they are indeed apt. They have all the abilities to repair what has been damaged and build a modern country, and perhaps the billions of dollars that the regime hid away in banks around the world would be used in reconstruction. We knew years and decades before the revolution against Gaddafi that the annual government budget was 10 to 20 billion dollars less than the country's oil revenues, so if we add the figures belonging to the past twenty years alone, there would be hundreds of billions of dollars that are the right of the Libyan people alone. Do I hope that the Libyans play a positive role within the Arab group, a role that would be beneficial to the whole nation? I will give them time to fix what Gaddafi has ruined before starting to demand Libya to play an active and productive pan-Arab role. Muammar Gaddafi was not the head of a barbaric and backwards regime, but something that is nothing short of a disgrace. He had almost succeeded in infecting the Libyans with his ignorance, used terrorism against the people of his own country, and engaged in terrorist activities abroad. If I had but a modicum of professional accomplishment, it would be that I had never visited Libya in my life, because when I became a journalist who habitually visits countries around the world, Gaddafi was already in power in Libya, and I had decided from the outset that I could not deal with him. Perhaps some of his sons are indeed like him. Nevertheless, I insist that they receive a fair trial. We have learned not to blame sons for their fathers' sins. Specifically, I call for a fair trial for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and leave it to the court to exonerate him or convict him. I admit that I was never as pleased to see an Arab leader depart as I was with the departure of Gaddafi. We have seen many Arab leaders who did not deserve to be in power rule, and control the country and the people, leaders led by the Colonel, the King of Africa's Kings. The ouster of Gaddafi is half the task, and the other half is no less difficult, as construction has always been a more difficult endeavor than destruction. We want to see in Libya a democratic government without any meddling by America or the NATO. This is while we also know that there must be enemies making all kinds of plots, opportunists attempting to hijack the revolution, and extremist groups lurking in the dark and awaiting the chance to seize the country and set it back by entire centuries, and not just years. Nonetheless, I am happy today for Libya, and for all Arabs and Muslims, and I am packing my bag to visit this good country soon. [email protected]
