I hope that as the readers read today's column completely, they will recall the Lebanese saying, “He who lies, lies to the dead”, i.e. that those who want to lie often quote the dead. I have always tried to quote witnesses who are alive, and if I talked about someone who has passed away (such as Abu Ammar, for example), I refrain from writing except when I know the witnesses thereto are still alive, or when I had already talked about the subject when the person in question was still alive, and therefore I can go back to it and quote it. The above was an introduction that I thought is necessary, because I shall recount to the readers a story involving myself and Muammar Gaddafi, to which witnesses are still with us, and I wish for them a long, happy life. I had decided from the outset that I could not put up with Gaddafi and his insanity, and so I have not visited Libya to this day. However, my Western professional training pushes me to insist on the importance of news sources, and my source in Libya was Brother Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, who always turned a blind eye to my criticisms. I have never felt that he was a big supporter of the regime, while bearing in mind that after my relationship deteriorated greatly with Gaddafi and after I attacked him sharply, I reduced my contacts with Brother Ahmed so as not to embarrass him. Two years ago, I had just left a luncheon with King Hamad bin Isa at the Dorchester Hotel in London, when we saw Brother Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam and some of his bodyguards. We had a short exchange, and he said that he would call me in the evening. After that, as I stood at the entrance waiting for my car, one of Brother Ahmed's bodyguards stood next to me and told me whispering: Don't go to Cairo. I said: Come again? He then repeated the warning before he disappeared. But I did have an idea about what he was talking about. Brother Abdul Rahman Shalgam, Libya's former Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the UN until he defected to the opposition, had advised me repeatedly to take care of my personal security, and I had linked this to the Gaddafi regime. Our brother Abdul Rahman joined the revolution against Gaddafi from the beginning. I once asked him about the old subject in a phone conversation, and he told me that when he was the Foreign Minister and brother Moussa Koussa the head of the intelligence, the latter once came to him visibly angry and sad, and told him that Muammar Gaddafi had ordered a hit on Jihad el-Khazen. Brother Abdul Rahman told me that Moussa Koussa said he would not carry out the order, and asked the minister to help him. They then agreed to say that I am a British citizen residing in Britain, and that there is an agreement that prohibits the Libyans from carrying out any operations in Britain. In a subsequent call with Brother Abdul Rahman, I said that I would phone Brother Moussa in Doha, and he reminded me of the old story and suggested that I thank him for the position he took with regard to my case, and I indeed did so. I also asked about another issue: Two years ago, a young man from the Ajami family whom I believed was only a messenger, came to me and said that Dr. Fouad Ajami would try to broker reconciliation between me and the regime in a meeting with Moussa Koussa in Paris, which was welcome news for me. I subsequently went once with the young Ajami to Paris, where we stayed at the Marriott and waited for brother Moussa, but he never showed up. In subsequent contacts, a Mercedes 500 car was offered to me. I thanked them but declined, because I already had a Mercedes 500. Then a more luxurious car was offered to me, and after that hundreds of thousands of dollars. I said that I wanted reconciliation without anything in return, and if any sum of money was to be mentioned as we sat together and talked, I would leave the place. After that, all communications stopped, and so I came to the conclusion that the goal was to tempt me with money, only to expose the whole thing in the media after that. I asked Brother Moussa about this story, in which he was supposed to have been the other party, but he said that he knew nothing about it, and it seems that his name was used only to entice me. I recounted this story because all the witnesses to it are alive, and because it is a personal experience that shows the extent of Gaddafi's madness. I am after all a journalist, and do not consider myself at all important enough for Muammar Gaddafi to take interest in me. All I did was write pieces critical of him, but I never threatened his regime. For one thing, I am not a dissenting Libyan politician who has supporters, and who has sought to overthrow the regime, but just a journalist who opposes through words, if there indeed is anyone reading them. Now that Gaddafi's regime is gone and will never return, I find a positive side to the story, which is that Gaddafi had placed me on par with Imam Musa al-Sadr and Brother Mansour Kikhia. It only remains for me to learn of their fate, and also the fate of thousands of Libyans who vanished under Gaddafi, along with those who tried to learn about the fate of those who vanished, only to vanish themselves in turn. [email protected] - Ayoon Wa Azan (Gaddafi and I - 2)
