On the first of September 1969, I was driving my brand new Mercedes alongside the Adriatic Sea, returning from Germany to Beirut. While I was flicking between the radio stations, I heard statements from unions, associations and other bodies congratulating the people for the al-Fateh (the first day) of September, and for putting an end to the monarchy in Libya. I had not heard the word al-Fateh to mean the first of the month before, and concluded that this was probably a western, not an eastern, Arab term. I ruled out Morocco as the country concerned with the statements and decided that it was most probably a revolution/coup d'état in Libya. The radio's transmission was then lost, and I was not ascertained that it was indeed Libya until I entered Skopje. How did I get to own a brand new Mercedes 300? I was a student at the American University of Beirut, and was working as a shift supervisor in the Arab News Agency. I then accepted the post of Editor in Chief of the Daily Star, and kept comparing for months between the agency and the paper. Actually, the Arab News Agency was the name given to the regional office of the Reuter Agency (which later became Reuters.) This office was initially set up in Cairo, before moving to Cyprus during the tripartite aggression in 1956, and settled in the end in Beirut. At the time, I knew an Australian journalist called Keith Davis, who I met during my summer job with the University in Bahrain. Keith introduced me to the local chief editor, the late Elias Na'was, as a “genius” journalist. After I passed a translation test, I worked as a translator for a year, then an editor for another. I then became a shift supervisor responsible for the entire Middle East except Egypt, because the British agency considered Egypt important enough for it to be covered directly by London. In 1969, Reuters decided that it was time to enter the computer age, and to set up an economic section within the agency. This section then achieved a tremendous financial success. Owing to that, and after it had relied in its budget on contributions by the British press - each as per their distribution volume -, the agency became a joint stock company, and one of the most prominent companies listed in the London, New York, and other stock exchanges. In any case, this is how it came to pass that the Reuters news agency decided in 1969 to shut down the Arab News Agency, and to work directly under its brand name. We were thus all dismissed from our jobs, and were given the proper severance pay as required by law. After that, we were reinstated in our same jobs, with the same salaries, but this time with the Reuters news agency. What happened following that, though, is that some of the staff was not reinstated because the computer had replaced them. Those then protested and the British feared some repercussions, so decided to pay us each, twice the official amount of the severance pay, and I found that before I reached the age of thirty, I had 35 thousand Lebanese pounds. This was enough to purchase an apartment in those days, in addition to both of my salaries in the agency and the newspaper each month. I did not buy an apartment, however. Instead, I consulted some friends and was then given the name and address of a Lebanese car dealer based in Frankfurt. I flew there, and bought the car that I had long dreamt of, and on the way back, I took with me from the Swiss city of Basel two young French [female] nurses who worked in Grenoble (But that's another story that I'm saving for a different day). The shore of what was once Yugoslavia on the Adriatic Sea is one of the most beautiful beaches overlooking the Mediterranean, and it is rather unfortunate that most people heard of it only after the collapse of Yugoslavia, and following the fighting that took place there. I was driving through the town of Zadar when I heard about the al-Fateh September Revolution, which made me forget about the beauty of the beach and the adjacent islands / cities, and focus my attention on Libya by virtue of my profession. I want to say to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, that after 40 years of following Libyan affairs, “enough is enough”, and that it is about time he dismounted his horse. I had proposed yesterday a unity between Egypt, Sudan, and Libya, and propose today that the Colonel start with requesting unity with Egypt, in order for his country see the light of the twenty-first century. While dealing with news related to Libya, I always remained neutral because there was no need for me to make a stance. I staunchly supported Libya following the Pan Am plane crash in 1988, however, especially after the treacherous American attack in 1986 on Benghazi and Tripoli, which killed dozens and wounded more than two hundred people. I thus never criticized the colonel or his regime until recent years, when he turned against himself and against us. Then I stopped criticizing him after I expressed my views, because I do not have any personal position towards any issue related to Libya. Colonel Gaddafi must have finished doing everything he wanted to do for, and to, Libya, and he must have finished trying all possible ideas. He must now do something heroic that history will remember him for. This can be very much be achieved through unity with Egypt and Sudan, since the three countries would complement each other, and need each other. It has been forty years since that fateful day in Zadar. I want to say about this period, what we usually say in Lebanon: May it be remembered, but never repeated. I also wish for these forty years to have a good ending, which can be embodied in a regional unity that erases the colonel's previous and subsequent sins.
