And He Died

So, how idealistic, civilized and forward-looking toward a democracy-based enlightened society is the National Transitional Council of Libya? That remains, of course, to be seen. The current head sounds rather despairing when he announces he has no intention of staying on, to see the launch of a new government to haul Libya into the 21st Century.

Whoever takes up that monumental task will have quite the job of it. Among the secular liberals, the educated and the sophisticated, the aristocrats and the peaceful there are many other branches of humanity. Those mired in primitive tribal cultural imperatives. Where sophistry is unknown and direct breaches of tribal respect herald violent responses.

And the Islamist groups, best not to overlook them for they are there, and they intend to be recognized as an integral part of Libya. Even though the former Lion of Libya held them in contempt. They did not reflect his brand of Islam. The competing, combat-ready militias are in fine fettle; among them those who dispatched Col. Gadhafi.

Might this be construed as a brutally primitive society? The looting and destruction, for example, that has left Sirte both without a population, much less its most famous son, and without an infrastructure to return to. Is the hospital still standing? How about the mosques? And family homes; what will people have, to return to?

Irrelevant to the larger picture of a country waiting to be retrieved out of its interim period of holding its collective breath. But an end has come of the civil war. It is over. And now the real war begins. Will it be a war of attrition between tribal interests? Will it be a war of hearts and minds, to bring the people to clasp to their hearts a ruling tribe toward which all others will agree to be subservient?

Doesn't sound very progressive, to put it in those terms. But then, consider this: Someone in the crowd surrounding the cowering, confused, fearful Gadhafi who had been plucked out of the indignity of the sewer called out "Keep him alive, keep him alive". Ah, a voice in the wilderness of raw vengeance, calling for cool heads to prevail.

That appeal, it was noted, was answered by a high-pitched crazed scream. Gadhafi in the final realization that his life was fully forfeit and he would end just as did those whose life's-end he had plotted? Or a determined assassin who felt that one breath more of the dictator was just too much to accommodate.

And the crowds that abused his bloody, lifeless body? Does this speak well of a civilized society? Does this auger well for the future of the country? And the spoils in the wake of Gadhafi's capture, a dainty black boot tailored for his foot, a gold-plated revolver, familiar to the contours of his hand, his blood-soaked once-white shirt, now a prized souvenir.

Above the drain where he hid, the words: "This is the place where the rat Gadhafi was hiding." And the NTC spokesman's explanation? "He was also hit in the head. There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."