In Libya, a campaign to confuse
| Tripoli, Libya
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi decries Western airstrikes as a 鈥渘ew crusader battle鈥� and calls upon 鈥渁ll Islamic armies鈥� to assist in a momentous fight. On the eve of the air campaign one week ago, the regime issues a statement: If attacked, Libya would 鈥渆xpose all air and maritime traffic鈥� in the Mediterranean Sea to counterattack.
But like much in Mr. Qaddafi鈥檚 Libya today 鈥� including the declared total popular support of the enigmatic 鈥淏rother Leader鈥� himself 鈥� the rhetoric often appears disconnected from reality.
From Qaddafi鈥檚 certainty that 鈥渁ll my people are with me, they love me all,鈥� to cease-fires declared and ignored, the Libyan leader might appear to be waging a campaign of confusion against his enemies. The seed of such a strategy may be evident in the Green Book, the colonel's 35-year-old guide to political philosophy, which itself embodies 鈥� perhaps purposefully 鈥� the contradictory and abstruse nature of the long-serving strongman.
In the latest example, on Friday, officials seeking to prove the scale of the damage drove foreign journalists east from Tripoli 鈥� passing two smoldering military facilities visible from the road on the way 鈥� only to stop at a rural residence where a missile of some type had landed in a front yard.
People who called themselves witnesses told different stories about the event, in which one person 鈥� or none 鈥� was injured. US-made missile parts littered the area, and there was clear evidence of an impact with shrapnel. But the site may have also been made to look more convincing with what appeared to be gunfire sprayed against some outside walls and white plaster thrown onto interior floors.
Libya's true believers
Despite the elaborate theater going on in Tripoli, there is no shortage of true believers in Qaddafi or his regime here. Even away from the official flag-waving loyalists who attend events set up for foreign eyes, they announce themselves.
Unprompted, one Libyan businessman says: 鈥淭ell the world about Muammar Qaddafi: He is our oxygen. We cannot live without him. We cannot breathe without him.鈥�
But signs of discontent have erupted across Libya since mid-February, when protests began and eastern regions rebelled en masse against Qaddafi鈥檚 nearly 42-year rule.
There appears to be no lukewarm support for the Qaddafi: only pure devotion or hatred. The confusion and opacity may stem from the top with Qaddafi himself, and his unique style of rule.
It has made Libya a place where being targeted by more than 170 cruise missiles has been greeted in the capital鈥檚 main square with a perpetual, official party and frequent celebratory gunfire.
'Borderline personality'
Qaddafi has a 鈥渂orderline personality鈥� that 鈥渙ften swings from intense anger to euphoria,鈥� says Jerrold Post, a political psychologist at George Washington University, in a recent analysis in the journal Foreign Policy.
鈥淯nder his often 鈥榥ormal鈥� facade, he is quite insecure and sensitive to slight. His reality testing is episodically faulty,鈥� writes Dr. Post, who founded a center for analyzing personality and political behavior during a 21-year career at the CIA.
鈥淲hile most of the time Qaddafi is 鈥榓bove the border鈥� and in touch with reality, when under stress he can dip below it and his perceptions can be distorted and his judgment faulty,鈥� writes Post. 鈥淎nd right now, he is under the most stress he has been under since taking over the leadership of Libya鈥�. He does sincerely cling to the idea that his people all love him.鈥�
Ubiquitous Green Book
Cornerstone to Qaddafi鈥檚 ideology, his loyalists say, is the Green Book he penned beginning in 1975. Few things in Libya are as ubiquitous. There are statues erected of it and posters that herald it. School children are required to read it and pristine copies have mysteriously appeared in rubble at bomb sites.
Spanning subjects as diverse as the differences between men and women 鈥� 鈥渏ust as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species鈥� 鈥� to describing day nursery for toddlers as 鈥渃oercive and tyrannical,鈥� the Green Book is the ultimate guide for Libya鈥檚 true believers.
It also promises to yield the secret of true democracy and freedom with a 鈥渢hird universal theory.鈥�
鈥淚n the outside world there is a misunderstanding of this book; they didn鈥檛 read it, they thought it was a dictatorial case,鈥� says Hisham Arab, a journalist with the monthly People鈥檚 Congress magazine, published by the Green Book Center, which he says is devoted to spreading the 鈥渧alues鈥� of Qaddafi鈥檚 book 鈥渢o the world.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of outsiders misunderstand Muammar Qaddafi鈥檚 character, so they do not accept Muammar Qaddafi鈥檚 thoughts,鈥� says Mr. Arab. 鈥淗ere we know it 鈥� we follow it every day in our lives.鈥�
'Mad dog of the Middle East'
Critics deride the Green Book as a rambling and pointless screed from a man whom Ronald Reagan called the 鈥渕ad dog of the Middle East.鈥� But it is no small feat to keep atop Libya鈥檚 tribal society for nearly 42 years, even with a well-documented track record of brutally crushing dissent.
Qaddafi accuses 鈥� and his followers say they believe 鈥� that rebel forces now in control of eastern Libya and other enclaves are Al Qaeda militants or a small group of wayward Libyans radicalized by drugs and foreigners who covet Libya鈥檚 oil.
鈥淪ome people say they want Muammar Qaddafi to leave, [and they] took weapons and fought,鈥� says Abdul Jalil, a sports TV host who now works with foreign journalists on behalf of the government. 鈥淗e said: 鈥楳e with millions will follow those rebels street by street, room by room,鈥� until we clean Libya of these rebels.鈥� 鈥�
鈥淭he real meaning is not, 鈥榃e will kill Libyans one by one,鈥� 鈥� says Mr. Jalil. 鈥淏ut we will clean Libya of these rats."
Yet such retaliation would not seem possible in the world presented by the Green Book, where every citizen has a voice. Or, in fact, it should be inevitable, since Qaddafi wrote that those citizen voices should always target authoritarian rule.
'Direct democracy is the ideal'
鈥淭he Green Book guides the masses to an unprecedented system of direct democracy,鈥� Qaddafi wrote. 鈥淣o two intelligent people can dispute the fact that direct democracy is the ideal鈥�. All that is left before the masses now is the struggle to eliminate all prevailing forms of dictatorial governments鈥� .鈥�
This is precisely what Libya鈥檚 antigovernment rebels say they are doing. As well as following another of Qaddafi鈥檚 maxims: 鈥淔reedom of expression is the right of every natural person, even if a person chooses to behave irrationally to express his or her insanity."
Despite frequent use of the word 鈥渄emocracy鈥� in the Green Book, and Qaddafi鈥檚 many tirades against authoritarian rule, there is a Machiavellian truth that concludes the first portion 鈥� and bodes ill for Libyans praying for peaceful change.
The 鈥渆ra of the masses 鈥� excites the feelings and dazzles the eyes,鈥� wrote Qaddafi. But even though this vision of freedom marks the 鈥渉appy emancipation鈥� from authoritarianism, he warned also of a 鈥減eriod of chaos and demagoguery.鈥�
Qaddafi concluded: 鈥淭heoretically, this is genuine democracy but, realistically 鈥� the stronger party in society is the one that [always] rules.鈥�
