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Gathafi’s War on Young and Old

Nizar Awad - 4/15/2011

After watching in utter dismay how our innocent children are being used to white wash the ugly and murderous face of Gathafi’s regime, I knew right there and then that there is nothing sacred to Gathafi, his family or his followers and there is no telling how low they would sink to achieve their goals.

As I watched young school children in the devastated cities of Zawiya and Zintan being prodded by their heartless and sinister looking teachers to sing the praises of the Ghoulish Gathafi such as the ridiculous trinity “Allah (God), Muammar and Libya only” while wearing green bandanas and waving green flags my eyes caught sight of a little girl in the back of the class room who, apparently fearing retribution, was forcing the words out of her mouth while her eyes are wallowing up with tears. That was one of the most heart wrenching scenes I have ever seen in my entire life. The image of that little girl, whose facial expression reflected the horrors and sufferings that she and other children in the war ravaged cities have been forced to endure, will be forever engraved in my mind.

Hala Jaber, the Sunday Times’ journalist, was the first British journalist to enter the besieged city of Misratah in western Libya and witness firsthand the blight of its residences and particularly its terrified children. She in her article entitled, “Orphans cower under Gaddafi’s tank barrage” writes, “Misratah, the only rebel-held city in the west of Libya, has been under siege from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces for more than six weeks now. As I discovered last week when I became the first British reporter to reach the port, it is the children who have borne the brunt of much of the killing, wounding and trauma. Some have died in the backs of their parents’ cars – shelled or shot. Others have lost limbs in a relentless bombardment by Gaddafi’s army. Until now, news of the suffering in Libya’s third city has been limited mainly to occasional satellite phone calls from hospital doctors. The overwhelming message was a desperate plea to the outside world for help, both military and humanitarian”* When Gathafi and those around him brag about being protected by Libyan citizens, they mean the crowds of mostly women and children who are being coerced into becoming human shields to protect Gathafi and his family inside the military Camp of Bab al-Azayziya in the Capital Tripoli. What regime no matter how ruthless and immoral would hide behind women and children? Even before being forced into becoming human shields or being exposed to the savagery of indiscriminate shelling of their cities, generations of Libyan children have borne the brunt of Gathafi’s megalomania and lunacy over the last forty two years and counting.

Whether in schools or at home the propaganda machine of Gathafi have been depriving children of their innocence by bombarding them with slogans from the so-called leader of the revolution’s brainchild that he erroneously refer to as the “Green Book”. Along with that, our beloved children grow up witnessing the horrors of this brutal dictator as they happen right before their eyes or on the TV screens. Even if they escape the impact of horrifying events such as torture and public hangings, children still have to contend with mentors in their schools who are instructed to instill in them fear of the regime day in and day out. Imagine the confusion our innocent boys and girls have to deal with when trying to reconcile the fabricated and real images of their erroneously called benevolent Qa’id or leader. On the one hand they are sternly instructed to refer to him as the “first father” or Baba “Dad” Muammar, but on the other hand they are witnessing his fiendish brutality and masochism when exacting retributions upon anyone who opposes him or stands in his way be they adults or children.

This two faced dictator must appear to his youngest victims and Libyan children in and outside of Libya as having the characteristics of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in the novella by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The so called humanitarian organizations in Libya including the “Gaddafi international Charity and Development Foundation” headed by Gathafi’s son Saif al-Islam and the Wa’tasimu” Charity Association headed by Gathafi’s daughter Aisha are nothing but a cover to shield their gather’s ruthless and merciless regime. These two frauds have been, since the start of our February 17th Revolution, orchestrating terror campaigns and mass murder of our innocent and vulnerable children and population who are huddled inside hospitals, schools, mosques (places of worship) and homes. These criminal organizations and the Gathafi regime are but two faces of the same coin whose mission is to lie and deceive at any cost.

I appeal to my fellow Libyans and others worldwide to help show the world Gathafi’s crimes against children and adults alike. The plight of these helpless victims should be at the forefront of activities and demonstrations in support of the Libyan Revolution. Please pray to Allah (God) with me for the safety of that little girl and others like her whose tears reduced me to tears and whose courage despite her tender age will forever reflect the courage of our decent and noble Libyan people against all odds.