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Qaddafi’s Propagandists: Abdulaziz Belkhadem and Yusuf Shakir

Nizar Awad - 8/19/2011

Abdulaziz Belkhadem: Algeria’s Minister for Hire

Abdulaziz Belkhadem who is Algeria’s Minister of State now officially occupies a prominent place on the Libyan people’s list of warmongers since he openly voiced support for the now war criminal Muammar al-Gathafi and his regime. This man and his boss Algeria’s President Abd al-Aziz Boutaflika are responsible for running clandestine operations across the Libyan-Algerian border to prolong the life of Gathafi with mercenaries and weapons.

Even before his recent involvement in Libya Belkhadem has had a reputation for shady business deals and pursuit of money making schemes including his highly publicized and suspicious business deals with an Algerian wealthy mogul named Issad Rebrab not to mention the huge profits he purportedly accumulated through his business and arms deals with Gathafi and his family. When I look at this man then I read or hear about his clandestine operations to rescue the reeling Gathafi regime I know for sure that looks are truly deceiving. He has the cunning to hide behind the mask of a pious and trustworthy man while running such dangerous operations and then sets back and calmly watches the results of his handiwork unfolds in the form of indiscriminate tragedies befalling the Libyan people be they young or old, men, women or children.

He and his boss Boutaflika, who is putting him on a short leach as a measure of self-preservation, tremble at the thought of having to one day face the same fate as Gathafi. Belkhadem’s ambition to someday succeed Boutaflika is the reason why he is backing Gathafi and in turn preserves the dictatorship of his president. In other wards he wants to make sure that Boutaflika keeps warming the seat of presidency for his planned ascendance to the throne and to the leadership of the Algerian National Liberation Front with its authoritarian generals and politicians. However their backing of the Libyan regime whether directly or indirectly makes them a party to the cold blooded murder of the Libyan people. As for the dictator Gathafi these two should know that he is no longer predisposed to join their destabilizing African ventures. Gathafi has become a wanted man since the international war crimes prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued indictments against him, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanusi for war crimes against their own people. I am hoping that the day will come when the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would be expanded to include issuing indictments to those indirectly involved in war crimes by aiding or abetting in the commission of such criminal and genocidal acts against their own population or any population for that matter.

Before the two regimes latest cooperation to subdue the Libyan February 17th Revolution they have been playing the parts of spoilers to destabilize North and Sub Saharan Africa in ways that suit their ambitions and political designs. It is common knowledge that Gathafi and Boutaflika were and continue to be behind the conflict in the Western Sahara known also as the Spanish Sahara since the Spanish forces vacated that area in 1976 with the understanding that only Morocco and Mauritania could decide the future of the area between themselves. Libya and Algeria muscled their way into the conflict by helping create the POLISARIO (The Popular Front for the Liberation of the Red Streamlet (al-Saqiya al-Hamra) and the Valley of Gold (Wadi al-Thahab) for no reasons other than to sow the seeds of conflict and destabilize the entire region. Even after Mauritania rescinded its claim to the region in favor of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Libyan and the Algerian governments continued their illegal operations to prolong the conflict and bloodshed between the two parts of Morocco. Belkhadem has been playing significant rules throughout this sordid affair in his capacities as the personal representative of the head of the state, prime minister of Algeria, minister of state and foreign minister, secretary general of the National Liberation Front (FLN) or in his current post as minister of state. This shows that he is the actual mover and shaker who personally oversees his country’s intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states including the Kingdom of Morocco.

What angers Libyans even more is Belkhadem’s numerous intrusions into the Libyan internal affairs as if it is any of his concern. His clandestine warmongering is now evolving into political manipulations and deceptive public relations outreach in a last ditch effort to rescue the Gathafi regime from imminent collapse. Having failed to convince anyone that Gathafi should remain at the helm and then warning against recognizing Libya’s Transitional National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, he is now pretending that his government is worried about the prospect of a divided Libya and its future impact on the stability of North and Sub-Saharan Africa. When one hears this man’s statements and warnings concerning the situation in Libya one can’t help but wonders “who died and left this guy in charge of Libya’s internal affairs”. Mr. Khadim should know that Libya does not need or require his peddling or middling not now, not ever. The Libyan glorious February 17th Revolution is beyond the comprehension of an autocratic and despotic figure like him and others in his dictatorship heaven. He should instead just stick to his Algerian junta since I am sure he feels at home rubbing shoulders with his generals and comrades in mischief. However If he and his comrades in arms think that they are beyond the revolutionary sweep they should think again and hard this time. It is obvious from the escalating street demonstrations in the Capital Algiers and other cities that the Algerian people who had put up with the regime’s ruthless dictatorship and corruption for so long are getting restless which could only mean that the regime’s days of reckoning are fast approaching. In a language that Mr. Khadim understands “you can take this to the bank”. It’s as certain as the prayer bump in the middle of your forehead.

One’s Past Is What One Is: Gathafi Propagandist’s Past Is Coming Back to Haunt Him

Just as Adolf Hitler had his propagandist Joseph Goebbels disguise Nazi atrocities as expressions of German patriotism Gathafi entrusted his top propagandist Yusuf Shakir with the exact same task. Dr. Goebbels and the so-called Dr. Shakir (He has never shown a single proof of his having a PhD) are the generals behind the microphones who are fanning the flames of hate and vengeance from safe distances. When I was gathering background information I did not have to look hard for proofs of this man’s treachery since the book that he wrote when he was a member of the Libyan opposition abroad and in which he dismantles the character of the colonel piece by piece is right there for everyone to see. In this book (Link to the book: http://archive.libyaalmostakbal.net/Books/shakeer_book02.html) which is aptly titled “The Colonel’s Complex on the Scale of Psychoanalysis” the psycho Shakir compares the “colonel’s complex” with the Freudian and Jungian complexes including the “Oedipus Complex” and the “Electra Complex”. It is in fact a treasure trove of evidences that clearly show the disturbing mental states of both men. This book alone could save us looking for any further proofs of Shakir’s treasonous mentality and his being utterly devoid of any sense of care or compassion towards other human beings. His writings and his rants on TV also reveal that his bouts with self-hatred and self-loathing are causing him to become hell bent on self-destruction. This is not just my opinion of Shakir by the opinion of most Libyans including his entire family in the liberated city of Benghazi that has publically and vehemently disowned him. When I read parts of this book and then watch him lash out at our revolution and revolutionaries, I become more and more convinced that this frantic lunatic is possessed with multiple and opposing personalities. He is the patriot and the traitor, the enlightened and the religious fanatic as well as the scientist and the mentally deranged conjurer of Jinns (Genies) and destructive evil spirits. However Shakir’s psychoanalytical account of colonel Gathafi’s disturbed emotional impulses and perturbed mental state is an indictment against his leader (Qa’id) and a testament to the colonel’s bloody and criminal acts against the Libyan people now and in the past. In other words Gathafi’s prancing propagandist, who is frantically laboring to escape his past, finds it ahead of him in the guise of his book which hangs over his head like a suspended guillotine. I for one could never imagine the kind of excruciating life this maniac has been living after making amends with Gathafi knowing full well that the dictator’s mood swings could at any moment cause him to drop the ax once he realizes the full extent of what he was saying about him in his book.

Now I would like to look at translated excerpts from Shakir’s book to really see what he truly thinks of the man he is now feverishly rooting for and for whom he is inciting Libyans to kill each other. These excerpts that I translated from Arabic show Shakir to be such a two faced hypocrite who cares only about himself and who’s conscious is utterly devoid of any genuine human feelings. In the introduction to his book Shakir says he was entrusted by the leadership of the Libyan opposition group in exile known as “The National Front for the Salvation of Libya” to do a study on the personality of his enemy colonel Gathafi as part of a campaign to, as Shakir puts it “know your enemy”. In chapter two (p.23) entitled “Deviation and the lust of the Sultan (King, but usually refers to a despot)” Shakir is obviously seething with hate towards Gathafi to the point of disclosing that “One of the symptoms associated with the “colonel’s complex” is an incessant impulse or desire for aggression and a delight in humiliating others. The colonel’s complex could in its deviation amount to an insatiable lust for cruelty and the urge to inflict pain on others to the point that the term “sadism” becomes identical with “colonelism” since the one afflicted by this complex cherish the sight of blood and watching pain and suffering just like beasts of pray”. I am absolutely certain that neither I nor many of our writers and analysts could have come up with such detailed and accurate description of Gathafi’s lust for mayhem and bloodshed. Way to go Shakir. You should have continued with this type of writing instead of taking up sorcery and dervish (darwish) hallucinations like a possessed mendicant in an Egyptian Zar.

In chapter three of his book (p. 42) entitled “Hitler and the Colonel’s complex” Shakir consciously describes the characters and behaviors of Gathafi’s supports but he subconsciously describes himself to a tee. If Shakir dares read his own descriptions of Gathafi’s supporters it would seem to him like looking in the mirror and seeing his own reflection staring mockingly right back at him. After expressing his disgust at this type of outcasts he continues “Gathafi’s supporters are among those afflicted with physical and psychological impediments and those who are deformed in both body and moral character, as Gathafi himself once described them, hate the world in which they are born physically and emotionally disfigured. In other words, they find in the colonel’s complex a haven and a creed or doctrine that conceals their infirmities and allow them to see themselves as some sort of Don Quixote type heroes”. Shakir could not be more accurate in revealing the destructive inner psychoses that propel people like him to sub-consciously pursue obsessive, compulsive behavior that eventually push them towards self destruction. Once gain codoos for the psychic Shakir for providing us with a text book analysis of his inner demons and in doing so he spares us countless hours of research to figure out what really makes this nutcase ticks. Now we are able to realize that there is a “method to his madness” after all as expressed in similar words in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare in which sanity and insanity converge and yet the mind continues to function under normal circumstances.

Chapter four (p. 59) of Shakir’s book entitled “Gathafi between psychological deviation and mental illness” does justice in accurately outlining his and his master’s psychological profiles including their mental deficiencies, Shakir explains that the “one evidence of Gathafi’s psychological deviation is his claim to be “the custodian of Arab Nationalism”. This erroneous claim that the late president Jamal Abd al-Nasser for reasons unbeknown to us bestowed on the colonel just as a nicety and nothing more had only fed Gathafi’s vanity and delusion and as a result prolonged the suffering of the Libyan people. Due to this dose of delusion which inadvertently inflated his ego Gathafi then “assigned a foreign author (Italian author Mirella Bianco) to publish a cheap a booklet about him entitled (Prophet of the Desert)” Here it is obvious that Shakir’s vanity and exaggerated self worth and entitlement convinced him to delve into the deep recesses of the colonel’s mind so as to prove that he is better suited to lead and to govern than Gathafi. What also upset Doctored Shakir and convinced him to compete even more with his nemesis is that Gathafi has in his possession the only key to the Libyan treasury from which he can spend at well on polishing and hyping his image at home and abroad or as Shakir puts it “following the publication of “Prophet of the Desert” Gathafi proceeded to lavishly spend the money of the Libyan people on “what he describes as” mercenary Arabic and foreign media outlets in order to beat the propaganda drums for him. At this point of his narrative Shakir seems to betray an overwhelming sense of despair and frustration when he laments how the media frenzy culminated in “the birth bangs in Gathafi’s brains which ended up with the delivery of the third international theory” in which Gathafi completely ignores the legacy and natural progression of human knowledge (history) and instead imagines himself a prophet”. Good for you Sigmund Shakir you have single handedly gotten the bull by the horns this time.

Similarly Doctored Shakir continues to flex his mental muscles in all the following chapters which show that he was clearly pent on stripping the colonels’ character down to the bare bones. In chapter five (p. 64) which is aptly titled “Gathafi and mental illness” Shakir theorizes that Gathafi’s mania led him to shun basic human rights and freedoms and turn his regime into a new type of dictatorship, or as Shakir calls it “the colonel’s dictatorship” in which violence, oppression, summary trials and executions, elimination or as Gathafi calls it liquidation of opponents became the norm during his reign of absolute terror. Even books that promote ideas which contradict or rival the colonel’s ideas were banned or burnt according to Shakir. In chapter six (p. 72) which is entitled (Gathafi and political adolescence) Shakir sheds some light on the colonel’s occasional and childish behavior. Shakir writes that when Gathafi throws one of his frequent temper tantrums he inexplicably grabs his tents and some food supplies then jumps into his car and basically runs away from home and into the wild blue yonder or the Sahara desert according to Mr. Gathafi, in his view, does what he does to escape people and reality for that matter. When the Libyan people become suspicious of such strange behavior Gathafi would tell them that he only seeks seclusion once in awhile to ponder the meaning life and human existence but he never fails to come back to further prolong our agony with his stupid delusions and twisted lines reasoning.

While in chapter seven (p. 89) entitled “Gathafi between delusions of grandeur and paranoid schizophrenia” Shakir illustrates how Gathafi’s sadistic impulses caused havocs in Libya, African as well as the Arabic and Muslim worlds including the systematic depletion of Libya’s national army through the elimination of the best and brightest among our military’s ranks and files, he in chapter nine (p. 95) titled “the colonel’s complex or the complex of complexes” ascertains that Gathafi is a habitual liar which is known in psychology as “mythomania”. Shakir then cites many examples of such lies including Gathafi’s lies, exaggerations and fabrications about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and about the four Muslim jurists and founders of the Islamic Sunna Law Schools including Imam al-Shafi’i, Imam Malik, Imam Ibn Hanbal and Imam Abu Hanifa. While he indirectly cast doubt on our prophet (pbuh) by openly challenging the authenticity of the Hadiths (the Prophet (pbuh) sayings which include his words and actions) as well as occasionally casting shadows on his legacy by blatantly calling him (pubh) Allah (God’s) mail man, his numerous attempts at discrediting our Imam’s are known to Muslims in and outside of Libya. Once again thank you Shakir for pointing that out. This truly shows that Gathafi is indeed a liar and blasphemer as well. Your insight into this particular aspect of Gathafi’s inner character is truly illuminating.

The crucial point in Shakir’s psychoanalytical analysis of the colonel’s persona occurs in the conclusion to his book (p. 110) entitled “curing by revolution” in which he recommends a total revolution as the only cure for the chaotic situation created by Gathafi. After ascertaining that confronting despotism and tyranny is the only way to regain freedom and dignity Shakir continues “Curing by revolution leads to the feeling of being more secure and more confident on the part of the individual and society. This feeling is what eventually restores psychological balance” (as opposed to the imbalance caused by Gathafi). “The cure by revolution would consequently reveal the most important aspects of accomplishments among nations including distinction, perseverance and healthy disposition and a never ending source of wisdom distilled from every little detail of its glorious history”. When I read these words I can’t help but wonder why the long face Mr. Shakir? And why all the huffing and puffing you are doing on the criminal Jamahiriya TV these days just like the big bad wolf in the children’s story. I guess you probably didn’t think that your book is going to boomerang and hit you smack in the face. Instead of being giddy with excitement for hitting the nail on the head when he predicted the demise of the Gathafi regime at the hands of an all out revolution, the Schmuck Shakir is feverishly trying to disown his own words and by extension his old self but alas all his attempts at shedding his old skin are all in vain because as the well known Irish author and poet Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) once said “Once Past is what one is”.