Qaddafi pokes the hornet's nest

I am sick. Libyans, last week so full of hope, of the the joy of speaking freely are now being slaughtered. You can see the despair, the death of hope in their eyes. The raw fear. And it is in some measure our fault.

We encourage revolution. We say we support democracy. Then when the people go out and fight armed with their dreams and some captured weapons, we do nothing.

Qaddafi poked the hornet's nest. He waited to see what we would do. And when we did nothing he knew he could stomp on those people, on their women and children, on their dreams.We talk about UN Resolutions, a vote on Tuesday - so now Qaddafi knows he has to win by Tuesday. He stared us down and he won. We are weak; he is stronger.

I am amazed the Arab world doesn't hate us. They don't. I was there. They want what we have - the chance to make a better life, a life free from fear, from thugs who come in the night, take your children, torture your wife.

We promise great things and we leave them to bleed in the streets. We encourage them to take their fate into their own hands, and when they do we leave them to be slaughtered. What did we expect would happen?

We can't say we didn't see this one coming. The intoxication of finally being able to say what you think, of finally being able to disagree, to dissent - we take it for granted. In Libya it would get you killed. Just for a moment it was possible to speak your heart. Now if Qaddafi wins the killing will be horrific and no one will speak what is in their heart for a very long time. You will not trust your neighbor, or your cousin. You will live in terror. We say no more Kosovo, no more Rwanda, but we encouraged those brave naive souls and their deaths will be on our hands.

Not another Iraq, you say. Right. Libya gets 90% of its money from gas and oil. If we can embargo Iran we can embargo Libya. If a cel phone can't be used on take-off and landing you can't tell me we don't have some way to stop Qaddafi's planes with technology. We managed a no-fly zone over Iraq so don't tell me we could not do something here. We know where the money is. Freeze his assets, mess with his cel phone. Screw up their internal communications. Deny him hair dye.

Who do we expect will make the change?  Do we think the people will rise up again after this? After the horrific reprisals that are coming? We encouraged them and we are leaving them to be slaughtered. It makes me sick. We speak of lofty ideals, of self-determination and human rights and freedom and then we turn away, after we have encouraged them and we say"Not my problem." But it is our problem. Hemingway was right, no man is an island.

Libya is a tribal society. The tribal leaders have more courage than we do. They said Qaddafi must go. We wait to see who wins, then we will say "Oh yeah, we were for him all along." Makes me sick. I am ashamed.

Have you seen the supposed Qaddafi loyalists with their Somali and Yemeni passports? It's a tribal society - do these guys look anything like the other Libyans? They are mostly imported thugs. Have you seen the soldier in the hospital who lost his leg, a Libyan who was a supposed Qaddafi loyalist? He said he was told he was fighting American invaders. And if he'd said "No thanks, don't want to go out and shoot other Libyans" what do you think would have happened to his family?

The next time we urge people to take their destinies into their own hands what do you think they will say?

The guy is a whack job. Dr Lina Khatib thinks it may be the hair dye. Ben Ali, Mubarak, Qaddafi all use the same bad hair dye and she thinks it affects their brains.  Have you seen the way Qaddafi tosses his headscarf? He looks like a teen age girl...except for the snake eyes. He's learned we blink first. He's winning and we're not losing, the Libyans, the entire Arab world is losing.

There was a Libyan general who wrote a manifesto as the revolution started saying "I am on the side of the rebels and I urge all the military to join me." The reporter to whom he gave the letter refused to publish it until he knew the general's family was safe. They never got safe, the letter never got published. Guess which side the general is fighting on now? Guess where his heart is? 

Life in Libya was unbearable before. God only knows how awful it will be now, and it's partly our fault.

Afloat in the Middle East

Day 3 of the trip and the rest of the group is off to see camels (2 and a half hours by bus and no thank you). We decide to explore Abu Dhabi, starting with the hospital - Wally’s eye bulb (as the doctor calls it) is acting up. He’s fine, hospital is clean modern efficient. Wally now has his Abu Dhabi health card. 

Lunch is as much exploring as we have time for in Abu Dhabi, the boat is leaving. Hmm......nope, we get on the boat. 

At cocktails we have a talk about the robotic camel jockeys. It’s funny but we all think it’s a put-on. 

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Day 4:  Dr Lina Khatib from The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford on The Changing Face of the Arab City, or as she calls it, “The Perils of Doing Fieldwork in the Middle East”.

I had been stressed about reading up and keeping up - no worries. Lina is fascinating, clear about the confusion that is the Middle East, funny, thought-provoking, and a wonderful storyteller. We are privileged to have her here. 

If you’re not interested in what’s happening in the Middle East skip down to On A Lighter Note

 She tells us: 

Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, Iran, Syria. The media used to report events, now it drives events - none of what’s happening would be possible without social media. 

The Syrian government infiltrated Facebook and Twitter and put out a rumor (untrue) that the planned demonstration was really a government trap, so no one came. Then they said “okay, you guys - go ahead and use Facebook and Twitter” but everyone knows it’s not safe, the government is watching.

Why the unrest? Miserable living conditions, massive unemployment, most of the population is under thirty, corruption is epidemic (In Tunisia the family of the dictator’s wife owned everything. Really everything.) Tunisia has the highest level of internet control in the world, topping China. Scary. 

Need more reasons? Autocratic rulers, no opportunity for expression, and minorities have few rights, even if they outnumber the ruling sect/tribe/nationality. 

On a social level things are pathetic - Presidents act like monarchs: Qadafi has ruled Libya for 42 years, Muhbarak ruled Egypt for 32, and they position their sons to rule next. Elections are theatre and everyone here knows it, the pro-government demonstrations are really hired thugs who beat up the protesters. And the rest of the world doesn’t seem to get it. But the bloggers and dissidents don’t give up. 

So why have they tolerated these dictators for so long? And why protest now? The people were hopeful when colonialism ended, but they became cynical and disillusioned, the dictators were as bad as the colonials, and one dictator was worst than the last. And the people were poor; if you don’t have enough to eat you’re more interested in feeding your family than freedom of expression. But Tunisia has an educated viable middle class, and if you remember that’s where this all started.

SO what does the government do when the protests start? So far they’re all the same: 

they dismiss the protests as insignificant, then they crack down. Then the send in the hired thugs (calling them pro-government) instead of the Army (that would be repressive and bad PR). Then they appear on TV and make false concessions. And they all use the same bad hair dye.

So far the US has supported stability over democracy, our rhetoric does not match our actions and it’s no secret here. We mouth human rights, freedom of expression, but we wait to see who wins and then we say “Oh yeah, we supported him all along.” We are fast losing what credibility we have left. 

So what’s next? Libya is tribal and the two biggest tribes have come out against Qadafi, so it’s likely he will fall. But the smartest minds in the Western world and the Arab world did not see this coming. There is and old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” These are interesting times.

She also tells us the both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been purposely designed with no gathering place, no central square. No critical mass, no revolution. That’s planning ahead!

On A Lighter Note:

In the afternoon we go by Zodiac to Sir Bani Yas Island, Sheik Zayed’s private game preserve. Imagine loading the entire Day Lounge of Sunrise Assisted Living into bouncing zodiacs off the back of a rocking ship, then bouncing them half a mile across the waves and you get the idea. 

Is this a snipe hunt? No, with our driver Amer (from Jordan, remember the locals don’t work) we take off in an African safari Land Cruiser to see Arabian Oryx, Gemsbok, Eland (huge, horse like) Giraffe (skittish), Cheetahs sleeping off their Gazelle breakfast (lethargic) Peacocks, Frankincense trees.

Had a gazelle sexing lesson. It’s the horns (isn’t it always?) There is a fancy resort, Anantara on the island. 

I am truly in the mobile unit of Sunrise Assisted Living. At the evening lecture fully half of the people fall asleep - the sound of soft snoring can be heard over the talk. 

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE BOAT

Rocking to sleep

Quiet - you can’t hear your neighbors

The staff is efficient and Jane said “They are like Golden Retrievers, so eager to please.”

Sailing at night, exploring during the day.

The caliber and accessibility of the Stanford Faculty Leaders. Have a question? It will be answered over breakfast, cocktails, or while wandering the souk.

THINGS I DON’T LIKE

That flipping loudspeaker. You can turn it off in your room but not in the hall.

Wake-up calls. Am I late for school? Puhlease! If we’re late leave us behind: you’ll only have to do that once.