An analysis by Andrew Bossone
Libyan people protest to oust Moammar Gadhafi. (photo by Associated Press)
Moammar Gadhafi’s totalitarian control over the military and media has made Libya’s revolution the most violent so far in a region beset by uprisings.
The dictator has gone to extreme lengths in an attempt to beat down the protest movement, bringing in mercenaries to slaughter people on the streets and ordering aircraft and boats to fire on crowds of civilians.
“We managed to capture mercenaries and we discovered chemical weapons to use against protesters. Now we are afraid of the chemical materials we found. We don’t know how to store it or destroy it,” Mohamed al-Hasy, who defected from the military, told AOL News.
Gadhafi, of course, does not hold a monopoly on oppression among the now-shrinking list of the world’s dictators. But in his Machiavellian quest to be both feared and loved, he has wielded an unmatched amount of control over both the military and communications.
“In the whole western area, airplanes are used to bombard people from a low altitude,” al-Hasy said.
“They don’t use bombs but machine guns so they don’t leave any trace. I heard of 2,000 killed in Tripoli and 3,000 injured. Bodies and injured are hidden in stores, many of which are incinerated.”
An accurate accounting of the number of deaths and injured is nearly impossible because of a blackout on communications. Press estimates vary greatly, from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
The death toll might have been far worse if members of the Libyan military had not disobeyed orders. Jets, helicopters and warships have landed in Malta after soldiers refused to massacre fellow Libyans.
