De-Baathification in Iraq, isolation in Libya

Muammar Qaddafi ruled Libya for 41 years. This practically means that there was not a single Libyan who worked in his country as a teacher, ambassador, policeman, journalist or any other job, he or she was born and lived abroad. Qaddafi ruled Libya as a ruthless dictator, isolating all Libyans from the political mainstream. It is clear that in Libya there are power struggles between the victorious parties, while some of those who lost in the elections resorted to reviving Qaddafi’s style of rule by taking up arms. They threaten to kill their opponents, declaring sieges of state institutions and making threats against members of the National Congress — the Parliament — which passed the Political Isolation Law in entirely undemocratic conditions. Those who carry out sieges against ministries and threaten congressmen are effectively the ideological product of Qaddafi and they are intellectually his inheritors. They reject a democratic system, and they believe in enforcing their demands, just like the Qaddafi-invented People’s Committees. They are the product of the culture of a totalitarian regime, while those who are targeted are the ones chosen by the majority of the Libyan people. Those targeted believe in the constitution and the rule of law. Unfortunately, some are using the outlawed militias to enforce their ideology and foreign alliances. These “Qaddafi militias” are implementing a political isolation law that is a replica of the de-Baathification law in Iraq, which was brought by Ahmad Al-Jalabi to get rid of his political opponents which help Nuri Al-Maliki rule the country today with the same dictatorial fervor as that of Saddam. One of those included in the Political Isolation Law is one of the opposition heroes who stood against Qaddafi for 30 years. He is Muhammad Al-Megarif, one of the founders of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Qaddafi tried to assassinate him in 1981. When Al-Megarif started joined the opposition and attempted to overthrow Qaddafi, half of those who accused of betrayal were not even born then. Al-Megarif and his companions fought against Qaddafi for 30 years. And when a person like Mustafa Abduljalil is excluded on the same pretext, it means the new Libya project is bound to fail. And there is every likelihood that the country would go back to the Qaddafi era. Isolation can be permissible against those who were symbols of Qaddafi’s regime and served it dutifully. If France had applied an isolation law after its liberation from Germany, then Charles d’Gaulle, its hero, would not have found a job. And so would have been the case with Habib Borguiba of Tunisia and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.