I also caution that we do not know who is going to take his place and how it will work. I have read reports coming out of Egypt that mainstream news is ignoring and then that makes it harder to find the truth. What I have read is thousands of Christian people being forced out of Egypt. Including police officers, not just regular folk. If that is true - what on earth have we done there? We helped get rid of Mubarek and then the news just kind of slowly faded away. Why? Is it really that boring to report on the building of a new country (basically), or is it that they dont want to report on what's really going on over there? Who knows. We sure as heck don't.
And to think - some of these evil leaders were actually put into power by US. as in all of us (not just the US). We helped with some coups and then some of these guys and their subsequent family members got into power and then 30-40 years later we are taking them out and calling for a replacement.
Just be wary while celebrating the death of the Libyan leader. All is not always what it seems. And it will most likely take a long time to sort out and we have absolutely no way of knowing who will come in next and what they will be like. Reminds me of learning about Hitler. He did not rise through the ranks proclaiming his REAL beliefs. He gained the respect and trust of millions of people, and at the same time sealed their fate before they knew what was happening, and then his true wishes for murdering millions of people came to light. When it was too late. Do you think Hitler stood at a podium 20 years before he became leader and said "I am going to wipe out the Jews and take over Europe" and then all the german people cheered? Of course they didn't!! He fed them what they wanted to hear, promised them the moon, promised to help the poor and needy, promised everything and then tied it all up in a nice little bow before blowing the box wide open. And brainwashing people while he was at it. We have to be very careful about what's going on. We are a world away and pretend we know what it's like over there, when we cannot even begin to imagine what life is like for those people.
They are cheering that MG is gone - but who will be next? Will he magically be better or will it just appear that way on the surface for awhile? The US found Hussein and he was not murdered, he was taken in and passed on to his country for their laws and trial. I doubted he stood any sort of chance but at least it was done 'the right way' as much as we could handle.... The same is not true for MG and when we do not know the circumstances under which he was killed, we should be a little careful about what we cheer about. On the other hand, his own people took him out and if that's what they wanted to do then fine. But what kind of outrage happens over here when a leader is shot? The current US president has a very low performance rating right now, Canadians like to point out that less than half of them voted for any form of conservative govt so Harper is not exactly on strong ground either - he gets called Hitler by some of my liberal friends all the time in fact. So if someone were to shoot him and drag his body around, would we cheer about that? If not - why not? We cheered about MG without truly knowing the facts. You could say that the US and Canada and other countries are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths too over the past 20 years in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc (enemy combatants AND civilians) - so maybe they should cheer if our leaders get knocked off as well. Would we look at it in the same way and support their cheers? Highly unlikely. So let's put the shoe on the other foot once in awhile eh?
*** Update Oct 23/11
In light of a comment on my post, I thought I should point out that I am not alone in my thinking by far. I just read an article in the Globe and Mail regarding Canada's commitment to Libya and the liberal and ndp supporters are posting comments full force against Harper for joining this mission and setting up even before NATO was in agreement. There are almost 700 comments on the article as I write this and the first page I read was full of disdain for how Gadhafi was taken down, derision against people celebrating it, potshots at Harper, and warnings about who is in line to replace him - along with reminders that his supporters were of the largest tribe in Libya so what's going to happen with them now. More bloodshed? We just don't know. So I am not alone in my message of 'be careful what you wish for'.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-turns-commitment-into-clout-in-libya/article2210169/comments/