Checkmate: Top 10 Myths about the War/Revolution in Libya
"The Libyan Revolution has largely succeeded, and this is a moment of celebration, not only for Libyans but for a youth generation in the Arab world that has pursued a political opening across the region." -- Juan Cole, Informed Comment
As the world is now seeing an end to the Gadhafi regime and its reign of terror Juan Cole, a Professor of History at the University of Michigan, delivers a direct, personal, and insightful dissertation on the war/revolution in Libya in his blog .
Given the controversies about the revolution, it is worthwhile reviewing the myths about the Libyan Revolution that led so many observers to make so many fantastic or just mistaken assertions about it.
Top 10 Myths about the War/Revolution in Libya
[click to read Professor Cole's commentary on the
myths about Gadhafi, Libya, and the revolution ]
Myth #1. Gadhafi was a progressive in his domestic policies.
Myth #2. Gadhafi was a progressive in his foreign policy.
Myth #3. It was only natural that Gadhafi sent his military against the protesters and revolutionaries; any country would have done the same.
Myth #4. There was a long stalemate in the fighting between the revolutionaries and the Gadhafi military.
Myth #5. The Libyan Revolution was a civil war.
Myth #6. Libya is not a real country and could have been partitioned between east and west.
Myth #7. There had to be NATO infantry brigades on the ground for the revolution to succeed.
Myth #8. The United States led the charge to war.
Myth #9. Gadhafi would not have killed or imprisoned large numbers of dissidents in Benghazi, Derna, al-Bayda and Tobruk if he had been allowed to pursue his March Blitzkrieg toward the eastern cities that had defied him.
Myth #10. This was a war for Libya’s oil.
Checkmate is a corruption of the Persian term “shah maat” the “king is confounded” since chess came west from India via Iran thus - checkmate!
Photo credit: CNN/GettyImages
