An Oldy returns: The Libyan flag from 1951 to 1969 has been raised again.
It had been the bloodiest of the Arab Spring's revolutions. On Aug. 21, the rebels' take-over of Tripoli, the Libyan capital, was "more of a Sunday drive than a punishing final offensive," in the words of Kareem Fahim writing for The Times from Tripoli, though today fighting had resumed. What appears clear now is that the 42-year rule of Muammar el-Qaddafi, one of the Arab world's most tyrannical, most murderous leaders, is over.
It was almost 42 years ago to the day that, in a lightning military coup with echoes of yesterday, a junta seized power in Libya, taking advantage of King Idris I's trip to Turkey. The king was 79 years old. The junta leaders were nameless (like the rebel leaders today), and very young. Qaddafi had not yet made a name for himself. The mad dog of the Middle East was clearing its throat.
Other echoes of 1969: The downfall of Muammar el Qaddafi is the fourth for an Arab tyrant this year. In 1969, the coup that ousted Idris was the fourth in the Arab world that year. One of those took place in Syria, and led to the installation of that other tyrannical dynasty: that of Hafez and Bashar el Assad, now going through its own last throes. Bashar was all smiles this weekend, giving one of those staged interviews and doing his best to choreograph his macabre dance his way. But Qaddafi's downfall means that Assad is next. Those two were each other's lifelines. They ruled almost exclusively by the force of arms. They had (have, really) no hesitation to unleash tanks and gunboats on their own civilians. They inspired each other. The fall of one will drag the other down, if only through the fall's inspiration to the masses across the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile Qaddafi was still ranting this weekend, from some hidden place who knows where. "All of these tribes, they must march to Tripoli now, to defend and to purify it, otherwise you will have no worth whatsoever, you will remain slaves and servants of the imperialists," he said, his voice carried over airwaves and replayed on al-Jazeera. Well then, Muammar, why don;t you leave your hiding place and lead the people? But cowardice is the birth mark of every Arab tyrant. The more bloodthirsty they are, the more cowardly.
The question remains: who's really in charge in Libya now? The National Transitional Council is. And what is that council? Here's a fresh answer.
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