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Moreover, investigators claim "pre-revolutionary Libya (was) characterized by a climate of fear, in which individuals were afraid to speak their mind, where opposition - real or perceived - was ruthlessly crushed, and where security forces committed apparently widespread and systematic abuses with total impunity."
Sadly, the facts belie this description. Most Libyans supported Gaddafi and still do. During NATO's intervention, overwhelming numbers rallied openly. On July 1, 2011, 95% of Tripoli's population (over a million strong) expressed support in Green Square.
Fear restrains them now. Doing so risks imprisonment, torture, and/or death by summary execution.
Libya's social state was also ignored, including under Gaddafi's 1999 Decision No. 111. It assured all Libyans free healthcare, education, electricity, water, training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability and old-age benefits, interest-free state loans, as well as generous subsidies to study abroad, buy a new car, help couples when they marry, practically free gasoline, and more.
Literacy under Gaddafi rose from 20 - 80%. Libya's hospitals and private clinics were some of the region's best. Now they're in shambles.
Before war began, Libyans had Africa's highest standard of living. Gaddafi's Green Book said:
"The house is a basic need of both the individual and the family, therefore it should not be owned by others." It also covered other social policies, saying:
- "Women, like men, are human beings.
- ....(A)ll individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means....;
- In a socialist society no person may own a private means of transportation for the purpose of renting to others, because this represents controlling the needs of others.
- The democratic system is a cohesive structure whose foundation stones are firmly laid above the other (through People's Conferences and Committees). There is absolutely no conception of democratic society other than this.
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