I'm not sure what the truth is in Libya today, but I do know that colonialism is not dead, and America and the EU still feel it is their manifest destiny to "rule the third world," and of course, take what they want while they "enchant" the people with the sweet word, "democracy," which many think is paradise.

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Dr. Mohamed El Maghrebi recently addressed this in an article, "The Two Sides of Mu'ammar Qaddafi," on my site, Today's Alternative News. Dr.El Mahrebi pointed out -- and Strobe Talbot and I can vouch for this, because we learned this during an interview with Qaddafi in the early 80s, in Tripoli, Libya -- that Qaddafi spent the Libyan oil money on education, hospitals, schools, housing, and development (he made the desert of BenGhazi into a green and growing garden zone for the food of Libya), and he has been the main support of the African Union. As most of us who know about the African Union are aware, it is supported by Qaddafi's financing. Add to this that members of the EU would love to get their hands on that "sweet crude" that they need from Libya, in the same way George W. Bush thought he could get free oil from Iraq once America "conquered and freed Iraq" (another pipe dream).

I'm not sure what the truth is in Libya today, but I do know that colonialism is not dead, and America and the EU still feel it is their manifest destiny to "rule the third world," and of course, take what they want while they "enchant" the people with the sweet word, "democracy," which many think is paradise. Sad, but there is no paradise in this world, not even in alleged "democracies." Just ask the teachers in Wisconsin or Indiana, and the laid-off GM, Chrysler, Ford and other workers in America who have lost their homes and their incomes while the bankers, congresspeople, the president, media moguls, the Supreme Court and the corporate CEOs who pull down multi-million dollar salaries, then when caught cheating, they always say, "I didn't know. I'm only the CEO; I don't take care of things every day..."

Ah, the enchantment of "democracy." If only it meant paradise -- but have no doubt, for in every part of the world, it has become the name of the freedom of the biggest corporate animals to gobble up the weak. 

As I said of Qaddafi and Libya, I am not sure what the truth of the situation is, but I know Qaddafi is no clown, and he has not been the fool the Western media have portrayed him as being. Even CNN was foolish enough to think that the pretentious Barbara "WaWa" Walters was, and is, a good judge of character. On the other hand, he may have overstayed his time. But that is for the Libyans to decide, not for the West, especially America when it can be so cruel, unjust, so immoral to the Palestinians and Lebanese (Israel has never had to pay any compensation to Lebanon for the killings it did in Qana, in Beirut, in Nabatiya, or the Palestine lands and the West Bank -- while America looks the other way, as it has for decades since the time of our last moral president, Jimmy Carter).

So, let me not hear of these other men who have allegedly been brutal. So has America, and it's about time we looked in the mirror at the truth about our country -- we are neither moral, nor just, but we have the temerity to judge others.  Ah, what hypocrisy.

Authors Bio:
Sam Hamod, Ph.D. is a graduate professor; he has taught courses in creative writing, politics, religion, mass media and intercultural relations. He has one of the very few PhDs awarded by The Writers Workshop of The Univ. of Iowa, has published 12 books of poems, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and has 3 more books under contract, including his memoirs, "At the Broadway Lounge: A Muslim Life in America." His M.A. and B.A. are from Northwestern University, and he went to Law School at The Univ. of Chicago. He is the former Director of The Islamic Center in Washington, DC; he founded and edited THIRD WORLD NEWS in Wash, DC; has taught at Princeton, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Howard and Valparaiso. He also served as an advisor to the State Department and worked on the "peace process" between Palestine and Israel in Wash, DC. He founded www.todaysalternativenews.com in 2000. He has lectured and read his work all over America, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.