The Death of a Villain

He was the archetype of the Middle Eastern dictator. Festooned with medals, dashing in his fashions, and eccentric in his behaviour, who else in the world had an entourage of Amazons to protect him? And what other Arab "leader" enlivened the utterly boring Arab League meetings with the colourful denunciations and insults that Colonel Muammar al Gadaffi used? There is something of the endearing fool about Gaddafi that made us all (apart from the Libyan people) like him. But he was murderous as well as buffoonish, though not a stupid man. He also knew what human nature was and how best to manipulate and bring out the worst in it. Unfortunately for him that was also his downfall, because he thought he could crush his people like rats, that by using overwhelming force he could stamp his people back into submission using terror, torture and fear.  

Tonight, I think far more people will be happy that he is dead than not, and whilst I'm a bit old fashioned and don't like talking ill of the dead, I will say that seeing his body dragged like a dog's over the earth was poetic justice for forty two years of oppression, tyranny and untold cruelty.