Mother of All Consipracies
'Just because you're paranoid - doesn't mean they're not out to get you' - is one of my favourite sayings - which could be made for Colonel Gaddafi.
In the early days of the Libyan uprising - the Gaddafi propaganda machine derided the opposition as drug addicts and al Qaeda terrorists - an unlikely mix to say the least.
But now the conspiracy has grown exponentially - in the great dictator's mind at least - and so the following have been added to his charge sheet:
Christian Crusaders
Zionists
The United Nations
The Arab League
Not to mention a sizeable potion of the Libyan population
Now the Colonel is clearly a deluded megalomaniac - although that doesn't mean he will be easy to dislodge.
Gaddafi's extended family and his tribal supporters have much to lose - by being forced to share power - and the country's national wealth.
But the alternative to what is now happening - in the name of the United Nations - was to stand back and watch murder being committed on a grand scale - as Gaddafi promised to show 'no mercy' to his opponents .
Not so many years ago, the world did just that - in Rwanda and Bosnia to name just two examples - and the result was genocide - mass murder on a medieval scale.
Intervention by the international community is not guaranteed success - there will be many twists and turns before the present crisis is resolved.
But not even to try - would have been the greatest failure of all.
In the early days of the Libyan uprising - the Gaddafi propaganda machine derided the opposition as drug addicts and al Qaeda terrorists - an unlikely mix to say the least.
But now the conspiracy has grown exponentially - in the great dictator's mind at least - and so the following have been added to his charge sheet:
Christian Crusaders
Zionists
The United Nations
The Arab League
Not to mention a sizeable potion of the Libyan population
Now the Colonel is clearly a deluded megalomaniac - although that doesn't mean he will be easy to dislodge.
Gaddafi's extended family and his tribal supporters have much to lose - by being forced to share power - and the country's national wealth.
But the alternative to what is now happening - in the name of the United Nations - was to stand back and watch murder being committed on a grand scale - as Gaddafi promised to show 'no mercy' to his opponents .
Not so many years ago, the world did just that - in Rwanda and Bosnia to name just two examples - and the result was genocide - mass murder on a medieval scale.
Intervention by the international community is not guaranteed success - there will be many twists and turns before the present crisis is resolved.
But not even to try - would have been the greatest failure of all.
