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In reply to the discussion: Facts about Libya under Gaddafi that you probably did not know about ! [View all]PufPuf23
(8,954 posts)the military intervention in Libya and the poor results for the common Libyan people and questionable motives of the western powers that destabilized by covert means and then bombed Libya into a hell hole.
I do not and never have idolized Gadaffi and, if you bother to read, I certainly do not in this thread.
Gadaffi was a dictator and he and his family were unlikely to take leave quietly.
I agree with what you say about military dictators and lump Gadaffi in your club.
To repeat, here is what was destroyed in order to loot one of the most prosperous and free counties in Africa, especially for woman and blacks in a majority Arab country.
Note what the State Department's own webpage said about Libya.:
Speaking of the breadth of Gaddafis record, that ought to resist simplistic, revisionist reduction, some might care to note that even now, the U.S. State Departments webpage on Libya still points to a Library of Congress Country Study on Libya that features some of the Gaddafi governments many social welfare achievements over the years in the areas of medical care, public housing, and education. In addition, Libyans have the highest literacy rate in Africa (see UNDP, p. 171) and Libya is the only continental African nation to rank high in the UNDPs Human Development Index. Even the BBC recognized these achievements:
Women in Libya are free to work and to dress as they like, subject to family constraints. Life expectancy is in the seventies. And per capita incomewhile not as high as could be expected given Libyas oil wealth and relatively small population of 6.5mis estimated at $12,000 (£9,000), according to the World Bank. Illiteracy has been almost wiped out, as has homelessnessa chronic problem in the pre-Gaddafi era, where corrugated iron shacks dotted many urban centers around the country.
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