SPRINGTIME IN LIBYA

Tripoli, Libya.  I – and events – are moving fast here, so I’m writing this on the fly.  I got here over the weekend after an incredible time in Socotra – which is more amazing than any pictures could show but no internet.

The night I arrived, Saturday 4/12, there was an attack on the family of Libya’s latest Prime Minister, Abdullah al-Thinni.  The next morning, Sunday 4/13, he resigned. 

Day before yesterday, Tuesday 4/15, Jordan’s ambassador to Libya, Fawaz al-Aytan, was kidnapped by masked gunmen in broad daylight right here in downtown Tripoli.

I only learned of these events on CNN’s website.  There was no evidence of anything unusual driving around the city, no one I talked to thought they were worth mentioning.  By all outward appearances, everything seems normal.  Lots of traffic, everyone going about their business, traffic cops behaving normally, no military police with checkpoints all over, no heightened security that I could see.

The same outside the city.  There are two astounding World Heritage Sites – Sabratha 40 miles west of Tripoli, and Leptis Magna, 80 miles to the east.  I’ve been to both since I got here, and not a single checkpoint on the way to either, government soldiers nor any militia.  Everything and everyone seemed normal, no problem. 

There are some weird things, of course.  Libya is one of the world’s major oil producers, yet there are long – really long – lines of cars at every gas station.  An appreciable number of drivers, over 10% at least, are majnoon, reckless madman crazy.  Huge auto junk yards filled with horrifically wrecked cars attest to their winning Darwin Awards.

The positive surprises, however, outnumber the negative.  It is surprisingly clean here – remember, TIA, This Is Africa, yet "African Daisies" (plastic bag litter) are at a minimum.  Trash collectors in reflector vests are prominent, streets are swept clean. 

There is very little evidence of the war.  Only very occasionally do you see a building pockmarked with 50 cal. holes. The only war rubble I’ve seen is Gaddafi’s barracks bombed into oblivion by NATO.

The most impressive aspect of the rubble is the apartment buildings right next to it – untouched.  That’s serious precision bombing.  You can drive right past the rubble – I mean within feet – and the highway wasn’t hit, didn’t need repair.

Everywhere you see buildings and homes repaired, being restored, or newly built.  New shops and stores – modern, not tin-shack – and shopping malls are sprouting all over.  Capitalism, real entrepreneurial small business capitalism, is rampant.  Finally, Libyans are free to start their own business – Gaddafi was a totalitarian socialist – and they are doing so with speed and enthusiasm.

Another surprise is the lushness of Libya along the Mediterranean littoral.  Head south and you’ll soon run into the Sahara Desert, but the coast reminds you of California.  Trees are everywhere – eucalyptus, cedar, cyprus, different types of pine trees and palm trees – as are orchards of fruit trees, plus mile after mile of olive tree groves.

No wonder the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans loved it here – for the weather is perfect too.  Think San Diego, dry and in the 70s by day, mid-60s at night.  What all these folks had, though, and what’s missing now, are vineyards.  This is perfect wine country, yet Libya, being totally Islamic, is completely dry.

Even in Yemen a non-Moslem Westerner can bring two bottles of whatever they want in their airline hand-carry, but not here.  The Duty Free at Dubai International sells every kind of booze you can imagine (e.g., not just Famous Grouse Scotch, but Snow Grouse and Naked Grouse). 

There’s a well-stocked bar for Westerners in every major hotel in Dubai.  But the Corinthia Tripoli Hotel – a luxury 5-star in every other aspect – has no bar and is dry as a bone.  Oh, well, c’est la vie.

The nicest surprise you’ll find in Libya today is Libyans themselves – how nice and friendly they are.  Especially when they learn you’re an American.  Every single time without exception, they break out with a big smile and give me a thumbs up when they see me point to myself and hear me say the magic word, "America."

Yesterday I was at the fish market at the port.  The fishermen crowded around me and wanted to have their picture with the American (pic below).

Libyans know it was American and NATO jets that bombed Gaddafi into oblivion and enabled their revolution to succeed.  The flag of Free Libya flies everywhere.  Libyans are hugely proud of their freedom, that they rid their country of a satanic madman and his demonic dictatorship. 

They are Moslem, no doubt about it – but the vast majority despise Al Qaeda and Wahhabi-type radicals.  They are embarrassed by the 9/11/12 attack on our Benghazi Consulate, and condemn the AQ perpetrators as un-Islamic. That’s because of the form of Islam practiced in Libya – Senussi Islam.

The Libyan Revolution began on February 17, 2011.  33 days later on March 24, I wrote Islam in Libya, providing TTPers with a nutshell history of Libya and an understanding of Senussi Islam.

At the time, with the sterling exception of Mark Levin, many conservatives were getting the vapors and letting their hearts go pitty-pat in fear of some imagined "Islamic takeover" of Libya such that they were born-again Gaddafi supporters.

Gaddafi systematically destroyed every vestige of freedom in Libya for 42 years.  He deserved the brutal death he received upon his capture on October 20, 2011.  Ever since, Libyans have been struggling to put their country back together again.

The problem is not Al Qaeda and other Islamofascists.  It’s kids with guns, lots of them with lots of guns in a kaleidoscope of scores of "militias" who don’t know what they want except a piece of the oil money action and think they can get it with an AK or RPG.

They’re like the 10% of majnoon drivers who make driving on roads here so dangerous.  The other 90% drive normally, and want to live normally.  The solution is for traffic cops to impound the majnoon drivers’ cars – and for soldiers to disarm the militias.  The latter is a tall order. 

If it was up to me, I’d give Erik Prince a call and give him a blank check.  He’d have the problem solved in 60 days.

Disarming the militias is a necessary condition for political stability in Libya, but by no means a sufficient one. Until under King Idris after World War II, Libya had never been independently unified.  For millennia, it had been two countries, Tripolitania (Phoenician-Roman) and Cyrenaica (Greek).  It may break apart again, Tripoli and the western half, Benghazi and the eastern half.

The compromises of democracy may prove a bridge too far for a people with no tradition of it.  Yet the lesson of being here now is that the Libya of today is a place of great surprises – with the pleasant greatly outweighing the unpleasant. 

There is a lot of money here – billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas – and a lot of money to be made. And there’s only 6 million Libyans to divvy it up. Libyans can look forward to a prosperous future for themselves and their children.  Disarm the militias and be win-win politically.  It can be done.

I hope it will be.  Libyans had the heroic courage to fight horrendous evil to achieve their freedom.  Now they are trying to rebuild their country.  Let us wish them every success.

Now, here’s that pic with the friendly fishmongers:

One type of fish they were selling that got your attention was baby sharks:

 
The ruins of Sabratha are spectacular:

As are those of Leptis:

Also spectacular was the ocean view from the men’s room.  The Romans enjoyed a Loo with a View:

Hopefully, someday fairly soon, I’ll be able to bring TTPers to see Libya for themselves:

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