Is there a Q in Qadhafi?

Now that Moammar Gadhafi is on his way out, one of the greatest mysteries of the world will be solved:  how does he really spell his name?  For years, we have seen various spellings from Gadhafi to  Gaddafi to Kadafi. Then there are the Q versions of Qadhafi or Qaddafi. No one  knows for the correct spelling.  I bet Kadafi himself is confused.  Maybe that is why he became an insane murdering dictator. His brain fried trying to figure out who the hell he is.

Anyway, the  military battle for Libyan freedom might soon come to an end  at least as far as the United States and NATO are concerned in the newest dictator removal project. Hopefully, the transformation of Libya from a dictator state to a democratic one will be in the hands of the Libyan people and not the rest of the world.

The toppling of Kadafi ( yes, I am using the K spelling because I think it’s the simplest version) is no doubt historically significant. We have watched this monster not only torture and kill his own people, but kill thousands of innocent bystanders including those killed in the Pan Am-Lockerbie tragedy.  Kadafi’s undoing is also welcome news to United States taxpayers who were not sure how we could keep funneling money into Kadafi removal when we are already up to our necks in blood and debt with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. combat operations in Libya will top out at about $896 million give or take $40 million or so.  This is a lot of money especially when everything in our country is focused on budget cuts and the debt ceiling, but  this intervention is far less expensive than the costs of toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The final bill for these endeavors will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion. The U.S. has offset some of the costs for the Libyan intervention with the sale of military equipment to allies also involved in the intervention.  Pentagon officials say the sale of fuel, ammunition and technical assistance to allies since the beginning of this conflict has totaled $221.9 million.

We all ask the same questions when we see these financial figures:  Should Hussein and his family of monsters been taken down? Absolutely.  But was it our place to do the taking down?  We cringe when we hear about the atrocities suffered by people at the hands of Hussein and also the Taliban, but $4.4 trillion and more important, the lives of 6,000 American soldiers, has to make us wonder about the costs of other people’s freedom.

I know this is a bad question to ask, but what the hell, so here it goes:  What happened to the CIA and their assassins? Okay, so they screwed up with Castro, but one slip up and no one tries again?  Is it a moral issue because I have to think that 6,000 soldiers being killed is a lot more immoral than taking down one murderous dictator.

I know there is an international law about not assassinating heads of state.. But it’s okay to kill thousands as long as they are not sitting in the power chair?  If these “leaders” are so intent on killing their own people, then maybe a personal visit from a hired hit man or some good old-fashioned arsenic might be just what the doctor ordered.  I cannot believe in this age of long-distance weaponry and robots that no one can figure out how to topple a despot without it involving thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

I know the argument: “We can’t go around knocking off people who tick us off.”  Okay, I get that; knocking off people is not the answer. And having that mindset is dangerous because well, what if by some horrible chance, a Rick Perry-type is elected president and the “It’s my way or no way” mentality becomes standard thinking. I would think that kind of closed mind could just knock off three-quarters of the world  because he or she might think it is the right thing to do.

Yes, I do see why this international law was enacted; however, I still think that  before a government commits thousands of soldiers and trillions of dollars to take down a murdering monster who gains power, perhaps it needs to look at alternative plans for the planned monster removal.

Are there no more James Bonds?  Do governments not make super spies anymore?  Maybe instead of putting trillions of dollars into wars that last decades and kill thousands, we should invest in creating some more “specialists” who could remedy the dictator situation before regular war breaks out.

Honestly, I hate the idea of war and killing, so I say this with sincerity: I am happy for the people of Libya. I hope they can transform their country into a blissful democratic state where their rights and lives are respected and protected.  I hope this transformation takes place quickly and without any more bloodshed because, quite frankly, I think the entire world could use a rest from war and from people who can’t decide how to spell their last names.