A mere few months ago Gadhafi and his family could boast of Billions (with a capital B) and outright ownership of Libya. He is now a worthless fugitive running for his life, two of his sons having reportedly lost theirs, and many members of his family having fled a burning nation. The question that begs itself is whether or not it had to be this way?
Gadhafi could have negotiated a settlement and walked away with Billions, but didn't. Instead he chose to stay put and fight against the most powerful of global military coalitions- NATO- with fledgling mercenaries from poor neighboring African countries. The reasons for this seemingly irrational behaviour are not for certain. One could contemplate a complete detachment from the factual- with those around him preferring not to state the obvious to him. His ludicrous and vociferous sons claiming inevitable victory tend to support this theory. Perhaps over the years, the regime's upper echelons had begun believing their own web of lies and parabole.
Then again his choice may shed light on the theory that he is indeed a madman- a Neroesque sort of character who preferred to watch Libya burn and laugh at the spectacle even if he himself inevitably forgoes all the riches and gets killed in the process. After all faced with the choice of walking away with Billions or almost certain death for himself and members of his family, who in their right state of mind would choose the later? Better yet, who would choose it after seeing what had happened to Saddam and his sons, Mubarak and his sons, Ben Ali and his family ... And yet as irrational as it may seem, to men like Gadhafi, the rationality of preferring to live in obscurity to them would be the irrational choice- that is over dying in the limelight, even if it means taking their whole family down with them.
Regardless of the reasons, a choice Gadhafi made, and his family and him will pay for it. The world should not feel sorry for the whole lot. What the civilized world should feel sorry for are the lives of all those innocent civilians that have been lost as a result of his actions, and for having allowed such a man to rule his nation unopposed for so long. As mass graves resulting from his regime begin to be unearthed, it will be a shame not only for Libya to bear, but the world at large- especially those nations, which were affected by his violence and yet continued to deal with him. That perhaps was the greatest shame of all.
