An interview with Saif Gadhafi

April 20, 2011 - 0:0

Is Saif Gadhafi as delusional as his father? He sure seems so in this Washington Post interview. Yet in the same breath as he grotesquely demonizes the opposition, he calls for national reconciliation and elections.

Scholar and former Gadhafi Foundation board member, Benjamin Barber, has been suggesting that Saif Gadhafi could be a potential transitional figure in Libya. After reading this interview, do you consider that a possibility?
Saif on dialogue:
“Can you have a dialogue with al-Qaeda? Can you have a dialogue with the people who are firing on the Red Cross? I am sure you see the video of the people in Misurata burning the heart? They took the heart. In the 21st century, they killed someone, they took his heart, they burned the heart in front of people. You want to have a dialogue with these people? You heard the story that they hanged people in Benghazi? You want to have a dialogue with those people? They hang people, in eastern Libyan, they hanged people on bridges, and they are filming themselves.”
Saif explains how democracy was once important to him, but has been eclipsed by security:
“It’s another funny thing. The people here, the West, talking about democracy, the constitution. Even this is not the priority of the people anymore. Go to any Libyan, say ‘Do you want democracy?’ ‘No, we want peace, security, food, drink, we want schools. Because now it’s not a priority anymore, the freedom of the press. Now we are at war.
Saif on what would happen if his father left now:
“Somalia, Part Two. Everybody knows that.”
Saif on reconciliation:
“Nobody here in Libya is interested in revenge. Revenge, it’s not in our agenda. The agenda is national reconciliation. This is the desire and the wish of everybody. We want peace, we want security, we want to build our country, we want to have a better future, we want to go forward. Nobody is talking about revenge.”
Saif on the way forward:
“The biggest issue, the terrorists and armed militia. The moment we get rid of them, everything will be solved in one hour in the whole country.
“One European country, a very important country, they came to us with a proposal, with an initiative, we have the African initiative. All of them are talking about what. No army in the cities, no armed militias in the cities. Armed militias and army should leave the cities, police should come in. The army should control the border and the gates, and we hold the election. You the Americans help us to do that. Come you, the Americans, help us get the army outside of the cities, also the militias, we bring the police in, we hold elections, we will see what will happen. This we accept. Do this. Bring supervisors from Europe, America, from everywhere. Do it.”
Saif on being an ally one day and a pariah the next:
“After the WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton tried to call my father, and called the ex-foreign minister, saying, ‘We are sorry for this.’ Just two months ago. She said, ‘We are happy with Libya, we are doing good business with Libya, we want to strengthen relations with Libya, and Libya is a very important country, and we are friends, and we are sorry for this.’ This is two months ago. Now she is saying, ‘Mr Gaddafi should leave.’
“If you are strong, everybody is nice to you, if not, bye-bye.”
(Source: CNN)