From the frying pan into the fire

AS I write this piece the Libyan ‘rebels’ have finally, it appears, toppled the hated Gaddafi regime.

Thousands of these ‘six o’clock shadow’ men are thronging the streets of Tripoli, in wild celebrations of their apparent victory. Jubilant crash helmeted journalists are attempting to scream out their copy to the world, as they endeavor to put themselves in the running for their respected Pulitzers.

All around are wild scenes of the ‘right’ triumphing over the ‘wrong’. Well I’m not too sure of it all.

It’s the old familiar screams of ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is Great) that I find disturbing. Let us not forget that these were the last words many westerners heard before their selected mode of transport or place of work, exploded in a holocaust of metal, bricks and human gore. We don’t know these people, we haven’t the faintest idea how anti western, or religiously fanatical they are.

No doubt when the dust begins to settle and we begin our ‘negotiations’ with the new regime, (‘your victory cost the west two/three hundred billion dollars. Oil will do very nicely thank you!’) it will all appear amicable enough.

(Strange is it not how the West bristles with morals and military aid, only when the useless terrain of sand the country they are helping to ‘liberate’ is floating atop a sea of oily collateral?) Well I say tread with caution. I would be truly amazed if al-Qaida or the Taliban organizations don’t have a few fingers in the Bazin pie.

The power and wealth a catch like Libya could bring them is almost to frightening to contemplate. Personally I think by sticking our oar in, we could well be party to the creation of a monster far greater than the eccentric Gaddafi organization. At least we had him relatively under control. No, I feel it could be a number of years hence before the canon balls cease to fly and the white dove slumbers in the sand. ‘Blowin’ in the wind’ my friends. Have no doubt; the answers are still blowing in the wind!

As a (some would say ‘so called’) columnist, I am an avid reader of any number of other fellow scribblers who find themselves wallowing in the permanent pit of subject matter week in and week out. I often come across a cleverly written quip or observation that I would have loved to take credit for.

This week was no exception. I’m sure the talented creator of the following will not take umbrages at my blatant plagiarism of his recent comments on teenagers, who are purportedly getting lonely because their excessive use of the internet deprives them of social contact. ‘You would never think it though’ he observes. ‘As many of them have surprisingly strong hand shakes!’

I wish I’d said that.

Keep the faith.
Love Leapy   leapy lee.co.uk