A very interesting thing happened last Monday. The Libyan rebels became – overnight – the forces of the interim government of Libya; at least they did according to the BBC. Sky had altered them earlier. Who decides when rebels become government forces? Was it a directive from the foreign office, or was it simply some news editor at the BBC, who decided that finally they should recognise in a turn of phrase what had been patently obvious for a couple of weeks.
The Beeb kept calling Colonel Gaddafi, ‘the Libyan leader’ for weeks after he quite clearly wasn’t even in control of his own household! I thought his despairing and lunatic attempts at trying to urge his people (the 12 of them that weren’t absolutely delighted he’d finally gone!) to rid Libya of ‘the rats and traitors’ would have been pathetically funny — if he hadn’t left such an appalling legacy of murder, torture and destruction. First he appears in person in Green Square, then he appears on Libyan TV until he lost control of that, then he is heard on local Sirte Radio, and finally he is reduced to phoning a radio station in Damascus and shouting at them.
Who knows where he is? I hope they find him soon. And good luck to the Libyan people on the extraordinarily difficult job of rebuilding their country!
