Gadhafi…duck! I will miss him

November 2, 2011

By Ron HartAnother thieving, billionaire despot bit the dust in the Middle East. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was hunted down and found cowering in a sewer hole, and then brutally beaten and shot by opposition leaders. Or, as they say in third-world countries, it was an "orderly transition of power."

It is good to see leaders like Saddam Hussein and Gadhafi die fulfilled and doing what they were good at: blaming others and begging for their lives. Fittingly, both were pulled from rat holes. Until now, the wily Gadhafi eluded his pursuers by putting more g's in the spelling of his name to throw them off the trail.

Oil prices dropped $3 a barrel upon Gadhafi's capture based just on the demand imbalance created because he no longer required the petroleum-based, Jheri Curl family of fine products. So that is good.

A low (Enlarge) This file photo shows Libya's Moammar Gadhafi in Sabha, Libya Friday, March 2, 2007. -level source at NBC news informs me that it was unfortunate timing for Col. Gadhafi to die just two weeks shy of promoting himself to brigadier general. What he really wanted was an Atlanta public school administrator's pension.

When these leaders die in countries with media they control, their deaths are met with skepticism. From what I can tell from the news footage, Middle Eastern men only truly believe someone is dead when they can personally poke him with a stick.

Republicans come off as disingenuous when they pooh-pooh the killing of Gadhafi, as most presidential hopefuls have. Apparently they prefer spending $1 trillion, 4,000 American lives and occupying a country well past necessary to make their point. Efficient and hands-off disposal of a terrorism-supporting despot does not appeal to them. In fact, I think Rick Perry is demanding to see Gadhafi's death certificate.

You would think the trigger-happy Republicans would celebrate his death, or at least Michele Bachmann would be happy now that she does not have to learn to spell Gadhafi or Kaddafi or Chutzpah or whatever. In short, I agree with Obama's "lead from behind" tactic. I have long said that, if we have to go after foreign foes, it should be done in cooperation with other countries with shared interests/costs, drones, CIA operatives, etc.

It took our country's intellectuals 10 years to agree with Ron Paul on spending and the role of government. It will take them about that long to stop dismissing his foreign policy views and realize we should not intervene in the affairs of other countries unless there is a direct or imminent attack on the USA. The Pentagon advised the rebel fighters in Libya on the type of fighter jets, helicopters and weapons Gadhafi would use against them. It was easy, because we have the receipts and kept the invoices.

Most telling was that the Republicans opposed, seemingly by instinct, Obama's plan to get Gadhafi. This was a cowardly leader who indulged in face-lifts, Botox and hair plugs. Backed by oil money, he denounced immoral behavior on the part of his citizens while keeping a covey of mistresses on the side. The only reason Congress declined to go after him was out of professional courtesy.

I think what I will miss about Gadhafi is his fashion sense. I really enjoyed his fashion-forward, fascistic military costumes. The good news is that the auction of Michael Jackson's wardrobe and the killing of Gadhafi fortunately coincide with the U.S. military getting rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Between both collections of flamboyant military outfits, all current gay officers should be able to dress fabulously in coming years. I suppose their old military get-up will be worn mostly by our rear admirals.

Obama might have to return his preemptively won Nobel "Peace" Prize since he has become the presidential equivalent of the sheriff in Blazing Saddles. The good news is there are other Nobel Prizes he might win; maybe the Prize Committee will start a category for hypocrisy or irony.

I still do not understand why these dictators, with billions in stolen cash and gold hidden around the world, do not hop on one of their jets and get to a place that would quickly accept them, like Yemen, Niger, or the Occupy Wall Street movement. U.N. Special Forces are scouring Libya trying to find the assets and gold the 70-year-old Gadhafi squirreled away. I suggest they enlist the aid of an elite team of Beverly Hills divorcees if they want to succeed.