[What follows is an excerpt from an interview with Colonel Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha, in today's edition of The Sunday Telegraph.]
A lawyer by training, her father's regime is not the only contentious cause she has spoken up for over the years. In her youth, just like her Dad, she was a keen supporter of the IRA, and three years ago, she was on the legal team that defended that other controversial Arab leader, Saddam Hussein. (...)
She is similarly bullish about the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al Megrahi, whose release last year on health grounds has caused such furore in Britain. (...)
"We have always viewed him as a detainee, not a prisoner, as there is no evidence that he commited such a crime," she says, adding that he deserves compensation for being locked up unjustly. "But it is terrible that there are politicians who are demanding to know why he is still alive. They have forgotten that it is an act of God. Nobody dies before his time."
Indeed no one should die before their time which is why it is difficult to understand why this young woman ever supported an organisation like the IRA or a father whose practical support helped that organisation to do maximum damage with its bombs.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Aisha is, from most perception over here, a dubious ally. But you know, people's views differ and all that. And she's right about her dad. But arguing for Saddam Hussein and the IRA and Megrahi will surely read suspiciously to many eyes.
ReplyDeleteYes Adam. I felt very uncomfortable with that.
ReplyDeleteSorry above, "her dad." I had gotten mixed up. Gaddafi's daugher, well, no wonder.
ReplyDeleteFrom a distant view I imagine it's easy to just project your general nationalist struggle and independence ideology. It's easy to support the IRA when all you see is Ireland fighting for its integrity. England has no right to take Ireland, north south or middle. The IRA is fighting the good fight from that perspective.
For those who had to see it up close, I'm sure it's harder to excuse it all.
But you know what? The Ghaddafi clan has kept so mum on this whole innocence issue, isn't this a positive turn then? She says "We have always viewed him as a detainee, not a prisoner, as there is no evidence that he commited such a crime,"
What? But didn't they admit it in 2003? (kidding)