Libya's Pre-1996 History Revisited: Part 3

A Wall Street Journal editorial recently proposed that the Democratic Obama-Clinton Administration consider the option of some kind of “humanitarian military intervention” in Libya in 2011 in response to the recent deadly attacks on demonstrators inside Libya by the current Libyan regime’s security forces. Yet most people in the United States know very little about the hidden history of Libya. Guy Arnold’s 1996 book, The Maverick State: Gaddafi and the New World Order, for example, observed:

“…Critics of Gaddafi, and he has many, tend to portray him unthinkingly as a mercurial, dictatorial figure implying that any benefits the people have received from the revolution are likely to be incidental rather than planned. This is to underestimate not only Gaddafi and his co-revolutionaries who were perfectly genuine in their desire to improve the lot of the Libyan people as a whole but also the need of all political leaders, whether dictators or not, to enjoy a base of popular support for once that is lost their days are numbered…

“…During 1971 the government began to tackle development problems with precise programs. At that time an estimated 72 per cent of the Libyan population was illiterate; the government launched a 15-year program to eliminate illiteracy…

“…A five-year housing plan for 1971-76 set a target of providing 15,000 housing units a year. At the time an estimated 150,000 Libyans were living in sub-standard housing and a further 30,000 to 70,000 were homeless…

“…In the field of housing 3500 medium-range housing units were completed in 1972 and a total of 6650 units altogether.

“These were impressive statistics for a small country with a population then estimated at under 2 million which in the 1950s had been rated as one of the poorest in the world by the United Nations…

“…By 1975 the Libyan people were experiencing better economic conditions than ever before, after six years of rule by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). But, as always in such a revolutionary situation, the government now had to cope with its own success in the form of the rising expectations of the people. In January 1976…a decision relating to housing laid down that people earning less than 100 dinars a month would not have to pay rent…

“During 1992 Libya began to suffer as a result of UN sanctions…

“…Despite the complex political pressures which Gaddafi always manages to attract to himself, in economic matters the Libyan people have done reasonably well out of the revolution. Their per capita income is the highest in Africa, while other statistics of well-being are equally impressive: one doctor per 948 persons, one hospital bed per 207, daily calorific (food) intake at 140 per cent the FAO recommended minimum. Overall, the economic achievements of the revolution have been very substantial indeed.

“…Plenty of dissidents have fled the country and as time has passed Gaddafi has become increasingly ruthless with his political opponents…”