Supporting Good Leadership

Yesterday I was busy and was not back until late in the evening. Therefore I had not seen the news. So when my better half phoned, she informed me that on the news Nelson Mandela had been voicing almost verbatim what I had said about Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. While I joked with her that world leaders and I were close, the importance of compassion within the justice system and geopolitics is not lost on me and intellectuals like Nelson Mandela.

Here in Britain the majority of the media are trying to imply that the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was based upon some dirty deal regarding trade and oil. While his release has not harmed Britain's ability to trade with Libya, people are looking for links that just don't exist. I am not trying to defend this British government, I just don't see the conspiracy that folks are trying to build here.

The reality is that there are serious doubts about whether Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was even guilty of the Lockerbie Bombing, and had he died in prison Britain would loose all influence with the dictatorship in Libya. And this is where the legal system showing compassion really does have the calming effect upon volatile situations.

Colonel Gaddafi is a dictator, and Libya has been far from being a friendly country towards Britain in the past. Even now the Colonels dictatorship makes Libya a potentially dangerous state. Therefore, we need to be able to maintain a dialogue with this state until such a time as Colonel Gaddafi goes and a democratic government can emerge. Meanwhile, by ensuring we remain in communication we can stop Libya becoming a hotbed of terrorism This does not mean that we support the regime but ensures we can act to try and prevent the excesses that were the picture of the dictatorship in the past.

This contrasts with the way that Britain and America are dealing with Afghanistan Where the west are actively supporting a corrupt leader in Hamid Karzai. Anyone who has seen the elections in Afghanistan can not call them free and fair. With over one thousand complaints of stuffing ballot boxes, there is no real democracy in Afghanistan This was the west's man, the leader we supported and wanted as leader. The problem is that it is just another example of where the west supports another bad regime.

We have to remember that in Afghanistan troops are there to find the Bin Liner, Osama. The war was never supposed to be against the Taliban. While the Taliban was and is a vile group, as it is warped ideology and their interpretation of religion that drives them, fighting them with bullets, bombs and missiles will never defeat them. As ideas can not be defeated with violence. Also as Hamid Karzai passed a law where a woman could not refuse her husbands sexual demands, I can see no difference between Hamid Karzai and the Taliban.

What we need to do is start talking to the leadership of the Taliban. As vile as that regime is, only by communicating with these people can we stop the killing and the terrorism that flows from that. While the western powers who are fighting in the Afghan war don't do it intentionally, in war civilians get killed. This leads to further support for the Taliban and greater opposition to the presence of foreign troops. Thus making the building of any meaningful peace near impossible.

Only by talking to Colonel Gaddafi and acting with compassion have we stopped Libya being the source of terrorism Only by talking to the Taliban can we hope to stop the slaughter that is feeding terrorism Who knows if we start talking with the Taliban we could even get handed the Bin Liner and America can have justice for the mass murder that was the September 11th 2001.