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After a decade evading the world, when the end came it took just 90seconds to corner and kill Osama bin Laden. The fresh claimsemerged last week in the latest sure-to-be controversial account onthe death of the Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan in May. But controversy has already swirled around the execution. Afterinitial claims that Bin Laden had been armed and using humanshields, it was reluctantly admitted that he had been shot whenunarmed and cornered, in a split-second decision by a team withauthorization to shoot-to-kill if they felt even remotelythreatened. Now, questions are being asked about the death of Libya's formerleader, Muammar al-Gaddafi. He may be dead and buried, but the National Transitional Councilfinds itself in an uncomfortable position where it must provideanswers that will satisfy history, as well as to support its owncredibility. Until then the stories and the speculation will continue. Already,we know that Gaddafi's children lived in unabashed luxury with onyxswans, gilt-leafed sofas and a life sized replica of London'sAlbert Memorial. Not that this should come as a surprise - fromFerdinand Marcos to Baby Doc Duvalier, some rulers fail to acquirea level of taste to match their power in office. But apparently Gaddafi was also a man of letters. LouisSchlamowitz, a Jewish florist in New York, who says he was a penpal of the Libyan leader, sheds some light on his character. Theydiscussed politics, swapped photographs and even debated the futureof Israel, which brings us back to an unusual point: While Gaddafihad at best an uneasy relationship with that country, he was in apersonal capacity happy to correspond with a Jewish man. Power isolates the individual. Friends tell me that one currentWestern European leader leads an increasingly lonely life,surrounded by more bodyguards and sycophants than family andfriends. As the grip on power grows over time, so even your closestand well-meaning advisors feel less able to say "no." Perhaps that was Gaddafi's story, too. Four decades in office,detached not just by his office but from the internationalcommunity, too. His last months proved his intolerance not just foropposition, but also for different voices and so removed was hefrom any vestige of reality that he convinced himself to the endthat he could remain as leader. I have this deceptively cosy image of two elderly men sending longletters to each other - one from his home in Brooklyn and the otherin his Bedouin tent. The 81-year-old florist stopped writing afterthe Lockerbie bombing in 1988, but sent one more letter in Marchthis year when mass protests broke out calling for Gaddafi to go. The letter was returned unopened. Had they stayed in contact, Iwonder if the florist could have helped rewrite the ending? But for all his delusions and grandstanding, Gaddafi wasn't unique. He was found in a drain like Saddam Hussein before him. He wasshouted down by a mob like Hosni Mubarak before him. And, like allmen who refuse to go quietly, the real tragedy are the civilianlives they sacrifice in a bid to save their own. Gaddafi lived an unusual life, but died an ordinary man. The author is a CCTV-News television presenter and UNAIDS GoodwillAmbassador. james@james-chau.com. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Led Candle Light Bulbs , High Bay Light Fitting Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Led Corn Light Bulb.
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