Iqbal Latif

Lessons for life!!

On arrest of Saif Gaddafi: ''People that put themselves above others will fall longer and harder.''

Here above is Playboy Saif, pictured in Austria Opera Ball. Libyan connections to Vienna date back to Bruno Kreisky (1911 to 1990), chancellor of Austria date from 1970 to 1983; he first made Muammar al-Gaddafi eligible in the international community and held close relations with him. Gaddafi himself called him “My good friend Bruno”. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was in the Opera Ball booth of scandalous Austrian Entrepreneur Richard Lugner. 

We steal moments of contentment and bliss from assortment of regrets, guilt and sins. Those moments of bliss should be savoured as they are fleetingly small and we need to use them for erudite serenity and support of universal excellence.One should know that these moments are as clear and fickle as the droplets of top cuvée Dom Perignon he is relishing.'' Saif is no small character, if you look at the sources his life was very busy. 

Now there is a picture of Saif Al Islam Gaddafi in the moments after he was captured in western Libya— Dishevelled and smeared in sand. The pictures show moment Gaddafi's playboy son Saif was captured by rebels, Saif Al Islam, 39, was found near southern town of Obar, reportedly 'in good health'.

  ''Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.'' One of the main reason he was not summarily executed by the Robespierrean vandal revolutionaries was that he was the Ali Baba of the regime! 

Medics said Saif, who was captured in the south of Libya last weekend, could fall seriously ill if the condition is not treated. It had been thought that Saif's captors had cut off his fingers as part of a revenge attack, but the doctor said the injuries were consistent with an explosion.

Saif Gaddafi says he sustained hand injuries in a Nato air strike. Doctors have said Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al Islam requires surgery after flesh around his severed thumb and finger turned gangrenous. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was betrayed to his captors by a Libyan nomad who says he was hired to help Muammar Gaddafi's son escape to neighbouring Niger on the promise he would be paid one million euros.

The moral of the story that we need to incorporate within ours is the need of essential feature of profound balance in life when placed in position of strength. Most of us disappointingly trip at this crossroad, just 'If' we
can:

IF you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;  

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

I wish he would have read it and learnt it by heart. If by Rudyard Kipling is antidote to a lot of self-embedded and character injected poison.

One can gather his life in few minutes someone who was quite unpredictable and most importantly his trial will open lot of wounds in the West, anyone who is anyone has been dealing with him. From Blair to Sarkozy onto academics awarding a him a all paid doctoral thesis. He also have the keys to the Libyan treasures and also the secret passwords to wealth of the Gaddafi clan.

I will revisit here the allegorical tale of Ali Baba. Ali Baba is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in One Thousand and One Nights. Saif has the secret words"iftaH ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). Saif like Ali Baba was closest to the treasures; Ali Baba was at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "iftaH ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home. Saif will lead the new Libyans to the treasures back and forth.

Gaddafi Jr. claims that former Prime Minister Tony Blair is a personal friend who took an interest in advising Libya on oil revenues and finance. In 2007, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Tripoli, with whom it is alleged he helped broker an arms deal, including missiles. In November 2008, Saif made a high-profile visit to the United States where he met with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. During the meeting, Rice raised the case of Libya's jailed political dissident and democracy activist, Fathi El-Jahmi.* (Time)

Saif was instrumental in negotiations that led to Libya's abandoning a weapons of mass destruction programme in 2002–2003. He arranged several important business deals on behalf of the Libyan regime in the period of rapprochement that followed. He was viewed as a reformer, and has openly criticized the regime: 

  A congressional aide asked him what Libya needed most. His one-word answer: democracy.

 "You mean Libya needs more democracy?" the aide asked.

"No. 'More democracy’ would imply that we had some," Saif said.

Yet beyond all this public formulations; when people demanded democracy he was the last lone fighter left in the desert. The fact was for Gaddafi like Napoleon the definition of a throne was similar — a bit of wood gilded and covered in velvet. They were the state— They alone were the representative of the people. Even if they had done wrong they should not have been reproached- people wash their dirty linen at home. Libya in their minds had more need of them than they of Libya.

The first ever opinion poll survey to be undertaken in both Pakistani and Indian-controlled Kashmir, conducted by King's College, London, and the polling organisation IPSOS-MORI, was also Saif's brainchild, Gaddafi Jr. also has been hosted at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle by the British royal family. In 2009, he spent a weekend at Waddesdon Manor, home of financier Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, where he was the guest of Lord Mandelson and Nathaniel Philip Rothschild. He later stayed at the Rothschild holiday home in Corfu. Nathaniel Rothschild was a guest at Saif's 37th birthday celebration in Montenegro. In 2009, a party in Montenegro for his 37th birthday included well-known guests such as Oleg Deripaska, Peter Munk and Prince Albert of Monaco. * ( Wiki)

Saif has also received his PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2008. Examined by Meghnad Desai (London School of Economics) and Anthony McGrew (University of Southampton), among the LSE academics acknowledged in the thesis as directly assisting with it were Nancy Cartwright, David Held and Alex Voorhoeve (the son of former Dutch ministerJoris Voorhoeve). Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University is also thanked for having read portions of the manuscript and providing advice and direction. Money buys everything today most unfortunately even a Doctrinal thesis. 

In 2008, Gaddafi was awarded a PhD degree from London School of Economics, for a thesis entitled "The role of civil society in the democratisation of global governance institutions: from 'soft power' to collective decision-making?" . In a later investigation by Channel 4 News, they found that 6% of the 93,000-word thesis was copied from other sources. Furthermore, allegations abound that Saif's thesis was in many parts ghost-written by consultants from Monitor Group, which pocketed $3 million per year in fees from Muammar Gaddafi. Through the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF), Saif subsequently pledged a donation of £1.5 million to support the work of the LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance on civil society organisations in North Africa. Following the LSE Libya Links affair, the LSE issued a statement indicating that it will cut all financial ties with the country and will accept no further money from the GICDF, having already received and spent the first £300,000 instalment of the donation. *( Wiki)

On February 20, 2011 there was a call upon LSE Students to Demand the Restitution of Gaddafi's Blood Money. The plea to all LSE students and alumni was to occupy the Old Theater and not to leave until the Center for Global Governance returns Saif al-Gaddafi's £1.5 million donation to the Libyan people. Pressure was put on the LSE to revoke his qualification. LSE set up a review process to investigate the claims in early 2011.Campaigners have renewed demands for the London School of Economics to strip Saif al-Islam Gaddafi of his PhD, in the wake of his arrest in Libya. Conservative MP Robert Halfon, who has campaigned for universities to reveal their links to the former Libyan regime, said it was now "vital the LSE comes clean about the relationship with Gaddafi." He added: "Those LSE members who fêted Saif Gaddafi as a hero should be held responsible for their actions. We must never again appease dictators." Anti-extremism group Student Rights has criticised the delay by the University of London, currently investigating allegations that Colonel Gaddafi's son plagiarised his 2008 PhD thesis. The university has promised to respond by the end of term. 

All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.  Napoleon as a General (1902) 

The tragedy of life strikes when we forget the message of 'If'! I suppose one cannot buy 'If' like a doctoral thees from learned deans? 'If' is free and a must daily prayer.