Kidnapping of Prime Minister A Sign Libya Needs Help

On Thursday, Oct. 10, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was kidnapped and then released. I've visited Benghazi and Tripoli several times during the past few months and had the opportunity to meet and listen to the vision of Libyan patriots like Zeidan and Mahmoud Jibril, leader of the National Forces Alliance who won the largest number of seats in the Libyan parliament. Out of the 39 seats won by Jibril’s alliance, 24 went to women and one to a talented writer who was also blind. On meeting this group, I was taken by their spirit, determination and sophistication.

In my view, Zeidan and Jibril are liberal, subscribing to an authentic brand of liberalism that characterizes Arab countries — one that is at ease with religion and warms up to principles of social justice. When I was last in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood was trying to ratify legislation that would in effect end the political careers of both men. So, when Zeidan was kidnapped, I was appalled, but not surprised. It was not the Muslim Brotherhood who kidnapped Zeidan, but could a “good terrorist, bad terrorist” strategy be at play here?

Though Zeidan assumed the position of prime minister of the post-Moammar Gadhafi state, there was no state left to speak of. The civil war had left the Libyan state a fading memory. According to Max Weber, the state is that entity which "upholds the claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in the enforcement of its order." Power of the state comes from this simple idea. Until individuals and groups agree to empower and submit to the authority of a central government and lay down their weapons, power continues to be loosely fragmented amongst revolutionary brigades, which were armed by NATO to bring down Gadhafi’s regime. Collectively, these groups form a “parallel state,” challenging, defying and even aborting the prospects of the emergence of a unified Libyan state.

Not that Gadhafi was the model statesman. But near the end, Gadhafi, once the guardian angel of assassins and terrorist organizations, including the IRA, ETA and Red Brigades, succeeded in having Libya removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, even having it become an important partner in the war against terror. On the other hand, the early years of Gadhafi’s reign saw remarkable improvements in basic education, health care and other public services, thus positively impacting the lives of Libyans. But under his reign, Libya gradually became a state characterized by a corrupt government and a disintegrating administration, which was further hammered out by the civil war. Absence of political parties meant that the only organized forces were the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations. It was these Islamist organizations that allegedly attacked the US consulate and killed the American ambassador in Benghazi.