Col. Gadhafi - a million guns!

It is with great sadness that i write this post.

Col. Gadhafi, President of the Arab Republic of Libya, has ordered the distribution of one million guns to the civillian population in order to help fight off the rebellion in his country.

Growing up in Kampala, Uganda, gave me an opportunity to know what a gun can do if it landed in un-supervised and non-disciplined hands. Working in Mogadishu, Somalia, seven years ago gave me yet another big lesson of a lifetime - a gun and a mobile phone in the hands of un-supervised, non-disciplined individuals.

A gun in the hands of the closely supervised, disciplined forces is a mighty blessing for any leader and any country. But now, the Colonel has decided to unleash fury. We all know what a gun can do - it is not just an iron rod. Supposing things went his way and the rebellion dies out, are the people going to return the guns back to government? Will there be accountability for the way they used the guns? Will they be willing to give up the gun and feel "insecure"?

The Colonel recently used words like "cockroaches" in reference to some of his people. I last heard those words used in what is today called the "Rwandan Genocide".

For the fact-oriented reader, Col. Gadhafi has been stocking up on arms since 2004, when the 18-year arms embargo on his country was lifted. In 2009 alone, European Union member states provided defense equipment worth US$474,000,000 to Libya. Germany supplied the electronic jammers that block mobile phones and GPS networks that are now being used to prevent protesters from communicating with each other.

If you were in Col. Gadhafi's shoes, would you do the same?

Or, would you rather distribute a million laptop computers with free Internet access via WiMax and encourage people to surf and Google and Facebook and twit and blog about the soooo many goooood things the government has done and is doing for them and in effect make the rebels villains?

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