If Gadhafi's Son was Killed in a NATO Bombing Raid, a Blood Feud Has Begun

The Libyan government is claiming that a younger son of Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Arab Gadhafi, was killed in a NATO air strike along with three grandchildren younger than the age of 12. It is claimed that Gadhafi was present but survived the bombing.

As with the claim that a Gadhafi daughter was killed in a 1986 American bombing raid, there is some reason to doubt the story put out by the Libyan government. However, true or not, the Libyan war has suddenly taken on the dimension of a blood feud between Gadhafi and the rest of the civilized world.

The concept of a blood feud, as with other cultures, is endemic in Middle Eastern society. Harm done to a member of one's family can only be answered with an equal or greater retaliation against whomever did the harm. It has been suggested the Lockerbie bombing was undertaken in part because of the American bombing that allegedly took the life of the Gadhafi daughter.

Rioting that has been sparked in Tripoli has made the capital of Libya unsafe to western journalists and diplomats. But now that the blood feud is on, the threat of a Libyan inspired terrorist strike in either Europe or the United States has become a real possibility.

Certainly security protocols that have been put into place since 9/11 will help to mitigate the danger of a mass casualty terrorist attack. But there is now only one certain way to avoid an eventual repeat of the Lockerbie bombing. That would be to kill Moammar Gadhafi and his adult sons, especially Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, who has been groomed at Gadhafi's heir.

If this is too rich for the blood of President Barack Obama and his national security advisers, then one has to wonder what exactly did they thought they were getting into when they decided to intervene in Libya. The intervention in the Libyan Civil War has been marked with hesitancy, weakness, and vacillation. The Obama administration has even sought to deny that there is a war or that the United States is fighting on a particular side of it.

President Obama should consider the sage wisdom of the Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a man who could have taught Gadhafi about murderous behavior. Forrest's approach to war was, "War to the knife. Knife to the hilt." Sadly, with someone like Gadhafi, there is no other way.

Source: Gadhafi's youngest son killed but Libyan leader survives NATO missile strike, spokesman says, AP, April 30, 2011