The Faces of Evil

In Cormac McCarthy's brilliant book, No Country for Old Men, there are many chilling scenes of pure evil. One in particular is the scene in which Carson Wells, the bounty hunter and the pursuer, goes face to face with Anton Chigurh, the psychopathic murderer and the pursued. In a dimly lit hotel room, Chigurh with air cannon in hand, trains it at an imprisoned Carson while in captured conversation. The dialogue goes something like this:

Carson: Do you have any idea how goddamn crazy you are?
Chigurh: You mean the nature of this conversation?
Carson: I mean the nature of you.

Moments later Carson's blood is flowing across the hardwood.

I've thought of this scene many times in the recent weeks and in the context of the "crazies" of the world. You know those paranoid misanthropes who run corrupt governments and imprison and murder their own citizens for decades. In Hollywood, evil was impersonated by Chigurh. In the real world, the embodiment of evil straight out of central casting is pictured above, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. The face of the Lucifer without the horns, tail and pitchfork. Or, maybe an old age Mick Jagger.

In power since 1969, Gadhafi has ruled Libya with an iron hand and a hot temper. For 41 years, Gadhafi has raped and pillaged not only the 6.5 million people of Libya but also the financial oil bounty of the country. Libya's oil reserves are the largest in Africa and the world's ninth largest. Gadhafi regards this asset as his own personal purse. Because of his personal exploitation of this oil largesse, he bathes in luxury daily while his people suffer with 30% unemployment in abject living conditions. Well the worm has finally turned on the Colonel. The people's revolt has started. It will not end without abundant terror and murder.

It's about time this monster got his comeuppance. Remember, not only is he a scourge to his own people but he has been a constant terrorist and killer outside of his own borders. He was directly responsible for sending his secret agent, al-Megrahi, to blow Pan Am 103 out of the sky killing 270 innocent civilians over Scotland. In 2009, Scotland released al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison, out of humanitarian reasons. Allegedly, al-Megrahi has terminal cancer. However, he's still alive and living in Libya. And who orchestrated this horrific killer's release from Scotland? Monster Gadhafi, that's who. It seems that Gordon Brown's government in the UK wanted in on the Libya's oil fields at any cost and they were willing to give Gadhafi what he wanted, his hero, al-Megrahi. Disgraceful. UK should be ashamed.

But Gadhafi is just one such monster ruling in the world today. Sadly, there are far too many examples of evil governing around the world. The usual suspects Kim Jong Il in N. Korea, Than Shwe in Burma, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, al-Bashir in Sudan, Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and the loony militant theocrats in Iran are all monsters who need to go far far away.

So, when and where will all this insanity end? In Gadhafi's Libya, it appears that his rear end will be lit up very soon. Even our hated and hunted enemy al Qaeda, agrees with the United States for once that Gadhafi must go but motivated by totally different agendas. Deserved death will come to him quickly at some point by rebels, his own people or by his own hand. The clock is ticking...

But as Gadhafi's reign of terror nears the end and it will come soon, one disturbing and haunting question remains: is the devil you know better than the devil you don't know? In that troubled part of the world, that is a good question to ponder. We'll all find out in due time.