History is Now

As a youngster I had very little interest in history. It always seemed to be for boring fuddy duddies who appeared as old as the relics they drooled over. As a child I used to think that history was what had gone before and that in modern peace time society, there were no historical events. As I have gotten older, I have become more aware of history as being something that is a living, breathing thing. It happened then but it is also happening now. There's just no getting away from it and you might as well embrace it on your own terms. It has of course become easier to embrace history as I have become a passive (and sometimes active) witness to the major historical events have occurred since then. The first moon landing. That miraculous save by Gordon Banks. The three-day week. On the march with Ally's Army. The Thatcher Government. The death of John Lennon. Fred and Rosemary West. The televised murder trial of OJ Simpson. A new millennium. 9/11.

One of the most bizarre moments in living history must surely have been the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003. We were "treated" to a series of incomprehensible events during that period. We had one of Saddam's right hand men, "Chemical Ali" telling news reporters that they have fought back and held the American invaders whilst in camera shot we see an American tank rolling down the street. Later, in a very simple news conference, the words, "we got him" rung around the world as Saddam was located in an underground hideaway which looked like the size of an upturned telephone box, a stark contrast to the lavish and spacious lifestyle he was afforded by his own dictatorship. The trial by the Iraqi special tribunal that followed contained almost farcical moments with Saddam and his lawyers contesting the court's authority and maintaining that he was still the President of Iraq. Lastly, his execution was captured on mobile phone and released for all to see on YouTube. Technology and history coming together in a ghoulish, but strangely seductive way.

Now, the Gaddafi regime is under enormous pressure and although it appears that his son is trying to promote reform from within by reinventing the constitution, I wonder if it is just too late in the day. Too many insiders have jumped ship. He has lost power but has he lost control? Perhaps the only control the people of Libya will accept is that Gaddafi is toppled in a manner that is "Saddamesque".

Already, American families who lost their loved ones in the Lockerbie bombing are calling for summary execution. Their death calls seem to be gaining some support from Libyan Government defectors who are now claiming the bombing was ordered directly by Gaddafi. They want to see him hang. They might yet have their day. And history will continue to both entice and repel, in equal doses.