Muammar Gaddafi called Barack Obama “our son” before he ever met him.
It started in 2008, when Obama was still a candidate. Gaddafi gave an interview to a London-based newspaper and said: “Now, ruling America is a black man from our continent, an African from Arab descent, from Muslim descent, and this is something we never imagined—that from Reagan we would get to Barack Obama.”
Then the line that explains everything: “He is someone I consider a friend. He knows he is a son of Africa.
At the United Nations in September 2009, Gaddafi stood at the podium and called him “our son” and “our Obama.” He said: “The election of Obama is the beginning of change.” And then, with the enthusiasm of a man who had found something he did not expect to live long enough to see: “We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as the president of the United States.”
He was not being sarcastic.
In a 2011 interview with Christiane Amanpour, after the uprising had begun, Gaddafi was still defending him. “I thought he was a good man, a good young fellow. I supported his international policies, and when I made a speech in the United Nations, I praised him and I praised his policies.” He blamed Obama’s advisers, not Obama. “The statements I have heard from him must have come from someone else.”
Then came the letter. Dated April 5, 2011, sent from the Libyan foreign ministry to the White House, while NATO warplanes were bombing his country.
“To our son, his excellency, Mr Barack Hussein Obama. I have said to you before, that even if Libya and the United States of America enter into a war, God forbid, you will always remain a son. Your picture will not be changed.”
And later in the same letter: “We still pray that you continue to be president of the U.S.A. We endeavour and hope that you will gain victory in the new election campaign. You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action.”
The White House response was three words of cold diplomacy: the dictator would be judged “on his actions, not his words.”
Here is the uncomfortable truth. Gaddafi was not an angel. He was to a very large extent a dictator. But he also built Libya and made life worth living over. After his fall Libya has become nothing to write home about.