Gaddafi's March

Dad
May 16, 2003

July 20‚ 1973LTA No.247

P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or GPO Box 3141, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936

3. [GADDAFI'S] MAKING HISTORY. Pray that he [does] not to do some foolish thing in his own wisdom.

4. IF HE'LL FOLLOW THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD‚ YOU KNOW IT WILL SUCCEED. But if he goes ahead in his own fleshly wisdom or the counsel of man, you know he'll never make it. But surely from all God has said, He wants to do the work through him. He does some of the craziest things!—He surely does need [to hear from] the Lord!

5. I WAS JUST ABOUT TO SAY TO THE LORD, "WELL, NOW!—HE NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO WOO and to win the hand of the Princess, not force her!"—But suddenly the picture of Aladdin came back to me: When he was suing for her hand he had to make a big impression‚ so he marched in with much riches and many servants in a display of power and wealth and practically forced his way into the palace!

6. SO MAYBE HE'S GOT TO HAVE THIS MARCH. THIS MARCH IS A TEST to see how much popular sympathy he has with the people, to see if they'll join with him in the march for Arab union. What he's trying to do is to show the rulers of Egypt that he also has the sympathy of the Egyptian people.

7. THAT STORY OF ALADDIN'S LAMP WAS REALLY A PROPHECY. Everything about it had a parallel. His mother went first to ask for the hand of the princess for her son, and they made fun of her. But she kept coming, and at last they finally listened to her. She had to take the Sultan, tokens of Aladdin's power and wealth first. Well, Gaddafi's been doing all this giving money to Egypt and asking for the princess' hand for a long time‚ but the Sultan keeps stalling.

8. IT'S LIKE EGYPT IS THE DAUGHTER AND SADAT IS THE SULTAN or father of the daughter‚ and he keeps promising his daughter, but when the showdown comes he always stalls. Until finally Aladdin had to march in with this huge force of his servants. it seems like a wild and foolish thing Gaddafi's doing, with 30 or 40 thousand demonstrators marching from one country into another. It's almost like an invasion, yet it was this that caused Aladdin to win the heart of the king's counsellors‚ when he finally gave this big display of all his power and wealth and following!

9. EGYPT HAS HAD THE LEADERSHIP OF THE [MUSLIM] WORLD handed down for centuries. But now, although Egypt has had the most education, wealth and power for years, and has been considered the highest of the Arabs of North Africa, now Egypt is virtually poor because it has no oil and little gold.

10. BUT ALADDIN IS NOBODY.—ALL HE HAD WAS THE SPIRIT OR GENIE! That's all Gaddafi's got: just the Lord! But God has helped him discover this treasure in the earth that gives him such power and wealth to become somebody very important with God's inspiration.

11. I WAS THINKING, "HE MUST NOT TRY TO FORCE HER HAND. He must woo her and be patient."—But he has been patient. In Libya there are both blacks and whites. Aladdin had both black and white servants. Libya is a rather small country (the servants filled the house), yet he asks for the "honour of this alliance" with Egypt the daughter. It was such a total impossibility! It took the supernatural to gain her hand.

12. HE'S BEEN GIVING MANY MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO KEEP EGYPT GOING, BUT SADAT DOESN'T REALLY WANT TO GIVE HIM EGYPT. They were really putting on a show in "Aladdin's Lamp." And that's what Gaddafi's doing right now. He had to win the heart of the people. Politicians are swayed by popular opinion. If they find out that's what the people really want, they'll usually yield.

13. HE HAS TO HAVE SOME KIND OF A DEMONSTRATION TO PROVE HE HAS POPULAR SUPPORT. What other world leader has pulled such a ridiculous stunt as this—a 1500–mile march! Why they must think he's a madman! He says he wants to go into a square in Cairo and enter the court! Yet it was this show of strength that put the Sultan and his men to shame! The last few demonstrations in Egypt have been against the slowness of the government to act.

14. UNDOUBTEDLY THERE ARE PLENTY OF JEALOUS RIVALS IN THE KING'S COURT who are looking forward to the leadership of Egypt, and they don't want to give it to a stranger. As Aladdin, he's got to make them an offer they can't refuse! Like in the "Godfather," in Gaddafi's case it's a little bit of both: Both wealth and the power of the people as a sort of gun to their head!

15. —BECAUSE HE'S GOT THE WEALTH THEY NEED to buy the arms to have the power they want.—And yet these jealous advisors of Sadat have been consistently refusing.—So he had to send all this big demonstration ahead of him.

16. THOSE EGYPTIAN RULERS ARE NOT AS MUCH CONCERNED WITH THE POOR AS GADDAFI. Egypt still has an old hangover, Western-type Systemite government, and are still not as concerned about the poor as Gaddafi. But the poor are going to get the point when Gaddafi throws the pieces of gold to them like Aladdin did. They're going to go for the man they can see is going to help them. Aladdin won the favour of the people this way.

17. THE EGYPTIANS TOLD HIM THE PEOPLE DIDN'T WANT UNION, AND GADDAFI WANTED TO SHOW THEM THE PEOPLE DID.—SO THE MARCH! —So maybe it was a good idea after all! His critics said it failed because it didn't reach Cairo.—But it reached the whole world with his message!

18. —HE GOT HIS POINT ACROSS: THE PEOPLE ARE WITH HIM!—What can he more have but the kingdom also! Hallelujah!—And Cairo got the message too!—He's giving them an offer they can't refuse!—Now we'll wait and see if they're smart enough to accept it.—Let's hope he doesn't have to do something even more drastic!