He was supposed to be the dictator no one would ever miss. Treacherous and volatile, Muammer Gaddafi had far less diplomatic value than his neighbour, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a dependable western ally. He did not compare to Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, whose obsessive secularism had its attraction, too. And he could not compete even with Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, who at least had a sharp sense of humour.
By the time the Arab revolutions erupted in 2011, Gaddafi had not a single friend left in the Middle East, and only a few beyond. Even though he gave up his mischief in later years — surrendering his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, for example — no one knew whether or when he would be back to his old terrorist tricks. So as his troops prepared for an assault on the eastern city of Benghazi — whose people had risen against him — Nato bombs rained down on them, paving the way for the dictator’s demise. The reaction was, broadly, good riddance.
And yet, barely four years on, there are many in Europe who quietly wish the mad colonel — killed by rebels in late 2011 — was still running things in Tripoli. Such is EU angst over the Mediterranean migrant crisis — where as many as 1,200 people have drowned crossing to Europe in recent weeks — that Gaddafi is held up as the one man able to keep boat people away from European shores.