Colonel Muammar Gaddafi - the former leader of Libya - is urging his few remaining followers and members of his tribe to " fight to the death " to resist the dawn of freedom in that country. Resistance has been a lost cause for some time as the rebel army of untrained citizens has done battle with his trained troops - and won.
Now - a familiar refrain from a defeated tyrant. " Let Libya burn ".
It seems to be part of the psyche of dictators that rather than relinquish control of what they regard as " their empire ", they would rather see it go up in a pyrrhic wall of flame - and doom it's citizens to death, disease and destruction.
We saw a similar tragedy near the end of the second world war. To any thinking person in Germany in the early days of 1944 there could have been no doubt that the war was lost - and the obvious course to save the citizens would be to sue for peace.
That didn't happen. Adolph Hitler was of a similar mind to Gaddafi - and he led his country to more months of war, with ruined cities and dead citizens.
There is another like comparison. Both Hitler and Gaddafi were not exactly keen to pick up a rifle and do battle alongside their countrymen on the front line.
Hitler remained in his bunker until the invading Russians were at his door - and Gaddafi is hiding out somewhere in Libya - but has sent his wife and family to safety in another country.
It must occur to many Libyan citizens to look at Germany in the twenty-first century and remember the mess there when peace finally arrived. How much more death and destruction must Libya face before the inevitable happens - and the country starts the march along a long road to rehabilitation ?
Such is the legacy of tyrants !
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