Why I Fought in the Libyan Civil War

[riverwalker]

http://blog.matthewvandyke.com/2012/02/17/why-i-fought-in-the-libyan-civil-war-2/

Why I Fought in the Libyan Civil War
by Matthew VanDyke

If I die, please tell your friends about me. On February 25, 2011 when my friend Muiz made this request, the revolution against Gaddafi had been going on for a week. On the streets fighting…fighting with hands…but we have no guns…people dying for Libya. His brother in law had already been killed, and Muiz was resolved to die as well. You have to know something, we Libyans aren’t scared to die anymore. I love Libya and I don’t want anything to happen to it. I will die for it.

I never imagined having such a conversation with a friend on the internet. The last time I saw Muiz in Tripoli he was happy, smiling, and carefree, a computer engineer and fellow motorcycle enthusiast with his whole life ahead of him. Now his city was under siege by the mad man Gaddafi, one of the worst dictators of our time, and Muiz’s world was being destroyed.

Muiz was part of a group of a dozen Libyan bikers who had become good friends of mine during my time in Tripoli in 2008. Hitem was their leader, a heavy-set, jovial biker with a heart of gold and smile always on his face. He was a master mechanic, and lived and breathed motorcycles. I asked Muiz if he had talked to Hitem. He said he tried to call him but there was no answer. ~more~