Something Extra: A Bad Year For Dictators
MIAMI (CBS4 ) - One thing we can celebrate this holiday season is that it has not been a good year for dictators. The death of North Korea's Kim Jong Il is just the latest misfortune to befall the world's tyrants.
The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and President Ben Ali was smart enough to flee to exile.
But Egypt's Hosni Mubarak refused to see the writing on the wall, now he and his sons are in jail.
Libya's Moammar Qaddaffi could have lived out his life in luxury somewhere. Instead he refused to go, killed more of his own people and then they killed him.
Yemen's Saleh barely survived an assassination attempt before getting out.
Panama's Noriega is back home, but he'll stay behind bars until he dies.
Haiti's Duvalier also went home and faces criminal charges.
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez may be dying of cancer.
And Syria's Assad is walking a tightrope: his forces have killed so many of their countrymen, fleeing may soon be his only hope.
Yet, fifty years later, the Castro brothers endure.
All these dictators are megalomaniacs, deluded in their fantasies of relevance and omnipotence, caring not a whit for the people they tyrannically rule.
Good riddance to them all.
