It’s an interesting idea. Use a thief to catch a thief, a murderer to catch a murderer and a dictator to watch over human rights. I think he is quite popular among his own people though, the country is quite rich because of the oil.
Libya’s as locked down as a prison, and for the most part desperately poor. So I don’t think that the average citizens there throw a lot of block parties.
I agree about the parties but it’s not as desperately poor as many other countries. GNP/Capita for Sudan($330), Egypt($1350) and even Poland($7200) are all lower than Libya($8900). The figures are from 1999.