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Libyan Expatriate in Lexington Shares His Thoughts on Revolution

by Ron Smith, Kentucky Public RadioIbrahim El Bakoush has no words to describe his feelings amid rebel gains in his homeland.  He's been away from Libya for 32 years, and he's spent much of that time waiting for the Gadhafi regime to fall.“I’ve always heard about people who say I cannot describe my feeling, now I’m experiencing that," he says. "I cannot describe my feeling, my jubilation, the happiness. It’s beyond explanation.”Rebels have gained control of most parts of Tripoli. But El Bakoush says victory didn’t come this week. Rather, it came months ago when the Libyan people decided to take control of their lives.“To me victory is the day, that day people decided to have the [uprising] because you’re controlled by fear, and once you break that fear you’re victorious, regardless of what’s the outcome," he says.El Bakoush says he has no worries about the future of his country after Gaddafi is gone. He hopes Libyans will rebuild their nation with qualified people, and not those whose first loyalty is to a dictator.