Gadhafi's Death Brings VanDyke Closer to Home

The death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is cause for celebration among Libyans but is little comfort to Sharon VanDyke, whose son Matthew fighting for the liberation of Sirte--the last stronghold of Gadhafi loyalists--after his in Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison.

"I'm anxious for him to come home," said VanDyke, who spoke by phone with Matthew on the evening of Oct. 20.

After his escape from prison on Aug. 24, Matthew VanDyke went to Sirte to search for three friends with whom he was traveling in Brega when they were arrested on March 13.

Sharon VanDyke said that Matthew's friends were not in the prison or hospital in Sirte and are presumed dead.

Matthew left Sirte on the afternoon of Oct. 20 and traveled to tripoli to attend celebrations in Martyr's Square, formerly known as Green Square.

"He is fine and will return to the U.S. within a couple of weeks," Sharon VanDyke said.

Libyan expatriates living in the United States greeted the news of Gadhafi's death with jubilation.

"I'm so happy he's dead," said Fadel Lamen, president of the American Libyan Council. "Nobody wanted to go through another crazy trial that people would use for propaganda."

The death of Gadhafi clears the way for the National Transitional Council to set about the business of creating a new government and writing the future of Libya--if peace can take hold in the region, he said.

"He's gone, people need to move on," Lamen said. "The Libyan people don't have an excuse anymore. They have to go forward."

Sharon VanDyke said that while the events of Oct. 20 close one chapter of Libya's history, the full effects of Gadhafi's brutal rule and recovery from civil war have yet to be felt.

"It's unfortunate to hear of anybody being killed, but it's an end to that 42-year regime," VanDyke said.

The guerilla warfare that has wracked Libya for months has left its most beautiful cities in ruins, killed thousands of people and left countless children orphaned and emotionally scarred, she said.

"I wonder what the effects this will have on the children," she said. "Life will be different for them."