October 20 marks 14 years since Libya’s revolutionary leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was violently murdered in broad daylight – a grim anniversary that annually prompts his supporters around the world to reflect on the NATO-led intervention that toppled him. The date serves as a reminder of a war sold to the world as a “humanitarian mission,” yet one that left Libya in political and economic ruins.

While the nation’s cities lie in disrepair and millions of Libyans continue to struggle, the recent conviction of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for Libya-related corruption has brought renewed attention to one of the war’s most controversial figures. Sarkozy, long celebrated in Western capitals as a decisive architect of Libya’s regime change, now faces legal consequences for alleged campaign financing provided by actors connected to Gaddafi’s government – a development that contrasts sharply with the enduring lack of accountability for the devastation inflicted on the Libyan people.

Sarkozy’s conviction centers on conspiracy to gain funding, to the tune of millions of euros, from the Gaddafi government to finance his 2007 presidential campaign. According to court records and testimonies from people involved, the payments, always in cash, were funneled through complex networks, including intermediaries connected to Abdullah al-Senussi, Gaddafi’s intelligence chief.

The revelations highlight the personal stakes Sarkozy had in the Libyan conflict, in which he was not just a political actor, but a self-interested architect. While Western narratives framed the 2011 intervention as a moral mission to protect civilians, Sarkozy’s alleged financial ties to Gaddafi raise questions about the motivations behind France’s push for regime change. In essence, the war that destroyed Libya’s institutions and left its people in ruin was, at least in part, intertwined with private political gains and personal ambition.

While Sarkozy and his allies framed the intervention as a moral imperative, the broader international legal framework tells a more complex story. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1973, authorizing “all........

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