Hen Pecked, Too!

Tunisian deposed leader dominated by 'Lady Macbeth'

"Tunisia's deposed dictator's final moments before fleeing his country's "jasmine revolution" were yesterday revealed as being spent enduring a flurry of insults from his fearsome wife.

Leila Ben Ali's words of "encouragement" to her husband, Zine al-Abidine as he refused to board the plane to spirit him out of Tunisia and to Saudi Arabia were reported as: "Get on imbecile. All my life I've had to put up with your screw ups."

An unnamed senior air force official recounted the 74-year old ex-president's feeble attempt to disobey Lady Macbeth of Carthage, as his wife has been dubbed, in the French weekly, Nouvel Observateur.

As revolt rumbled in the capital, Mr Ben Ali, who was ousted after 23 years of iron rule on January 14, stood on the tarmac in Tunis airport with a small briefcase wringing his hands, and saying: "Leave me, I don't want to go, I want to die here for my country."

At Leila's side was Ali Seriati, Mr Ben Ali's feared and hated political police chief, who pushed him onto the steps, shouting: "For ----'s sake, get on!"

None of the soldiers present from the army that had helped topple Mr Ben Ali budged as the fallen leader slowly climbed the steps."

[---]

"During the flight, Mr Ben Ali got up and walked to the cockpit every ten minutes, asking the pilot: "My son, you are going to take me back to Tunisia afterwards, aren't you?"

That's almost sad.

"According to Trabelsi family members and palace officials, Mr Ben Ali was totally under the thumb of his wife, a 53-year old former hairdresser.

Diminished by prostate cancer, he had expressed the desire to end his rule in 2009, but Mrs Ben Ali ruled that out, as she allegedly harboured secret plans to rule in his place.

"In her mind, the scenario was clear: she would take care of the regency until her son Mohammed (today aged six) was old enough to reign," one family member said.

But her already advanced plans were foiled by the 'jasmine revolution'."

Maybe he should have pulled a Henry VIII, separated from the mosque and divorced her. Perhaps his daughter, if he has one, might one day be queen. Now, for an Arab/Islamic country that would be a revolution of its own!