You're just building a straw man here, people went to demonstrate because of the water crisis that was also caused by mismanagement (and climate change for that matter); these protests were also answered with violence. My point was that I consider this a core government task, even so much that I don't those that do it because it is the bare minimum.

Up to you to decide if you want to consider the "Great Man-Made River" as a success, it surely did improve water quality, but there's no regeneration of the taken water and most of the water is used for irrigation. It also lead to the effect of ground water level lowering; how it all turns out remains to be seen, and from what I read, experts expect up to 50 years of water supply at the current rate (optimistic ones up to 250), not the 4000 years the Gaddafi government estimated back then.

I just don't like how the posts like the one I answered to imply that this is all the US' doing. They play a really big role in all of this, but the Mullahs are also shitty and some of their domestic issues – which have caused riots because people didn't have access to water – were also caused by their own decisions. It's not only interventionism… both sides can be shitty