Gaddafi's death - who pulled the trigger?

[MA-Caver]

Cowering like a rat that he used to call his people, inside a sewer pipe ... died a violent death. Somehow it's fitting.

By Tim Gaynor and Taha Zargoun | Reuters – 22 mins agoSIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Disturbing images of a blood-stained and shaken Muammar Gaddafi being jostled by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator's dramatic death near his home town of Sirte.
The exact circumstances of his demise are still unclear with conflicting accounts of his death circulating. But the footage, possibly of the last chaotic moments of Gaddafi's life, offered some clues into what happened.
Gaddafi was still alive when he was captured near Sirte. In the video, filmed by a bystander in the crowd and later aired on television around the world, Gaddafi is shown being dragged off a vehicle's bonnet and pulled to the ground by his hair.
"Keep him alive, keep him alive!" someone shouts. Gunshots then ring out. The camera veers off.

"They captured him alive and while he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," one senior source in the NTC told Reuters. "He might have been resisting."
More: http://news.yahoo.com/libyas-gaddafi-caught-hiding-rat-164753890.html

Presumably some wanted him alive and see him hang like Saddam Hussein but unfortunately he probably had other ideas. One less despot in the world.
Now one wonders the fate of Libya and how the power struggle to gain control will play out. Gaddafi was rumored/alleged to be hiding terrorists, so what are they going to do?
To me that the people (rats that Gaddafi called them--ironic that he died like one), rose up against him with very little help, particularly from the U.S. shows that a people oppressed enough will take action against their oppressors... that they did it mostly on their own. It should bolster confidence in other oppressed countries that with determination and sacrifice it can be done... and with little or no outside help.

I say, Hooray for the Libyan people.

More info coming out... including *graphic* video (caution advised)...
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/gadhafi-alleged-capture-occurred-during-siege-sirte-154837678.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/vid...otage-gaddafi-body-video?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3486

 

[MA-Caver]

Prime minister confirms death ...
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/l...firms-gadhafi-death-ap-reports-143053856.html

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...EMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-20-09-17-30

 

[Sukerkin]

I find it hard to raise any sympathy for the passing of a rather despicable example of how humanity can be warped by it's vices. My fear is that if the entire family is not rooted out then there will just be more trouble further down the line for the newly liberated Libyans but such a path is hardly one that can be cognizanced in the modern world. It might be practical but has a lot of 'moral' cargo.

Mind you, they are not exactly covering themselves in glory either with the way they are persecuting black African's in their 'free' country.

I'd like to advise caution too in heaping too much praise upon them for doing it themselves - without the heavy-hitting fire-power provided by 'us' then this rebellion would have died a-borning. Cast your mind back to the first weeks when this rag tag militia came up against 'real' military that had armour and cohesion.

 

[Carol]

Some reports are saying it was a NATO airstrike that took him out. If that is the case, then, it was more than our firepower.

I can't help but raise an eyebrow at yet another precisely targeted assassination on the brink of what will be a brutal U.S. election season.

 

[Buka]

I'm guessing not a lot of babies will be named Muammar this fall.

F him. I will miss the hats, though.

 

[MA-Caver]

Some reports are saying it was a NATO airstrike that took him out. If that is the case, then, it was more than our firepower.

I can't help but raise an eyebrow at yet another precisely targeted assassination on the brink of what will be a brutal U.S. election season.

Heh yeah, isn't the timing VERY interesting??

 

[David43515]

I`m glad he`s gone, but I still say we have no business taking part in another country`s civil war if it doesn`t directly effect us.

 

[crushing]

I`m glad he`s gone, but I still say we have no business taking part in another country`s civil war if it doesn`t directly effect us.

A more Euro/USA friendly dictator could help stabilize the flow of oil and provide more influence in North Africa (at the exepnse of China).

 

[granfire]

Not to mention that with the middle east on fire it affects everybody, past the oil flow (not to say that the unrest won't be used as excuse to hike up oil and gas prices)

 

[MA-Caver]

Not to mention that with the middle east on fire it affects everybody, past the oil flow (not to say that the unrest won't be used as excuse to hike up oil and gas prices)

Yeah, because roughly a week or so ago gas prices dropped (around my area anyway) down to $3.13 a gallon and are now back up to $3.30 +/- and <sarcastic> the timing couldn't be better, since I was planning to re-locate. Now not quite so sure about it. Sigh.

 

[granfire]

Yeah, because roughly a week or so ago gas prices dropped (around my area anyway) down to $3.13 a gallon and are now back up to $3.30 +/- and <sarcastic> the timing couldn't be better, since I was planning to re-locate. Now not quite so sure about it. Sigh.

don't kid yourself. The gas prices have nothing to do with Gaddafi. Probably not even with the war in the middle east:

Last week we drove from north central Alabama to the gulf coast. Along the way we encountered as much as 30 cents difference in gas prices.
No reason, really.

 

[Sukerkin]

:grins: Whenever the subject of petrol prices comes up here I am always reminded of the gulf {yeah, oil based pun attack !} between economic standards in our countries. Around here petrol is about £1:40 a litre (about $2:21) or £6:36 a gallon (roughly $10).

 

[sfs982000]

I`m glad he`s gone, but I still say we have no business taking part in another country`s civil war if it doesn`t directly effect us.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[sfs982000]

Heh yeah, isn't the timing VERY interesting??

Very interesting indeed, since now Obama has come out saying that he's planning on removing all U.S. troops from Iraq by years end. That and with the deaths of Bin Ladin and Gaddafi certainly seems fishy with re-election coming up soon.

 

[crushing]

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/16session/A-HRC-16-15.pdf

This year in a report released March 2011 the UN praised Libya for its "serious commitment to and interaction with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms" and their "its achievements in the protection of human rights, especially in the field of economic and social rights" as well as the "legal framework for the protection of human rights and freedoms."

The lead-up to the war against Libya and overthrow of Gaddafi reminds me of the war against Iraq, only without the required Congressionial approval and instead of UN Weapons inspectors that didn't find anything wrong, it was the UN Human Rights Council. It didn't matter what the teams of inspectors found, there was going to be a war.

 

[granfire]

:grins: Whenever the subject of petrol prices comes up here I am always reminded of the gulf {yeah, oil based pun attack !} between economic standards in our countries. Around here petrol is about £1:40 a litre (about $2:21) or £6:36 a gallon (roughly $10).

I suppose we could deal. What gets us is the fluctuation all the time. Like I mentioned one time, I saw 30 cents difference in one day driving across the state...(plus we need the juice more. There is no way I can deal without a car.)

 

[MA-Caver]

I suppose we could deal. What gets us is the fluctuation all the time. Like I mentioned one time, I saw 30 cents difference in one day driving across the state...(plus we need the juice more. There is no way I can deal without a car.)

Same here...


oh yeah... they got us by the short-hairs alright!

 

[Carol]

OK. Now that we, er, NATO took him out....a Sharia government is moving in to Libya.

Oops.

 

[granfire]

Well, isn't that what democracy is about: people deciding their own government and law?

(yeah, oops...my bad. Removing the bad guy is always better. Makes for a much more stable region)