News Libyan forces have captured Muammar Gaddafi

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Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly been captured and wounded while attempting to flee from rebel forces, with various sources confirming his death shortly after. The National Transitional Council (NTC) claims to have taken control of Sirte, and there are graphic images circulating that allegedly show Gaddafi's dead body. Discussions revolve around whether he should have been tried in court instead of being killed, with some arguing that his execution sends a strong message to other leaders in the region. Others express concern over the morality of killing an unarmed prisoner, suggesting it undermines the pursuit of justice. The chaotic circumstances of his capture and death highlight the complexities of the conflict in Libya and the challenges ahead for the nation.
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A representative of the NTC is just giving an announcement on Libyan state TV announcing that Gaddafi was wounded and captured whilst trying to flee from rebels.
 
Great news if confirmed. It'll be nice to see that war criminal brought to justice.

Think the NTC will keep him, or send him to The Hague?
 
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Looks like some serious fighting in Sirte:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpZl6pLcSoQ

Several (local) sources say Gaddafi is dead...
 
He who lives by the sword...
Good riddance to him, the world has become an infinitely better place now.
 
CNN just showed a picture that they claimed was the apparently dead body of Gadaffi. However you can't really tell if he's dead or just really bloody and wounded.
 
Can’t confirm this, but CNN is showing a (different) photograph of Gaddafi dead:

Gaddafi Dead footage of him dying Very grapic Unseen
 
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DevilsAvocado said:
Can’t confirm this, but CNN is showing a (different) photograph of Gaddafi dead:

Gaddafi Dead footage of him dying Very grapic Unseen


Ugly in life, uglier in death.
 
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  • #10
arildno said:
Ugly in life, uglier in death.

Yup, and here comes more (looks like the real thing to me):

GADDAFI DEAD BODY - WARNING GENUINE & GRAPHIC
 
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  • #11
He did have a single redeeming quality (uhm, not actually redeeming, but..).
Rather good looks, that faded as he let himself corrupt by power:
[PLAIN]http://www.newsabridged.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gaddafi_69_putsch_d_326961g.jpeg

Quite the Dorian Grey..
 
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  • #13
arildno said:
... Rather good looks, that faded as he let himself corrupt by power

Very true:

500px-Muammar_al-Gaddafi_at_the_AU_summit.jpg
 
  • #14
This is good news that, like arildno said, he lived through violence and now his ending has been violent. I'm glad he didn't escape. This sends a powerful message to the rest of the middle east (or well, is yet ANOTHER powerful message).

The day he claimed that the streets will run with the blood of every single person fighting him was the day I knew he didn't deserve to be brought up to a court.
 
  • #15
Agree 100% Pengwuino.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyQUp05wFHs
 
  • #16
Sky News is showing 'live' pictures of Muammar Gaddafi lying dead on the ground, and now also on CNN.

It looks like a definite confirmation.
 
  • #17
l-team-2.jpg


Shut up, fool. - BA Baracus.
 
  • #18
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/3368610/hes-dead-jim
 
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  • #20
I just saw a video of ghaddafi, badly wounded, but still alive. It's on the Guardian's website, I won't link to it..
 
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  • #21
yeah, i was just watching it at mondoweiss. he's a bloody mess, and it's not obvious what those wounds are from.
 
  • #22
Evo said:
I just saw a video of ghaddafi, badly wounded. It's on the Guardian's website, I won't link to it..

Is it possible they might have mistaken his hairpiece for a wild animal (that was about to attack them) - as it fell off - and (pure accident) shot him in self defense?:rolleyes:
 
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  • #23
I also don't know how he died but it is certain that he died bad. It is kind of ironic how people, whom he called "cockroaches", killed him.
 
  • #24
I think it's horrible that he was killed in cold blood like that. It's a very bad thing.

He deserved being brought in front of a courtroom and being judged. It's the only way that closure can really happen. Killing him in cold blood like that was not ok.
 
  • #25
micromass said:
I think it's horrible that he was killed in cold blood like that. It's a very bad thing.

He deserved being brought in front of a courtroom and being judged. It's the only way that closure can really happen. Killing him in cold blood like that was not ok.
Perhaps it wasn't in cold blood, perhaps he simply bled out from his wounds. It didn't appear that he was getting medical aid.
 
  • #26
Evo said:
Perhaps it wasn't in cold blood, perhaps he simply bled out from his wounds. It didn't appear that he was getting medical aid.

Could be. I'd like to know though. I was actually looking forward seeing him on trial having to answer for his crimes. And then probably rotting in jail. Right now, he got off easy.
 
  • #27
"Closure" is in the eye of the beholder, in my opinion.
 
  • #28
micromass said:
I think it's horrible that he was killed in cold blood like that. It's a very bad thing.

He deserved being brought in front of a courtroom and being judged. It's the only way that closure can really happen. Killing him in cold blood like that was not ok.

Libya already got loads of problems .. I don't think they could afford courtroom.

It would have been way harder to make progress with alive Gaddafi and his supporters still lurking around.
 
  • #29
War is hell. Killing the leader of the enemy who had killed thousands without blinking a eye is very OK and is the usual custom in a ongoing battle. Just because he was captured didn't mean the fighting would stop. With him very publicly dead, his supporters have less to fight for.
 
  • #30
rootX said:
Libya already got loads of problems .. I don't think they could afford courtroom.

It would have been way harder to make progress with alive Gaddafi and his supporters still lurking around.

They could have tried him in Den Hague.

And they didn't kill Saddam Hussain for example. We didn't really see much of his supporters. He got the trial and the punishment he deserved.

Killing an unarmed prisoner because "it'll make life easier" is not ok at all. I understand it, but I don't approve of it.
 
  • #31
micromass said:
They could have tried him in Den Hague.

And they didn't kill Saddam Hussain for example. We didn't really see much of his supporters. He got the trial and the punishment he deserved.

Killing an unarmed prisoner because "it'll make life easier" is not ok at all. I understand it, but I don't approve of it.
Forget what I said, I don't know how he died, it was probably from the existing wounds suffered in battle, he looked pretty bad. See, I corrected my post.
 
  • #32
rootX said:
I also don't know how he died but it is certain that he died bad. It is kind of ironic how people, whom he called "cockroaches", killed him.

to me, it looks like some time after he was paraded through the street, he received a bullet to the forehead, just a few inches left of center.
 
  • #33
Evo said:
it was probably from the existing wounds suffered in battle, he looked pretty bad.

I believe that too. It seems most plausible.
 
  • #34
Proton Soup said:
to me, it looks like some time after he was paraded through the street, he received a bullet to the forehead, just a few inches left of center.
I also recall reading something along the lines he was dragged on the streets but that claim was not supported.
 
  • #35
rootX said:
I also recall reading something along the lines he was dragged on the streets but that claim was not supported.

it's still where i found it. i'll leave it as a puzzle to you to find it, as linking it is frowned upon. it wasn't really dragged like dragged behind a pickup. more like holding him up as he doesn't have the strength to stand on his own. to me, he still looks alive there, and i don't think he would look alive with the hole in his forehead i saw on CNN a short time ago.
 
  • #38
Proton Soup said:
it's still where i found it. i'll leave it as a puzzle to you to find it, as linking it is frowned upon. it wasn't really dragged like dragged behind a pickup. more like holding him up as he doesn't have the strength to stand on his own. to me, he still looks alive there, and i don't think he would look alive with the hole in his forehead i saw on CNN a short time ago.
A Danish reported was there beside him and confirmed he was alive at the time of getting off the pick-up truck.

I can't find it in me to support if he was captured and killed. I don't care what he did.
 
  • #39
Maybe we will never get the whole truth about what really happened, but he was definitely alive at the time of getting off (on?) the pick-up truck.

The general picture is that Gaddafi and his sons tried to escape Sirte in a convoy of up to 80 vehicles, which was spotted and attacked by NATO air force. A US Predator drone also attacked the convoy of vehicles along with the French planes. Some say it was heavy fire, with Hellfire missiles etc. Some say NATO air force just stopped the convoy, and then the NTC forces attacked the convoy.

Anyway, there were a lot of casualties and one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons, Moatassem Gaddafi, was killed in the turmoil. Gaddafi's other son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, was serious wounded and lost one arm. He was brought to hospital and was close to die last night, and his condition is still very severe this morning.

Al-Mu%27tasim-Billah_al-Gaddafi.jpg
[PLAIN]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ar/thumb/6/67/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%81_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B0%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A.jpg/300px-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%81_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B0%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A.jpg
Moatassem Gaddafi & Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

Would Muammar Gaddafi have walked out this mayhem, with his Golden Gun, without one scratch?

Hardly, he was already wounded when caught in a sewage pipe:

6pribp.jpg

Who’s the 'rat' now?

Apparently Muammar Gaddafi was even more psychotic than usual and thought that it was his own men who came to rescue him, and said to one of the NTC men: - What’s going on my son?

If he was executed on the way to the hospital, it was not right – it’s 'quite' problematic to condemn a criminal dictator, utilizing the same horrific methods...

On the other hand, it’s easy for us to act as "the moral guardians" – Muammar Gaddafi was a medieval psychotic monster that terrorized his people for 40 years, who hanged 120 students in public as 'punishment' for an 'illegal demonstration', who slaughter 1,000+ inmates to stop protests, who was willing to bomb his own people just to stay in power, etc, etc.

I’m against what (may have) happened to Muammar Gaddafi in the last moment – but I can’t guarantee that I had not done the same thing, in the same agitated situation...

It’s a crazy world.
 
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  • #40
yeah, I'm pretty convinced at this point that the "crossfire" story is just a cover. (who knows the weapon caliber in a crossfire?) you're right, it is quite problematic to be claiming you want a less tribal, more democratic future, only to keep on doing business as usual.
 
  • #41
I also find it hard to celebrate the possible murder even of a monster like him. This makes me think I - we have changed in this world into more humane citizens over the years of relative peace, since the world wars of the last century.

I.e. I doubt if as many people would have had qualms about someone killing Hitler. Actually I do not recall that many people with reservations about killing Osama Bin Laden, but there were some, including me at the time. But it surprised me as I had fantasized about his demise while he was alive.

On the other hand the people under these repressive regimes such as in Libya have had a different and less peaceful experience these past 50 years and maybe they are reacting as I would have done in the 1940's or 50's.

But I worry that we are adopting a method of dealing with enemies that has no lasting future. You can't just kill all your enemies, and I think that trying to do so only creates more.

I still find myself hoping for the end of Bashar Assad's regime, and I admit I am not really praying hard for him to survive it. Maybe I should try.
 
  • #42
To be honest if I lived in a country where for decades a mad dictator had arrested, tortured and killed thousands of my countrymen and I found myself infront of him with a gun I doubt I would have many qualms.

If he hadn't been killed on capture he would have been put on trial, found guilty and executed anyway.
 
  • #43
I would have been in favor of them holding him at gunpoint in that sewer pipe - laying in the dirt, crying, and begging for his life - until a legal authority could stop by and arrest him. As someone pointed out up-thread - he might have then bled out (and died in the sewer) while he waited.
 
  • #44
AP account
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-21-12-32-39

An AP correspondent saw the body at the shopping center in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.

The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, was laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of an emptied-out room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the center normally keep perishables. A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his head - with the bullet still lodged in his head, according to the presiding doctor - and in the center of his chest and stomach. His hair was matted and dried blood streaks his arms and head.

Outside the shopping center, residents waited in line for their chance enter the freezer and have their picture taken with Gadhafi's body. Different visiting hours have been set for women and children and for men.

"This is the expected end for a tyrant," said Abdel-Atie al-Tabouli, one of the main guards outside the freezer.
 
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  • #45
I just heard a news report by David Piper - said he's being stored in a local supermarket freezer.
 
  • #46
It's not like we didn't see this coming. I'd have preferred him to be taken alive and tried for his crimes against humanity. However, his actual end might serve as a more stern warning to the rulers other Islamic nations: "Rule us properly or suffer the same fate."

Seems to be the trend, anyway, although it's more or less winding down.
 
  • #47
micromass said:
They could have tried him in Den Hague.

And they didn't kill Saddam Hussain for example. We didn't really see much of his supporters. He got the trial and the punishment he deserved.

Killing an unarmed prisoner because "it'll make life easier" is not ok at all. I understand it, but I don't approve of it.

Even though Iraq was a complete different story but that conflict was handled by trained-American soldiers and a well functioning American government.

Libya neither has trained soldiers nor a well functioning government.
 
  • #48
rootX said:
Libya neither has trained soldiers nor a well functioning government.

Neither did we, in 1763...
 
  • #49
Well, it ain't right, but on the great stack of war crimes committed in any -and this- war, I am not going to get squishy over this crime.

Failing justice, a clean assassination, like with Bin Laden, is a manner for this country to progress forward while not being hindered with endless discussions looking back and figuring out what to do with this criminal.
 
  • #50
DevilsAvocado said:
Apparently Muammar Gaddafi was even more psychotic than usual and thought that it was his own men who came to rescue him, and said to one of the NTC men: - What’s going on my son?

Can you stop labeling the dude as psychotic. I know psychosis, it ain't what people think it is, and the guy clearly is not psychotic (if you could ever tell from a distance). If the guy would be psychotic, he would be sitting in a corner somewhere not talking and suffer. Self-deluded, power-hungry, anything, but psychotic is BS.
 

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