24 October 2011

Qaddafi didn't duck

Ben Johnson and Josh Voorhees have an article in The Slate about the death of Qaddafi:
Following mounting pressure from the international community, Libya's prime minister announced that he has ordered a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Muammar Qaddafi's death. He also suggested a new explanation for the shot to the head that killed the former leader: it came from one of his own supporters.
The Associated Press reports that Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in Begnhazi that the National Transitional Council has formed a committee to further investigate Qaddafi's death amid conflicting reports about how he may have died after being taken into custody by the revolutionaries.
Still, the interim leader stressed that the government's initial findings support the story that Qaddafi was killed in in the crossfire during a clash between the revolutionaries and his security detail. But, as the AP notes, he also suggested a new possibility: that Qaddafi was intentionally killed by his own supporters to prevent him from implicating them for past actions under his regime.
"Let us question who has the interest in the fact that Qaddafi will not be tried. Libyans want to try him for what he did to them, with executions, imprisonments, and corruption," Abdul-Jalil said. "Free Libyans wanted to keep Qaddafi in prison and humiliate him as long as possible. Those who wanted him killed were those who were loyal to him or had played a role under him, his death was in their benefit."
Returning to the point of origin for a rebellion that, with help from the West, eventually led to the overthrow and death of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, the country’s National Transitional Council announced to a crowd of thousands in Benghazi that Libya was finally liberated.
Transitional leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told supporters at the ceremony that the country would model new legislation after Islamic Sharia law, according to the Associated Press. He also said current laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be abolished. “This revolution was looked after by God to achieve victory,” Abdul-Jalil.
The ceremony marked an apparent end to an eight-month civil war in Libya and to over forty years of rule under Muammar Qaddafi, who was captured and killed last Thursday. The former leader’s body is still on display, along with that of his son Mutassim, in a refrigerated facility in Misurata, according to the BBC.
Even as the country celebrates liberation, questions about the circumstances around Qaddafi’s death continue to grow. A medical examiner confirmed just hours before the ceremony in Benghazi that the former dictator died from a gunshot wound to the head. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other world leaders have called for a full investigation into the matter, and Secretary Clinton told “Meet the Press” on Sunday that she supported an investigation by both the National Transitional Council and the United Nations, according to the AP.
Officials from the National Transitional Council have not moved to prevent an investigation into the leader’s death, but have pointed to reports that he died in the crossfire of a final battle between rebel forces and Qaddafi loyalists.
But those reports hrave been called into question by a growing wealth of video of the leader’s last moments. One of the latest videos offers the clearest footage yet of Qaddafi’s chaotic capture. The images and audio are disturbing, showing a stunned and heavily bleeding Qaddafi kicked and punched as clearly jubilant rebels pull him in different directions under nearby gunfire.
Rico says that a), it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy; b), it should have happened a long time ago; and c) who actually cares who shot the fucker? (Other than to give him a medal, of course.)

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