The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Moammar Qaddafi Is Dead

Posted on | October 20, 2011 | 33 Comments

ABC News:

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has been killed, Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said today.
The flamboyant tyrant who terrorized his country and much of the world during his 42 years of despotic rule was reportedly cornered by insurgents in the town of Sirte, where Gadhafi was born and which was a stronghold of his supporters.
President Obama will make remarks at 2 p.m. this afternoon confirming and discussing Gadhafi’s death.
National Transition Council leaders said Gadhafi’s son, Motassim, was also killed though another son, Saif Al-Islam, fled Sirte in a convoy. Three of Gadhafi’s children are in Algeria, and NTC leaders say they will ask the neighboring country to send them back.
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed,” Jibril said at a news conference in Tripoli.

Woke up this morning in Las Vegas and saw the news on TV, complete with video of a bloodied Qaddafy being hauled by rebels in the back of a pickup truck.

UPDATE:  The Washington Post: “Video on Arab TV stations shows Moammar Gadhafi was captured alive and wounded.”

UPDATE II: UK Mirror:

As the NATO strike on Gaddafi’s convoy hit the lead vehicles his aides started trying to exit from cars and escape on foot, realising the game was up.
Then as Gaddafi and several aides tried to run into the safety of a drainage ditch they were shot dead by rebel fighters pursuing them on foot.

UPDATE III: NewsMax has details of how Qaddafi was killed while attempting to escape from his hometown, Sirte:

Gadhafi’s only way out was a risky one – to pile into a convoy of vehicles and try to make a break for it.
They didn’t get very far. Less than three miles out, the five vehicles carrying [the ousted Libyan dictator] … came under sustained fire, initially from a Hellcat missile and then from French fighter jets.
Gadhafi and his bodyguards desperately tried to turn back into the besieged city … but it was a forlorn bid.
As the convoy became crippled the Mad Dog of the Desert made one final bid to save his life. He leaped from his car and into a 2ft. storm drain in Sirte’s District Two, on the far west of the city.
But he was soon spotted and dragged from his hiding place. Rebel soldiers say he begged for his life, urging them “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” but his pleas for mercy went unheeded.
The rebels killed him on the spot, shooting him once in the temple and in both legs.

And thus ends what began March 19 when NATO launched “Operation Odyssey Dawn.” For the first two months, the ragtag Libyan rebels seemed doomed to failure, and President Obama was harshly criticized here and elsewhere. Now that the mission has at last succeeded, congratulations are in order.

Category: Libya

Comments

33 Responses to “Moammar Qaddafi Is Dead”

  1. McGehee
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:11 pm

    Only speak good of the dead.

    Gadhafi is dead.

    Good.

  2. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:19 pm

    A gutsy victory for SCOAMF.  Kinetics win again!

  3. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

    He can enjoy hell with Osama bin Laden, Mohammed Atta, Saddam Hussein, etc., etc. 

  4. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:33 pm

    Qdaffy dead is fine.  But how about Cain leading in Iowa?  http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/iowa/2012_iowa_republican_caucus

    Santorum is mad at Cain.  http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/20/cain-government-shouldnt-make-decision-on-abortion-rape/

  5. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:34 pm

    http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/20/is-herman-cain-the-most-unctuous-black-man-alive/

    This is actually entertaining and a plus for Herman Cain.  With enemies and over the top attacks like this, he makes more friends. 

  6. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:42 pm

    Santorum is also angry at Sarah Palin for not endorsing him and SNL for mocking him.  I do not remember him being such an emotional weirdo when he was a Senator.   Considering how little traction he has gotten as a “serious” presidential candidate, i must not have been paying enough attention back then.  Everyone else appears to have gotten the memo on him long ago. 

  7. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:43 pm

    Now we will never be able to ask him how to definitively spell his last name.

  8. JeffS
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

    Fox News says:

    “Qaddafi is dead. He is absolutely dead … he was shot in both legs and
    in the head    . The body will be arriving in Misrata soon,” media
    spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News.    Emphasis is mine.  Sounds like a summary execution to me.  Good. 

  9. CalMark
    October 20th, 2011 @ 1:53 pm

    I hope he was Mirandized, given access to counsel, and given a fair and open public trial.

    Otherwise, the Obama Regime should take no pleasure in this news.

    P.S. While there is satisfaction in the dispatch of a brutal dictator to whatever realm of the hereafter Providence assigns him, I must ask:  is what’s coming after him any better?

  10. Christy Waters
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:00 pm

    That depends on how it all shakes out. I see another hardcore Islamic regime taking shape. However, I do take comfort in knowing that the flames are licking the ass of the Libyan drag queen, at this very moment. The only thing we know for sure… Obama’s still a SCOAMF.

  11. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:04 pm

    Santorum has always been like this.  While the year he lost was a bad year for the GOP, he lost by 20 points as an incumbent due to personality flaws like this. 

  12. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:05 pm

    Nice on Jamie Jeffords!  Although Qdaffy works for me. 

  13. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:09 pm

    As Coroner I must af’m, I thoroughly examined him, and he’s not only merely dead, he’s really most sincerely dead.

  14. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:25 pm

    If he was wounded in the air attack or by ground forces while he was trying to flee and then dispatched with a shot to the head, I’d say the rebels showed remarkable restraint.

  15. Quartermaster
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:33 pm

    You’re just now getting up? Covering debates must be very strenuous and fatiguing. Just geeting back from the AFG I would expect Smitty to be a bit more resilient, but I guess he’s a total non-hacker as well, eh?

  16. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:34 pm

    http://hotair.com/archives/2011/10/20/disturbing-video-captures-qaddafis-last-moments/

    I am pretty sure I heard them reading him his Miranda rights (in Arabic).  Bak. Derk-derk-Allah. Derka derka, Mohammed Jihad. Haka sherpa-sherpa. Abaka-la.

  17. AngelaTC
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:39 pm

    Cain flipped on abortion during a Fox interview too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSGLBAinETc&feature=player_embedded

    I’m not sure what he means when he says it should illegal while keeping the government out of it.

  18. ThePaganTemple
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

    It means he doesn’t want federal tax dollars funding it and otherwise doesn’t want them involved in any level. And he’s right, it should be a state’s rights issue.

  19. ThePaganTemple
    October 20th, 2011 @ 2:53 pm

    If he’s going to get mad at SNL he might as well hang it up, because if he  were to become President he’s going to have a lot of lousy weekends.

  20. JeffS
    October 20th, 2011 @ 3:25 pm

    I think I detect a hint of sarcasm in scarymatt’s post.

    YMMV.

  21. JeffS
    October 20th, 2011 @ 3:26 pm

    Remarkable restraint, indeed.

  22. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 3:51 pm

    Isn’t Santorum in bed by 11:30 pm anyway?  Is he catching SNL the next day on Hulu? 

  23. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 3:53 pm

    Not like there are a lot of things to do in Vegas late at night…

  24. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 4:55 pm

    Yup.  That translates to:  “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can be used against you.  You have the right to an attorney.  If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you…”

    Whew.  I was worried they were not respecting his rights. 

  25. Joe
    October 20th, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

    Moammar Gadhafi was not invited to BlogCon.  Good thing.  He would have had to cancel. 

  26. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 5:24 pm

    Murder isn’t a state’s right.

  27. Edward
    October 20th, 2011 @ 5:56 pm

    I hate to point this out but the US hasn’t been a good ally of dictators.  While most people would feel this is a good thing there are significant problems that come from that point.  As an example we lost the ability to funnel replacements and logistics through Kazakhstan because Russia proved a better ally than we were.  This has forced us instead to use Pakistan as our -only- supply route with all of the attendant problems.  Often China makes inroads along the same lines.

    I am not an advocate of Realpolitik but I am an advocate of national (American) interests.  And being a bad ally to bad people will, if it hasn’t already, bite us where it really hurts.

  28. ThePaganTemple
    October 20th, 2011 @ 5:58 pm

    The only way to settle that will be by way of a constitutional amendment. Until such time as that is done, this is an issue that will never go away. But overturning Roe and giving it back to the states, and ending federal funding, is a damn good first step toward the process. It would be damn well good enough for me as a final step, but if you insist on outlawing it across the board on a national basis, you’re going to have to win people over, and that is going to take a lot of time. Until such time, I’d advise you to take what you can get, and overturning Roe would be one hell of a victory by any reasonable standard. That’s something that is doable in the relative short term.

    This is probably going to sound like sarcasm, but sometimes you have to take baby steps.

  29. Anonymous
    October 20th, 2011 @ 7:02 pm

    Roe v Wade WILL be overturned probably based on the 14 amendment.
    The original ruling, perhaps inadvertently, gave itself a term limit. The court ruling stated that the question of what and when is life was at that time undetermined by statute or science and that the court was neither qualified or empowered to make that determination. That is no longer the case. The time for a different angle of attack will come sooner rather than later.

  30. ThePaganTemple
    October 20th, 2011 @ 10:19 pm

    Nope. At best if that plays a role at all, you’ll see it expressed as a concurring opinion. The majority will vote to overturn it on federalist grounds. But even if you’re right, you’re still going to need a constitutional amendment to keep it from being revisited at a later time.

  31. Anonymous
    October 21st, 2011 @ 1:53 am

    I hear they roll up the sidewalks at 5 o’clock.

  32. Anonymous
    October 21st, 2011 @ 1:55 am

    I always thought he look’d kind of dead.

    He’s gonna make a great zombie.

  33. Bob Belvedere
    October 21st, 2011 @ 6:47 pm

    That’s too easy a question: No.