Gaddafi is dead; did he deserve the final hours he was given?
So Mohammed Gaddafi is finally dead, or so the Western world will say, in only took several months of fighting and a serve bombing campaign by NATO to achieve this ‘feat’.
On Thursday I spent the evening watching the news which continually showed scenes of, what they described as, ‘jubilation’. What I saw were crowds of men all carrying guns laughing and mocking a bleeding, defeated and humiliated old man. No doubt Gaddafi was a dictator, and no questions that the crimes he committed against his people deserved judgement. The question is did he deserve the treatment he was given by his own people?
Putting aside the fact that the man was, to many, a tyrant and an oppressive ruler he was also a leader of a country. What is more he was an old man, and should have warranted some degree of respect. Instead his body, clothed in torn rags, his face bloody and bruised was dragged through the streets before being hoisted on to a pickup. Members of the rebel group, filming on their camera phones, were heard laughing and yelling insults at the former leader of Libya. Some eyewitnesses have claimed he was heard begging for his life.
Several hours later, after apparently being driven to a hospital, he was pronounced dead. Yesterday the postmortem returned stating that he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Extra-judicial killing, and no peep from the West on this crime.
Gaddafi boasted two months ago that he would ‘squash the rats and insects who were daring to defy him’, these comments directed at his own people who opposed his rule. The fuse was now lit, his death saw the explosion of anger and hatred towards a man that back in 1960s was revered for taking power. Under him the North African country saw their economy, and life in general, boom.
Forty years later; a combination of his greed for power and wealth, and the interference of the Western World saw a leader of a nation being dragged through the streets and executed by those who once looked up to him as ‘father of a nation’.
Changing Perspective 
I think the answer to your question is in fact another question: “Did Gaddafi’s victims deserve what was done to them?” What goes around, comes around, aka justice.
Then by that theory it will be justified if Gaddafi’s children return to kill and drag through the streets members of the NTC. It needs to stop somewhere
It stops when justice is served. Was an injustice done to Gaddafi? I don’t think so.
The why don’t we shoot and kill Bush or all the other leaders in America that brought war to the Middle East? Drag their bodies through the streets of Washington for all to see.
Who’s stopping you?
What’s stopping me is the fact that I have standards, I will not lower myself to their levels to achieve my means. Something the NTC in Libya failed to do
Firstly your moral high horse is easily mounted when George & Co have not directly harmed you. Secondly you seem to think that you have the right to be the instrument of justice in the case of the aforementioned George. Thirdly, the NTC probably have an equally self-satisfying moral horse as you do, and would look on your stance with the same contempt you look at theirs with.
No doubt they would, its quite obvious that people do not act knowing that their actions go against their morals. As for George & Co. he was a public figure and as such deserves to be judged by the public. So yes I no doubt have the right to judge him, just because he has not directly harmed does not mean my morals are any different. Only the weak let their morals change depending on their experiences, a pathetic excuse for those who are not strong enough to stand by what they believe in. I believe the term is ‘sell-out’
Personally, I think Gaddafi deserved what he got. Does that make me immoral and you moral? Not IMO. So your moral judgement of the NTC is subjective.
I never said you couldn’t judge ol’ George; only that I was questioning your right to carry out the judgement. If you don’t have that right, your restraint is meaningless. As is your morality, since we have only your opinion of how strong your moral stand would be if subjected to the same oppression as the Libyans or Iraqis. It is very easy to be idealistic from a convenient distance.
It was without question ‘a combination of his greed for power & wealth’ that led to Gaddhafi’s death. But the question is “Whose greed ? ” Was it Gaddhafi’s greed or was it that of the Leaders of the Western World ?
I think to answer that we need to go further back to look at who created the Gaddafis in this world. No doubt the man had a lot to answer for, but does that allow any country to walk in an sponsor his death
I think everyone should take responsibility for what they do, and not try to put it on some “creator”.
Fair point, so when will the West take responsibility for the thousands of issues they have cause around the world?
That acceptance comes only with defeat.
That was a pretty bad end, does not auger well for Libya’s future. Good post.
How dare you judge a man… good or bad! Have any of you met Gadaffi, associated with him or even seen him a mile away? What is your source of information you based your judgement on? Western media? Blogs? Facebook comments? or what the guys at the lunch room were taling about?
He is “Evil”, he is a “Dictator”, he is a “Murderer”… he must DIE, you made your judgement and sentenced him on something someone said? Is it 1st hand info, or second hand info.. or even nth hand info? I’m not saying he is not any of those, nor am I saying he is, Factually I don’t know… so I don’t judge. We all know how the Western media and Governments work…. Blogs can be fake, facebook comments can be rubbish and Western media is and always will be bias and skewed s**t!
What about the alleged motives of the US and Europe behind the ousting… was it cause he was going to create a new currency called the Gold Dinar in Africa and the Mid-East to do trade and deal in oil? Or was it for the oil fields of Libiya? Did you consider those as evidence? What about these http://factspy.net/the-gaddafi-no-one-will-tell-you-about. Why don’t you base your judgement on that?
If you only judge a person who you know first hand then this world will become a lot less sane.Public figures, and even those private ones, are judged not by their personalities but by their actions. Gaddafi did not deserve to be humiliated the way he was, but he certainly did have to be judged for all that he had done. Similarly it is not the place of the Western world to walk in to a sovereign nation and judge their people. Judgement of any individual does not stop because you do not know them personally
What is the vision and the future of a nation which wants to drag themselves down to the same disgusting levels their ruler/s went down to? I think this is the question all of us should start asking ourselves even. I can understand the anger and the rage, but do you let your humanity fall down to the same levels? Is that what you aspire for the future of your nation and your future and younger generations?
Good post. I agree with most of what you have said.
Really? Then I guess the British an Americans were no better than the Nazis too. And in every violent conflict, both sides would be no better than the other. Unless, of course you can find a war where the strategy of one side was written by Enid Blyton.
As Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
That’s a weak argument, and one that shows you are running out of any proper points. Gandhi made that comment with the idea of ‘being true to yourself’. I think everyone has lost the point of this blog, I have never said Gaddafi did not commit crimes, all I said was he did not deserve to be treated the way he was.
If it is a weak argument, you should be able to counter it instead of merely insisting on it.
And Gandhi made that comment about people who shroud their impotency and/or cowardice behind a claimed morality.
So by that you are trying to say people cannot be idealistic if they do not suffer hardship, pathetic idea. Idealism runs rampant among all people regardless of their situation.
Lol, quite the contrary. I said it’s easy to be idealistic when you suffer no hardship. Why don’t you calm down and read what I’m saying without going off half-cocked.