poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2011-10-22 08:17 pm

Sic Semper...

It's not clear exactly how Gaddafi died. The cameras were switched off at that point. Or maybe the footage has been suppressed. I think it was a case of bullying that went too far. The guys who found him were leaderless and over-excited. There was no plan, no cold-blooded cruelty. They knocked him about a bit because they could and then someone pulled the trigger. It's what happens. I don't see the point in moralising about it. 

Would it have been better if they'd turned him over to the authorities (what authorities?) and there'd been a trial and a sentencing and only then a killing? I'm not so sure. Did you see what happened to Saddam? That was ugly.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-23 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, the high-ups don't like the idea that peasants can go round executing their betters. It reverses what they see as the natural order (and makes them nervous).

I haven't heard anything about the bodyguards. When push came to shove they don't seem to have been a lot of use.

[identity profile] michaleen.livejournal.com 2011-10-24 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
A friend observed that Gaddafi was a real-life Bond villain, citing his colorful bodyguard as evidence. I kind of hoped that they were more than just a fashion accessory. Then again, there were close to a hundred killed in Gaddafi's last stand, according to what I read this morning, so maybe we don't know enough to judge just yet.

Also this morning, I was reminded of the final hours of Il Duce and how the press in those days didn't wring their hands and worry that justice was served.