Gaddafi

Warning: Some images are not that pleasant.

OK. So, after bitter fighting since February, Libya is now finally free of Gaddafi and his tyrannical rule. How? Well, he is dead. The NTC forces finally found him in his home city of Sirte, and now the guy has met a very ignoble end. Dragged from a drain pipe, rambling, and probably close to insane. 

There is a lot of confusion over how he met his end. Was he executed? Was he killed in a crossfire? Or was he "mercifully" killed by his bodyguard to spare him the humility of being captured? The truth may very well never come out. 

After all, history is written by the victors.

So, the man who wanted to lead the Arab world, and failed. The man who became an international pariah, and managed to fashion himself as a leader of Africa. And was named as "King of Kings" by African tribal leaders.

The man who famously hated flying, and pitched his tent rather than stay in a hotel. The man who had an amazingly flamboyant style. Switching between multicultural tribal robes, and ever more flamboyant military garb he designed.

A man who said he was not the leader of Libya, despite concentrating power in his hands. A man surrounded by a personal bodyguard of hand-picked beautiful ladies (who WHERE his bodyguard, not eye candy!) 

A man who, with his family, raped and pillaged his nation.

The debate now rages on about whether he should have stood trial for his crimes. Well, for me, it is a pointless argument. He was arrested, with blood pouring from his head, and in the confusion he later died. How he died should be the matter of an investigation. 

How he died will probably never be revealed. 

Should he have stood trial? In my view, yes. He should. However, if he where to be put on trial in Libya it would have been nothing more than a show-trial. Libya after all has NO judicial system to speak of, since the previous system was designed to be subservient to Gaddafi himself! 

In reality, he should have been sent to the ICC (International Criminal Court). A venue where he would have been tried in relative impartiality. However, the ICC process would have ground on and taken YEARS for any resolution. And given Gaddafi's predilection for rambling, it could have taken EVEN longer!

As it is, given his 42 year rule, and the preponderance of evidence against the guy, he would have ended up guilty at the ICC. He DEFINITELY would have ended up guilty if tried in Libya, and most likely dead. What has happened to him has essentially circumvented the process that would have ended in the same outcome.