Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Society

The Gadhafi Video: Where Is The Outrage?

New video evidence below shows Maummar Gadhafi was alive after being seized in the operation that led to his capture. What I find rather disconcerting is the treatment of this video by the media, which covered the “joy” and “celebration” of the event while ignoring the shocking abuse of a wounded man and then the parading and stripping of this corpse. We were appalled when militants paraded the bodies of Americans in Somalia and Iraq. Yet, when it is someone we hate, it barely draws mention while newspapers taunt the dead man as being pulled “from a stinking drain.”

Following the killing, President Obama took to the air to herald the victory and a “future . . . of dignity.”
We long denounced Gadhafi on this blog. However, the treatment of Gadhafi below should shock the conscience. Only this morning did I see a brief story on CNN interviewing a man on how he felt about the way Gadhafi died. The thrust however was not about the abuse but the lost opportunity of a trial.

Instead of addressing the abuse of a wounded man and later a corpse, CNN and other outlets simply warned about graphic images and focused on Libyans firing weapons (including heavy machine guns) into the air (a moronic form of celebration that led to the wounding of various civilians).

We previously discussed the discomfort of watching Americans dancing and celebrating the shooting of Bin Laden. The media again did not dare to question the propriety of such displays despite the condemnation of the same displays in other countries after the 9-11 attacks.

Because human rights groups have called for an investigation and raised the question of whether he was shot in the head after capture, CNN and other news outlets are raising the question this morning. CNN’s anchor notes this morning that “some people” may find the parading of the body again this morning (including being struck by shoes as a sign of contempt) “might not be respectful.”

This video should shock the conscience and the story should be not the celebration but the crime depicted in this video.

Here is my warning: the video below is graphic and shows the abuse of a wounded man and corpse as a form of celebration. Human beings will find this video disgusting.

129 thoughts on “The Gadhafi Video: Where Is The Outrage?”

  2. Woosty=^..^, last I read the troops, mostly used for security of the Green Zone and in the future, the new American Embassy (which is the size of a small city) will be replaced by a similar number (5,500) of private contractors- mercs. That should cost us more troops. It’s a 3-card monte trick, a short-con, all misdirection. Anybody else read that?

  4. reality check;
    am I the person wondering on the dearth of response to Obama’s troop withdrawal announcement?

  5. Mike Spindell 1, October 22, 2011 at 1:30 am

    While I decry the brutality of this despots murder, it is as OS implies rather par for ithe course in this type of situation. How do you give a fair trial to one who seized a nation and was it’s authoritarian ruler for forty years? His karma caught up to him and as he sowed…….etc.
    =============================
    Karma is magic huh?

    At least the western version of the eastern religion that developed it.

    The “blessings and cursings” chapter of Leviticus, the “you reap what you sow” of the NT, and eastern Karma are to now be the tools of elucidation justice?

    Shall we extol “the great justice in the sky” each time we violate fundamental human rights?

    When wrongs are done that sentiment evolves such that one man’s resort to Karma is another man’s resort to injustice.

    IMO a case by case development of the facts and the law is or was our U.S. improvement over mob Karma, mob “reap what you sow”, and mob “blessings vs cursings”.

    If we resort to magic justice as the explanation for everything just, then we are going down the rabbit hole (“just ask Alice”).

    Where is the indictment by a grand jury, where is the trial thereafter before a petite jury, and where is the decision upheld by an appellate court?

    In the absence of that we are entering the realm of play pretend justice where each time the desert winds blow, a new landscape emerges.

    Praise the wind?

    1. Dredd,
      You are parsing karma into a religious statement by me, whenit was merely a shortcut. I don’t have PC use right now so I’m writing from an IPhone which forces brevity. Let me make my meaning clear:
      Anyone who takes power by force and ten rules for 40 years is a despot. That his despotism is benevolent is in the end irrelevant since to maintain such a reign requires extreme repression. The result of this repression is most usually rage and violence, thus one reaps what he sows. This need not be religious in concept, merely logically obvious. Benevolent despotism is onerous despite its benevolence, unless you’re the person reaping the benefits from the despot. Since the despot can’t please the majority of the populace the downfall usually will be painful to him.

      The obvious logical analogies to your argumentin this case are Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin/Lenin. In truth they all did great things for their countries in the short term sense. I doubt, knowing you writings that you hold them in esteem, which is the problem with your argument in this partIcular context. I’ve no doubt Ghaddaffi did good things for his people, but the length of his rein is proof of his despotism.

  6. Mespo,

    “I don’t contend that Gadafi died well, or humanely. However, I would also not say that he did not deserve what happened to him, or worse.”

    (…)

    Murdering anyone in the street isn’t right, it isn’t moral, and isn’t necessarily ‘justice’.

    ********************

    I also said that the actions of the people who ultimately killed him were “human”. Therein lies the root of the problem. Education and cultural influences aside, a brutally repressed or ill-treated people will likely seek vengeance if given the chance, if history is any indication.

    The dangerous part of the equation is the possibility of a snowball effect, or simple continuance of violence in whatever culture/country/nation, etc these brutalities occur.

    As far as what separates the people who killed Gaddafi from Gaddafi himself? In that one instance in time, given the single act committed (murder/assassination), I’d say that it was multiple reproachable acts (Gaddafi) vs. a single reproachable act (Gaddafi’s murderers) in retaliation.

    By extention, I hope that they also differ from him in their will to oppress their own peoples.

    Blood-thirsty revenge CAN be justified, depending upon the actions committed by the offending party. Do you want to live with the consequences of your revenge? CAN you live with them? Maybe. Does it do anyone any good to exact that revenge in the first place? Maybe. Who’s society are we talking about though, in order for those answers to work?

    Revenge killing in the U.S. is a foreign idea, glorified by movies, but not practiced in real-life. Ask someone in the middle-east/south west Asia, and you’ll get a different answer, involving seven-generation grudges against other families, constant warring between tribes, etc.

    So, “Can a society built on revenge survive? Can we so easliy dispense with legal process and then hope to regain it?”

    Yes, and I have no idea. Apparently it works in some cultures. “Works” is a loose term, since they all seem to have revolving dictatorships and war problems. It doesn’t work in our own societal paradigm, and I’m glad that it doesn’t. I’d rather not have to walk around all the time with a gun on my hip.

    -CPT J

  7. Gene H. 1, October 21, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Dredd,

    Sorry. I think you’re full of crap on this one. No one here is bowing to down to anyone in their dislike of the man. As I said, it is a response to actions that requires no approval other than having a conscience.
    ================================

    I think anyone is full of government crap when they fell the need to have to qualify what they say about a subject by first qualifying themselves with agreement with the government.

    Only a few on this blog feel that need.

    I am not one of them.

  8. angrymanspeaks 1, October 21, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    Dredd,
    We all know that these revolutions are seldom if ever about the freedom of the people. They are about oil or power or power or power or sometimes oil. sometimes though, the people can grab a little bit of freedom during a revolt and transition. Of course if the new government is like ours and pretends to be a democracy, all the outside interests have to do is buy the appropriate politicians and laws to benefit them. Is it just me or does the scope of the evil and the intricacy of their schemes seem just a tad overwhelming sometimes?
    =============================================
    Why is everyone ignoring or denying what the Libyan Government did for its people? My quote above again:

    “That is, the fact that the Libyan people were cared for by their government (they shared in the revenue when their oil was sold, and it was deposited into their bank accounts; they had benefits at no cost to them such as health care, full education, zero interest loans, $50,000 upon marriage, free land use for farmers together with seeds and tools, cheap gasoline at .14 cents per liter, half of the purchase of a vehicle provided to them, and on and on) was not the reason they were invaded “in order to save them from their government”. (emphasis added).

    The fight between the Libyan Government and the oil companies and the world banking system sparked the invasions, as I document is several posts on my blog, quoting from other blogs and official as well as MSM sources.

    As a thought experiment, what if the OWS was brutally put down and as a result Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid were removed as government insurance programs?

    And they beat and shot to death a certain government official on prime time TV?

    No matter what party that government official came from there would be people here soaking in the bloodlust.

    Never mind that the Libyan people will now suffer an order of magnitude worse than the unproven allegations in a court of law about Maummar Gadhafi.

    Those many millions whose lives were destroyed, like the many millions of Iraq who fled to Syria, can be added to the list of people who will, for generations, be anti-American.

    (Accord: Dr. Brzezinski)

  9. I wonder if this same thing happened here with any of our elected or appointed officials would people still feel the same way? We have people in Federal Prisons serving time, why….they were following orders…..but some how or another…what they did then was fine…but when the media found out….they were charged…heads had to roll…..what is the difference?

    Think about some of the Judicial decisions….somebody has to take a hit….

  10. anarmyofficere:

    “I don’t contend that Gadafi died well, or humanely. However, I would also not say that he did not deserve what happened to him, or worse.”

    (…)

    Murdering anyone in the street isn’t right, it isn’t moral, and isn’t necessarily ‘justice’.

    ********************

    The logical implication of your two statements is that the revolutionaries are justified in treating Gaddafi immoraly and unjustly because he treated others immorally and unjustly. What then, my dear captain, separates Gadaffi from those who overthrew him?

    Is bloody thirsty revenge ever justified? Can a society built on revenge survive? Can we so easliy dispense with legal process and then hope to regain it? Tough questions the Libyans will be called to answer as well as those apologizing souls who insist the Gaddafi “had it coming.” I wonder their reply when those opposing them adopt their same justification for mayhem in the inevitable counter-revolution.

  12. She is still hanging in there. She just had skin cancer surgery on her face this past Tuesday. One was a redo next to her nose and corner of her left eye which required a skin graft. That was Basal Cell that came back. The other two, which I had no clue just looking at her face were bad.

    Don’t know the names of these two but they both are different and not basal. The surgeon made cuts of at least three inches on both cheek and forehead and I swear looking at these two areas over the last several months really didn’t pay it no mind because one day they would look good and then few days later not. The day of the surgery the doctor said the same thing when he got the colored marker out to circle the areas.

    Once he opened them up it was a different story. He said it was eating away underneath and he had to go out a lot further than anticipated. She has a big divot in her forehead but at least it’s not the kind that gets into your body.

    Other than that, she’s still hanging in there. Thanks for asking.

  13. Angrymanspeaks,

    You said…

    …Nor will I condemn these rebels for their actions. I’ll just say it’s a shame we all can’t act like humans all the time…

    I’d have to disagree on a matter of semantics on that one. I would say that both the Lybians celebrations, and our own media sensationalism surrounding this event are inherently “human”, but the actions leading up to Gadafi’s… execution weren’t necessarily “humane”.

    —————————

    As for the Geneva convention commenting on the situation, I’m not sure that I particularly understand their selective criticism. “Terrorism” as the U.S. would term certain attacks, would not be sanctioned by the convention as far as I know either.

    Why anyone should grieve for the death of a notorious dictator, I do not know. As many have already stated, other terrible “leaders” have met similar fates. I’m sure that had we let Iraq alone, and had they their own revolution, Saddam would have met an equally grisly and celebrated end.

    I don’t contend that Gadafi died well, or humanely. However, I would also not say that he did not deserve what happened to him, or worse. That we should celebrate it is a point for contention, but all accounts seem to point to the distasteful manner in which he managed his own people. The “Human” reaction was spot on, depending on who managed to get their hands on him first. Would the “Humane” thing to do would have been to bring him to a trial, to showcase him in a trial that would inevitably led to his death? I wonder if the “humane” thing to do wasn’t to end his life before going through such a sham trial that he would only know would end in his death at the hands of his own people.

    I do NOT believe though that we should sensationalize this event in the media. It is talked about and publicized as something that’s ‘okay’ or normalized. Murdering anyone in the street isn’t right, it isn’t moral, and isn’t necessarily ‘justice’. De-sensitizing the world to this sort of brutality isn’t a course of action that will serve us well in the future by any means. If the trend continues, we can only look forward to similar events, and the eventual public general acceptance of public murder. — If a revolution occurs in a country because of an insane dictator/president/leader what have you, then so be it. Sensationalizing it and normalizing the event isn’t a good response.

    -CPT J

  14. Bdaman,

    I second Mike’s question about your mother …I’ve been thinking about her.

  15. There is something extremely frightening about the knowlege that our President will actually assissinate someone on his discretion alone.
    ————————————————————————————–
    Jo, I think there are a lot more ‘secret’ assissinations out there that we don’t even know about…I was devastated when my ex started wearing pink. It totally killed my love life….

    1. While I decry the brutality of this despots murder, it is as OS implies rather par for ithe course in this type of situation. How do you give a fair trial to one who seized a nation and was it’s authoritarian ruler for forty years? His karma caught up to him and as he sowed…….etc. However the US proclaims itself a natio of law and so one would expect a more a more sober media coverage and a dearth of gloating. We have been coarseened though by our Corporate media, fueled by the fear engendered by 9/11 and the opportunity to use it to expand power. I can’t blame the Libyans for this deed but blame the rest of the Corporate media and the American empire builders for their glee and hypocrisy.

  17. i imagine that when gaddafi seized power forty two years ago he knew that his chances of dying in bed of old age was nil.

    but i’ll pass on the snuff film, thanks.

  19. Muammar Gaddafi’s ‘trophy’ body on show in Misrata meat store

    Libyans queue to see dictator’s body as wounds appear to confirm he was killed in cold blood

    Bloodied, wearing just a pair of khaki trousers, and dumped on a cheap mattress, Muammar Gaddafi’s body has become a gruesome tourist attraction and a macabre symbol of the new Libya’s problems.

    Hundreds of ordinary Libyans queued up outside a refrigerated meat store in Misrata, where the dead dictator was being stored as a trophy. A guard allowed small groups into the room to celebrate next to Gaddafi’s body. They posed for photos, flashing victory signs, and burst into jubilant cries of “God is great.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/21/muammar-gaddafi-body-misrata-meat-store

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