四 川 铁 FourRiverIron

Libya's prime minister says Moammar Kadafi is dead

October 20, 2011 | 8:24 am

REPORTING FROM BEIRUT -- Libya’s provisional prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said Thursday that ousted leader Moammar Kadafi has been killed.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Jibril told a news conference in the capital, Tripoli, according to the Associated Press. "Moammar Kadafi has been killed."

Unconfirmed reports of Kadafi’s capture and death have been filtering out since fighters for the transitional government captured Kadafi's home town of Surt on Thursday. The coastal city, the last major bastion of support for Kadafi, fell two months after rebel forces took over Tripoli, sending the former strongman and many of his supporters into hiding or on the run.

There are conflicting accounts of how Kadafi was captured and apparently killed. One report indicated that he had been found hiding in Surt in what appeared to be a cement drainage pipe. Another said he was in a convoy bombed by NATO warplanes.

NATO said its aircraft struck two pro-Kadafi "military vehicles" early Thursday but did not immediately confirm Kadafi's death.

Al-Jazeera TV obtained video footage of what appeared to be a bloodied Kadafi, lying dead or severely wounded on the ground. The authenticity of the footage hasn't been verified.

Word of Kadafi's capture and demise prompted celebratory gunfire in Tripoli and Surt.

Reports that Kadafi had been hiding in Surt came as somewhat of a surprise. Most observers had assumed that he had fled to the southern Libyan hinterlands, a vast expanse where Kadafi was still said to have many allies and that could have provided a quick escape to sub-Saharan nations such as Niger and Chad.

Instead, he apparently decided to make a last stand in his hometown.

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Gadhafi killed in his hometown, was Libya's longtime dictator

by Christopher Gillette and Kim Gamel - Oct. 20, 2011 10:06 AM

Associated Press

SIRTE, Libya -- Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years until he was ousted by his own people in an uprising that turned into a bloody civil war, was killed Thursday by revolutionary fighters overwhelming his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

The 69-year-old Gadhafi is the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East, demanding the end of autocratic rulers and the establishment of greater democracy.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.

Footage aired on Al-Jazeera television showed Gadhafi was captured wounded but alive in Sirte. The goateed, balding Gadhafi, in a bloodsoaked shirt and his face bloodied, is seen standing upright being pushed along by fighters, and he appears to struggle against them, stumbling and shouting. The fighters push him onto the hood of a pickup truck, before dragging him away, apparently toward an ambulance.

Later footage showed fighters rolling Gadhafi's body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and his head bloody.

His death decisively ends a regime that had turned Libya into an international pariah and ran the oil-rich nation by the whims and brutality of its notoriously eccentric leader. Libya now enters a new era, but its turmoil may not be over. The former rebels who now rule are disorganized, face rebuilding a country stripped of institutions, and have already shown signs of infighting, with divisions between geographical areas and Islamist and more secular ideologies.

There were conflicting reports over the circumstance of Gadhafi's last hours.

But most accounts agreed Gadhafi had been barricaded in with his heavily armed loyalists in the last few buildings they held in his Mediterranean coastal hometown of Sirte, furiously battling with revolutionary fighters closing in on them Thursday. At one point, a convoy tried to flee the area and was blasted by NATO airstrikes, but Jibril specified Gadhafi was not killed by the strike.

Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who was part of the medical team that accompanied the body in the ambulance and examined it, said Gadhafi died from two bullet wounds, to the head and chest.

"You can't imagine my happiness today. I can't describe my happiness," he told The Associated Press. "The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest."

The body was then paraded through the streets of the nearby city of Misrata on top of a vehicle surrounded by a large crowd chanting, "The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain," according to footage aired on Al-Arabiya television. The fighters who killed Gadhafi are believed to have come from Misrata, a city that suffered a brutal weeks-long siege by Gadhafi's forces during the eight-month long civil war.

Celebratory gunfire and cries of "God is Great" rang out across the capital Tripoli. Cars honked their horns and people hugged each other. In Sirte, the ecstatic former rebels celebrated the city's fall after weeks of bloody siege by firing endless rounds into the sky, pumping their guns, knives and even a meat cleaver in the air and singing the national anthem.

Libya's new leaders had said they would declare the country's "liberation" after the fall of Sirte.

The death of Gadhafi adds greater solidity to that declaration.

It rules out a scenario that some had feared -- that he might flee deeper into Libya's southern deserts and lead a resistance campaign against Libya's rulers. There were reports that one of Gadhafi's sons, Muatassim, was captured in Misrata on Thursday. The fate of another of his sons, Seif al-Islam, as well as some top figures of his regime remains unknown, but their ability to rally loyalists would be deeply undermined with Gadhafi's loss.

Sirte's fall caps weeks of heavy, street-by-street battles as revolutionary fighters besieged the city. Despite the fall of Tripoli on Aug. 21, Gadhafi loyalists mounted fierce resistance in several areas, including Sirte, preventing Libya's new leaders from declaring full victory in the eight-month civil war. Earlier this week, revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid.

By Tuesday, fighters said they had squeezed Gadhafi's forces in Sirte into a residential area of about 700 square yards but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings.

In an illustration of how heavy the fighting has been, it took the anti-Gadhafi fighters two days to capture a single residential building.

Reporters watched as the final assault began around 8 a.m. Thursday and ended about 90 minutes later. Just before the battle, about five carloads of Gadhafi loyalists tried to flee the enclave down the coastal highway that leads out of the city. But they were met by gunfire from the revolutionaries, who killed at least 20 of them.

Col. Roland Lavoie, spokesman for NATO's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy, said the alliance's aircraft Thursday morning struck two vehicles of pro-Gadhafi forces "which were part of a larger group maneuvering in the vicinity of Sirte."

The Misrata Military Council, one of the command groups, said its fighters captured Gadhafi.

One fighter who said he was at the battle told AP Television News that the final fight took place at an opulent compound for visiting dignitaries built by Gadhafi's regime. Adel Busamir said the convoy tried to break out but after being hit it turned back and re-entered the compound. Several hundred fighters assaulted.

"We found him there," Busamir said. "We saw them beating him (Gadhafi) and someone shot him with a 9mm pistol ... then they took him away."

Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani in Tripoli told Al-Jazeera TV that a wounded Gadhafi "tried to resist (revolutionary forces) so they took him down."

"I reassure everyone that this story has ended and this book has closed," he said.

After the battle, revolutionaries began searching homes and buildings looking for any hiding Gadhafi fighters. At least 16 were captured, along with cases of ammunition and trucks loaded with weapons. Reporters saw revolutionaries beating captured Gadhafi men in the back of trucks and officers intervening to stop them.

In the central quarter where Thursday's final battle took place, the fighters looking like the same ragtag force that started the uprising eight months ago jumped up and down with joy and flashed V-for-victory signs. Some burned the green Gadhafi flag, then stepped on it with their boots.

They chanted "God is great" while one fighter climbed a traffic light pole to unfurl the revolution's flag, which he first kissed. Discarded military uniforms of Gadhafi's fighters littered the streets. One revolutionary fighter waved a silver trophy in the air while another held up a box of firecrackers, then set them off.

"Our forces control the last neighborhood in Sirte," Hassan Draoua, a member of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, told The Associated Press in Tripoli. "The city has been liberated."

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Associated Press Writer Kim Gamel in Tripoli contributed to this report.

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Gadhafi maddened Libya, West with warped vision

Oct. 20, 2011 07:46 AM

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya - During nearly 42 years in power in Libya, Moammar Gadhafi was one of the world's most eccentric dictators, so mercurial that he was both condemned and courted by the West, while he brutally warped his country with his idiosyncratic vision of autocratic rule until he was finally toppled by his own people.

The modern Arab world's longest-ruling figure, Libya's "Brother Leader" displayed striking contrasts. He was a sponsor of terrorism whose regime was blamed for blowing up two passenger jets, who then helped the U.S. in the war on terror. He was an Arab nationalist who mocked Arab rulers. In the crowning paradox, he preached a "revolutionary" utopia of people power but ran a one-man dictatorship that fueled the revolution against him.

His death on Thursday at age 69 - confirmed by Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril - came as Libyan fighters defeated Gadhafi's last holdouts in his hometown of Sirte, the last major site of resistance in the country.

Their final declaration of victory came weeks after Gadhafi was swept from power by rebels who drove triumphantly into the capital of Tripoli on Aug. 21, capping a six-month civil war.

"Dance, sing and fight!" Gadhafi had exhorted his followers even as his enemies were on the capital's doorstep before fleeing into Libya's hinterlands where his die-hard backers had continued to battle the rebels-turned-rulers.

Gadhafi leaves behind an oil-rich nation of 6.5 million traumatized by a rule that drained it of institutions while the ship of state was directed by the whims of one man and his family. Notorious for his extravagant outfits - ranging from white suits and sunglasses to military uniforms with frilled epaulets to brilliantly colored robes decorated with the map of Africa - he styled himself as a combination Bedouin chief and philosopher king.

He reveled in infuriating leaders, whether in the West or the Middle East. U.S. President Ronald Reagan, after the 1986 bombing that killed U.S. servicemen in Berlin was blamed on Libya, branded him a "mad dog." Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who fought a border war with Libya in the 1970s, wrote in his diary that Gadhafi was "mentally sick" and "needs treatment."

Behind the flamboyance and showmanship, associates say Gadhafi was meticulous in managing the levers of power. He intervened in decisions large and small and constantly met personally with tribal leaders and military officers whose support he maintained through lucrative posts.

The sole constant was his grip on the country. Numerous coup and assassination attempts against him over the years mostly ended with public executions of the plotters, hanged in city squares.

The ultimate secret of his longevity lay in the vast oil reserves under his North African desert nation and in his capacity for drastic changes of course when necessary.

The most spectacular U-turn came in late 2003. After years of denial, Libya acknowledged responsibility - though in a Gadhafi-esque twist of logic, not guilt - for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people. He agreed to pay up to $10 million to relatives of each victim.

He also announced that Libya would dismantle its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs under international supervision.

The rewards came fast. Within months, the U.S. lifted economic sanctions and resumed diplomatic ties. The European Union hosted Gadhafi in Brussels. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2008 became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country in more than 50 years. Tony Blair, as British prime minister, visited him in Tripoli.

International oil companies rushed to invest in Libya's fields. Documents uncovered after Gadhafi's fall revealed close cooperation between his intelligence services and the CIA in pursuing terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks, even before the U.S. lifted its designation of Libya as a sponsor of terror in 2006.

Still, Gadhafi's renegade ways did not change. After Swiss police had the temerity to briefly arrest his son Hannibal for allegedly beating up two servants in a Geneva luxury hotel in 2008, Gadhafi's regime arrested two Swiss nationals and raked Switzerland over the coals, extracting an apology and compensation before finally releasing the men nearly two years later. European countries, eagerly building economic ties with Libya, did little to back up Switzerland in the dispute.

But Gadhafi became an instant pariah once more when he began a brutal crackdown on the February uprising in his country that grew out of the "Arab Spring" of popular revolts across the region. The U.N. authorized a no-fly zone for Libya in March, and NATO launched a campaign of airstrikes against his military forces.

"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents. ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he proclaimed in one of his last televised speeches during the uprising, pounding the lectern near a sculpture of a golden fist crushing a U.S. warplane.

Gadhafi was born in 1942 in the central Libyan desert near Sirte, the son of a Bedouin father who was once jailed for opposing Libya's Italian colonialists. The young Gadhafi seemed to inherit that rebellious nature, being expelled from high school for leading a demonstration, and disciplined while in the army for organizing revolutionary cells.

In 1969, as a mere 27-year-old captain, he emerged as leader of a group of officers who overthrew the monarchy of King Idris. A handsome, dashing figure in uniform and sunglasses, Gadhafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of anti-Western defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers.

During the 1970s, Gadhafi proceeded to transform the nation.

A U.S. air base was closed. Some 20,000 Italians were expelled in retaliation for the 1911-41 occupation. Businesses were nationalized.

In 1975 he published the "Green Book," his political manifesto that laid out what he called the "Third International Theory" of government and society. He declared Libya to be a "Jamahiriya" - an Arabic neologism he created meaning roughly "republic of the masses."

Everyone rules, it declared, calling representative democracy a form of tyranny, and Libyans were organized into "people's committees" that went all the way up to a "People's Congress," a sort of parliament.

In the end, rule by all meant rule by none except Gadhafi, who elevated himself to colonel and declared himself "Brother Leader."

"He aspired to create an ideal state," said North African analyst Saad Djebbar of Cambridge University. "He ended up without any components of a normal state. The people's power' was the most useless system in the world."

In the 1970s and 1980s, Gadhafi supported groups deemed by the West to be terrorists - from the Irish Republican Army through various radical Palestinian units to militant groups in the Philippines. He embarked on a series of military adventures in Africa, invading Chad in 1980-89, and supplying arms, training and finance to rebels in Liberia, Uganda and Burkina Faso.

A 1984 incident at the Libyan Embassy in London entrenched his regime's image as a lawless one. A gunman inside the embassy opened fire on a demonstration by Gadhafi opponents outside, killing a British policewoman.

The heat was rising, meanwhile, between the Reagan administration and Gadhafi over terrorism. In 1986, Libya was found responsible for a bombing at a Berlin discotheque frequented by U.S. troops in which three people died. America struck back by sending warplanes to bomb Libya. About 40 Libyans died.

The Lockerbie bombing followed in 1988, followed a year later by a bombing that downed a French airliner over the West African nation of Niger. The West was outraged, and years of sanctions followed.

Libya's road back from pariah status began in 1999, when Gadhafi's government handed over two Libyans for trial in the Lockerbie bombing. In 2001, a Scottish court convicted one, an intelligence agent, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The other was acquitted.

In 2002, Gadhafi looked back on his actions and told a crowd of Libyans in the southern city of Sabha: "In the old days, they called us a rogue state. They were right in accusing us of that. In the old days, we had a revolutionary behavior."

Throughout his rule, he was a showman who would stop at nothing to make his point.

His appearances at Arab League summits were an annual cause of cringing among fellow Arab rulers. At one, he argued vehemently with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, winning the monarch's eternal hatred. At another, Gadhafi smoked cigars on the conference hall floor during speeches to show his contempt.

In a 2009 address at the United Nations, he rambled on about jet lag, then tore up a copy of the U.N. charter, saying the Security Council "should be called the terrorism council."

On state trips, he would insist on setting up a tent to stay in. He sported a personal escort of female guards - which he once explained by saying: "There are no men in the Arab world."

A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable released by the website WikiLeaks spoke of Gadhafi's intense dislike of staying on upper floors of buildings, aversion to flying over water, and taste for horse racing and flamenco dancing.

"At night, Moammar dreams; by day, he implements," Libyans would say, referring to the bizarre rules Gadhafi would randomly impose on the country, like demanding all storefront doors be painted green, the signature color of his regime. Or like complaining that Libyans were going abroad for medical treatment and deciding it was because of a lack of Libyan doctors - so he ordered Tripoli's main medical school to take 2,000 new students regardless of qualifications, well beyond its 150-student capacity.

He even renamed the months, calling the cold month of January "Ayn al-Nar," Arabic for "Where is the Fire."

In the past decade, power was increasingly concentrated with his eight biological children, who snapped up elite military posts or lucrative business positions. His British-educated son Seif al-Islam was widely seen as being groomed as a successor. There was no immediate word on his fate Thursday.

His only daughter, Aisha, became a lawyer and helped in the defense of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's toppled dictator, in the trial that led to his hanging.

Gadhafi did spend oil revenue on building schools, hospitals, irrigation and housing on a scale his Mediterranean nation had never seen.

"He did really bring Libya from being one of the most backward and poorest countries in Africa to becoming an oil-rich state with an elaborate infrastructure and with reasonable access by the Libyan population to the essential services they required," said George Joffe of Cambridge University.

Still, about a third of Libya's people remain in poverty. Gadhafi showered benefits on parts of the country, such as Tripoli. Meanwhile, eastern Libya, ultimately the source of February's rebellion, was allowed to atrophy.

At least one of his sons, Saif al-Arab, was killed during the 2011 uprising, and another, Khamis, was believed killed. Others, along with his wife Safiya, fled to neighboring Algeria or Niger. Seif al-Islam and Muatassim, who commanded one the military units involved in the crackdown on protesters, fled into hiding when Tripoli fell.

Us effort to overthrow Muammar el-Qaddaf cost $1.1 billion. That's about $3 for every man, woman and child in the USA, or about $6 for every adult in the USA.

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For $1 billion, one dictator

By National Journal

By Kevin Baron

National Journal

Call him the billion-dollar man. One billion for one dictator.

According to the Pentagon, that was the cost to U.S. taxpayers for Muammar el-Qaddafi's head: $1.1 billion through September, the latest figure just out of the Defense Department.

And that's just for the Americans.

The final totals will take some time to add up, and still do not include the State Department, CIA, and other agencies involved or other NATO and participating countries. Vice President Joe Biden said that the U.S. "spent $2 billion total and didn't lose a single life." NATO does not track the operational costs to each member country, but the funds directly taken from a common NATO account for Libya operations have totaled about $7.4 million per month for electronic warfare capabilities and $1.1 million per month for headquarters and command staff, a NATO spokesman said.

From the beginning of Operation Unified Protector in March, critics have questioned whether the U.S. could afford to open a third front. The Congressional Research Services estimate the Afghanistan war has cost nearly $500 billion so far. With Iraq, the figure easily tops $1 trillion.

In the first week of Libya operations, bombs were dropped from B-2 stealth planes flown from Missouri and roughly 200 missiles launched from submarines in the Mediterranean, causing alarm that any extended campaign would quickly cost billions more.

But after the U.S. military ramped up the operation, other NATO countries shouldered most of the air burden. Americans took a supporting role: aerial refueling tankers, electronic jamming, and surveillance.

The behind-the-scenes role was something President Obama celebrated in remarks in the Rose Garden on Thursday.

"Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives and our NATO mission will soon come to an end," Obama said.

As to when that mission would end, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement NATO issued from Brussels, "We will terminate our mission in coordination with the United Nations and the National Transitional Council."

U.S. and NATO officials steadily maintained their mission was never to hunt, capture or kill the Libyan leader. The mission, they said, was to enforce the arms embargo, establish and hold a no-fly zone, and take actions to protect civilians from attack or the threat of attack.

That last directive seemed to give plenty of reason to target Libya's top commander. But Pentagon officials said for months that if Qaddafi should happen to be at one of those locations when NATO missiles strike, so be it.

Since the operation began on March 31, getting to Qaddafi's final stand required 7,725 air sorties and 1,845 strike sorties, 397 of which dropped ordnance, and 145 Predator drone strikes.

NATO aircraft, including those supplied by the U.S., totaled 26,089 sorties and 9,618 strike sorties through Wednesday.

More than 70 U.S. aircraft have supported the operation, including Predator drones.

NATO flew 67 sorties and 16 strikes sorties over Libya one day before Qaddafi was killed.

The NATO mission also employed submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, destroyers, frigates, and supply ships—as many as 21 vessels at one time.

Additionally, as of one week ago, the U.S. had sold participating countries in the operation roughly $250 million in ammunition, parts, fuel, technical assistance, and other support, according to the Pentagon.

Several members of Congress put out statements celebrating Qaddafi's downfall but did not comment on the cost. Several offices contacted did not provide additional reaction to the monetary figures.

But presidential candidate Ambassador Jon Huntsman did question the cost of the Libya operation. His statement on Thursday said, "I remain firm in my belief that America can best serve our interests and that transition through non-military assistance and rebuilding our own economic core here at home."

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Libya's Gaddafi killed by bullet in stomach: doctor

Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi was fatally wounded by a bullet in his intestines following his capture, according to a doctor who examined his body, amid conflicting accounts of how the fugitive former Libyan leader met his end.

Gaddafi, 69, was killed Thursday after being captured by the Libyan fighters he once scorned as "rats," who overran his last bastion of resistance in his hometown, Sirte -- the culmination of an eight-month uprising against his 42-year rule.

"Gaddafi was arrested while he was alive but he was killed later. There was a bullet and that was the primary reason for his death, it penetrated his gut," doctor Ibrahim Tika told Al Arabiya television. "Then there was another bullet in the head that went in and out of his head."

Earlier, Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, reading what he said was a post-mortem report, said Gaddafi was hauled unresisting from a "sewage pipe," shot in the arm and put in a truck which was "caught in crossfire" as it ferried him to hospital.

Jerky footage showed a man with Gaddafi's distinctive long, curly hair, bloodied and staggering under blows from armed men, apparently NTC fighters.

Tika, who also examined Gaddafi's son Mo'tassim after he was killed Thursday, said his findings indicated he had died after his father.

"(As for) Mo'tassim, there was an injury, a big opening in the area above his chest and directly under his neck. There were three injuries from the rear in his back and at the back of his leg and there was a shrapnel but it was a few days old in his leg," Tika said.

"The condition of the blood proves that he was killed after Gaddafi," he added.

Tika said he had not seen the body of another son of Gaddafi's, Saif al-Islam who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. Saif al-Islam, once seen as heir-apparent to his father, had variously been reported to be surrounded, captured or killed.

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The Seven Weirdest Things About Moammar Gadhafi

ABC NewsBy RUSSELL GOLDMAN | ABC News – 22 hrs ago

Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years, was killed by rebels in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. A dictator who oppressed his own people and sponsored terrorism abroad, Gadhafi's legacy will be stained by violence. But beyond his brutality, Gadhafi will be remembered for something else entirely… being a first-class weirdo.

In no particular order, ABCNews.com brings you the seven weirdest things about Moammar Gadhafi.

1. The "Bulletproof" Tent: When Gadhafi was at home in Tripoli, he lived in a well fortified compound with a complex system of escape tunnels. But when he travelled abroad, this "Bedouin" brought a bit of the desert with him, camping out in the world's capitals. The tent was so heavy it needed to be flown on a separate plane, wherever the dictator travelled. To complete the Arabian Nights theme, Gadhafi often would tether a camel or two outside.

2. All-Female Virgin Bodyguard Retinue: They apparently weren't around when Gadhafi needed them most on Thursday, but the eccentric dictator was historically protected by 40 well trained bodyguards – all of them women. The bodyguards, called "Amazons," were all reportedly virgins who took a vow of chastity upon joining the dictator's retinue. The women, trained at an all-female military academy, were handpicked by Gadhafi. They wore elaborate uniforms, as well as makeup and high-heeled combat boots.

3. His "Voluptuous" Ukrainian Nurse: For a decade, Galyna Kolotnytska, a Ukrainian nurse often described in the press as "voluptuous," was regularly seen at the dictator's side. Kolotnytska was described in a leaked diplomatic cable as one of Gadhafi's closest aides and was rumored to have a romantic relationship with him. Several other Ukrainian women served as nurses and they all referred to him as "Papa" or "Daddy."

4. Crush on Condoleezza Rice: In 2007, Gadhafi called former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice his "darling black African woman" and on a 2008 visit she made to Tripoli, the dictator gave her $200,000 worth of gifts, including a ring and a lute. But it wasn't until rebels stormed his Tripoli compound that the depths of the dictator's infatuation were exposed. There among Gadhafi's belongings was a carefully composed photo album made up of dozens of images of no one but Rice.

5. Fear of Flying and Elevators: Part of the reason Gadhafi loved travelling with that tent of his was because he was worried about lodging in a hotel where he'd have to ride an elevator. According to leaked diplomatic cables, the Libyan didn't like heights much either, and would only climb to a height of 35 steps. He therefore wasn't much of a fan of flying, refusing to travel by air for more than eight hours at a time. When he would travel to New York of the U.N.'s annual general assembly, he would spend a night in Portugal on the way to the U.S.

6. Bunga Bunga: In 2010, one of Gadhafi's most eccentric pastimes was exposed by Italian prosecutors investigating Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A 17-year-old prostitute named Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby Heartstealer, revealed that she had been invited to an orgy, called a "bunga bunga." "Silvio told me that he'd copied that formula from Muammar Gadhafi," she told prosecutors according to La Repubblica. "It's a ritual of [Gadhafi's] African harem."

7. An Eclectic Wardrobe: In those photos of world leaders standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidelines of this or that international forum, Gadhafi was always the easiest to pick out. His wardrobe was an eclectic mix of ornate military uniforms, Miami Vice style leisure suits, and Bedouin robes. Gadhafi, who pushed for a pan-African federation of nations, often decorated his outfits with images of the African continent. He'd sport safari shirts printed with an Africa pattern, or wear garish pins or necklaces of the continent.

The "U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into [the death of Moammar Gadhafi]" - I suspect that is more about justifying the existence of the U.N. then it is about seeking justice.

What are the U.N. rules on treating a brutal tyrant you have just overthrown? If you ask me the problem method to handle these people is string them up from a street light like they did to Mussolini. Live or dead, it doesn't matter as long as they are not living when they come down.

And if these U.N. folks are so much more ethical then the rest of us why aren't they demanding that George W. Bush and Barak Obama be arrested for their war crimes and human rights violations.

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Gadhafi's burial delayed for further investigation

Oct. 21, 2011 06:46 AM

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya - The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death.

The transitional leadership had said it would bury the dictator Friday in accordance with Islamic tradition. Bloody images of Gadhafi's last moments in the hands of angry captors have raised questions over his treatment minutes before his death. One son, Muatassim, was also killed but the fate of Gadhafi's one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam was unclear.

Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi said Seif al-Islam was wounded and being held in a hospital in the city of Zlitan. But Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam on Friday that the son's whereabouts were uncertain.

Shammam said Gadhafi's body was still in Misrata, where it was taken after he was found in his hometown of Sirte, and revolutionary forces were discussing where it should be interred.

Thursday's death of Gadhafi, two months after he was driven from power and into hiding, decisively buries the nearly 42-year regime that had turned the oil-rich country into an international pariah and his own personal fiefdom.

It also thrusts Libya into a new age in which its transitional leaders must overcome deep divisions and rebuild nearly all its institutions from scratch to achieve dreams of democracy.

Many Libyans awoke after a night of jubilant celebration and celebratory gunfire with hope for the future but also concern that their new rulers might repeat the mistakes of the past.

Khaled Almslaty, a 42-year-old clothing vendor in Tripoli, said he wished Gadhafi had been captured alive.

"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."

Bloody images of Gadhafi's last moments also cast a shadow over the celebrations, raising questions over how exactly he died. Video on Arab television stations showed a crowd of fighters shoving and pulling the goateed, balding Gadhafi, with blood splattered on his face and soaking his shirt.

Gadhafi struggled against them, stumbling and shouting as the fighters pushed him onto the hood of a pickup truck. One fighter held him down, pressing on his thigh with a pair of shoes in a show of contempt.

Fighters propped him on the hood as they drove for several moments, apparently to parade him around in victory.

"We want him alive. We want him alive," one man shouted before Gadhafi was dragged off the hood, some fighters pulling his hair, toward an ambulance.

Later footage showed fighters rolling Gadhafi's lifeless body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and a pool of blood under his head. His body was then paraded on a car through Misrata, a nearby city that suffered a brutal siege by regime forces during the eight-month civil war that eventually ousted Gadhafi. Crowds in the streets cheered, "The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."

Libyan leaders said it appeared that Gadhafi had been caught in the crossfire and it was unclear who fired the bullet that killed him.

Shammam said a coroner's report showed that Gadhafi was killed by a bullet to the head and died in the ambulance on the way to a field hospital. Gadhafi was already injured from battle when he was found in the drainage pipe, Shammam said.

"It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists," Shammam said, echoing an account given by Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril the night before. "The problem is everyone around the event is giving his own story."

Shammam said that the NTC was expecting a report from Financial Minister Ali Tarhouni who was sent as an envoy to Misrata on Thursday.

The governing National Transitional Council said interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will formally declare liberation on Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution against Gadhafi's rule began in mid-February. The NTC has always said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months.

NATO's governing body, meanwhile, was meeting Friday to decide when and how to end the seven-month bombing campaign in Libya, a military operation whose success has helped reinvigorate the Cold War alliance.

The U.N. Human Rights Council established an independent panel earlier this year to investigate abuses in Libya, and spokesman Rupert Colville said it would likely examine the circumstances of the 69-year-old leader's death. He said it was too early to say whether the panel - which includes Canadian judge Philippe Kirsch, the first president of the International Criminal Court - would recommend a formal investigation at the national or international level.

"We believe there is a need for an investigation," Colville said. "More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture."

"The two cell phone videos that have emerged, one of him alive, and one of him dead, taken together are very disturbing," he told reporters in Geneva.

Mohamed Sayeh, a senior member of NTC, said representatives from the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court would come to a "go through the paperwork."

Sayeh also says Gadhafi's body is still in Misrata, where it was taken after his killing in Sirte. He says Gadhafi will be buried with respect according to Islam tradition and will not have a public funeral.

The ICC did not issue any official comments about Gadhafi, but judges at the court would need official confirmation - most likely a DNA sample from the body - that Gadhafi is dead before they could formally withdraw his indictment.

Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi have been charged with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war.

Source

Gadhafi body stashed in shopping center freezer

Posted 10/21/2011 11:47 AM ET

By Rami Al-Shaheibi And Kim Gamel, Associated Press

MISRATA, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body was stashed in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Friday as Libyans tried to keep it out of the public eye and away from crowds as they figure out where and when to bury the hated leader.

An AP correspondent saw the body at the shopping center in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.

The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, was laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of an emptied-out room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the center normally keep perishables. A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his head -- with the bullet still lodged in his head, according to the presiding doctor -- and in the center of his chest and stomach. His hair was matted and dried blood streaks his arms and head.

Outside the shopping center, hundreds of civilians from Misrata jostled to get inside for a peek at the body, shouting "God is great" and "We want to see the dog."

The makeshift provisions for the corpse -- at one point it was kept in a private house on Thursday -- reflected the disorganization and confusion that has surrounded Gadhafi's death. His burial had been planned for Friday, in accordance with Islamic traditions calling for quick interrment. But the interim government delayed it, saying the circumstances of his death still had to be determined. Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam also said authorities are "debating right now what the best place is to bury him."

Gadhafi was captured wounded but alive, and there have been contradictory accounts of how he received his fatal wounds -- raising the question whether he was shot to death while in custody, something Libyan officials have denied.

New images surfaced of the 69-year-old Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by the fighters who captured him. By authorites' account, at the time the video was taken, Gadhafi would have already suffered the wounds that would kill him about a half-hour later -- shots to the head, chest and belly. In the video, there is blood on Gadhafi's head, but none visible on his chest or belly, and he is talking and uprising.

International rights groups called for an investigation into his death.

"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling the images of Gadhafi's last moments very disturbing.

One of Gadhafi's sons, Muatassim, was also killed in the Sirte, but the fate of Gadhafi's one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam was unclear. Some Libyan officials said he had been wounded and was being held in a hospital in Zlitan. But Shammam said Friday that Seif al-Islam's whereabouts were not confirmed, leaving open the possibility he escaped.

Many Libyans awoke after a night of jubilant celebration and celebratory gunfire with hope for the future but also concern that their new rulers, the National Transitional Council, might repeat the mistakes of the past.

Khaled Almslaty, a 42-year-old clothing vendor in Tripoli, said he wished Gadhafi had been captured alive.

"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."

Thousands of people converged for Friday prayers on Martrys' Square, formerly known as Green Square and the site from which Gadhafi made many defiant speeches trying to rally support as the uprising against him turned into a civil war.

One group of men danced and hoisted the country's new tricolor flag, chanting slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad, who also faces an uprising against his rule as part of the Arab Spring that has also seen the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia ousted.

"It's your turn Bashar, zenga, zenga, dar, dar," they chanted.

"Zenga, zenga, dar, dar" is Arabic for "alley by alley, house by house," a phrase used by Gadhafi in his last months in power, referring to how his forces would hunt down those who rose up against him.

Women, who wore headscarves and prayed in a separate section, hoisted a banner that said, "It's a new morning without the colonel," using Gadhafi's military designation.

Gadhafi was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed him and his last die-hard loyalists in Sirte, capturing the city after a heavily fought, weeks-long siege. Exact details of his final hours remain unclear.

But according to most accounts from fighters on the ground and their commanders, Gadhafi was in a convoy trying to flee, when NATO airstrikes hit two of the vehicles. Then revolutionary forces moved in and clashed with the loyalists with Gadhafi for several hours. Gadhafi and his bodyguards fled their cars and took refuge in a nearby drainage tunnel. Fighters pursued and clashed with them, and in the end, Gadhafi emerged from tunnel and was grabbed by fighters.

New footage posted on Facebook shows the moments when Gadhafi was dragged by revolutionariy fighters up the hill to their vehicles. The young men beat the bloodied and confused-looking Gadhafi, screaming, "Moammar, you dog!"

Gadhafi gestures to the young men to be patient, and says "What's going on?" as he wipes fresh blood from his temple and glances at his palm. A young fighter later is shown carrying a boot and screaming, "This is Moammar's shoe! This is Moammar's shoe! Victory! Victory!"

Information Minister Shammam said Friday that Gadhafi had already suffered his wounds when he was pulled from the tunnel, and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. "It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists," Shammam said, echoing an account given by Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril the night before. "The problem is everyone around the event is giving his own story."

By that account, Gadhafi would have a bullet imbedded in his head, another in his chest and a third near his belly button at the time the video footage was taken.

In the video, Gadhafi has blood on the side of his head, but he is upright, talking and has the strength to struggle back, and there is no blood on his chest or belly. At one point, his shirt is pulled up to his chest, but no belly wound is visible.

Shammam said that the NTC was expecting a report from Financial Minister Ali Tarhouni who was sent as an envoy to Misrata on Thursday.

Mohamed Sayeh, a senior NTC member, said representatives from the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court, which had indicted Gadhafi, would come to "go through the paperwork."

The ICC did not issue any official comments about Gadhafi, but judges at the court would need official confirmation -- most likely a DNA sample from the body -- that Gadhafi is dead before they could formally withdraw his indictment.

Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi have been charged with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war.

The governing National Transitional Council said interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will formally declare liberation on Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution began in mid-February. The NTC has said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months.

___

Gamel reported from Tripoli. Associated Press writer Hadeel al-Shalchi in Cairo contributed to this report.

American drones helped rebels kill Moammar Gadhafi?

As the rebels toppled Sirte, a U.S. drone, which was operated remotely from Las Vegas, alerted NATO of a fleeing 80-car convoy.

"The same facial recognition technology used to identify Osama bin Laden was used to confirm that the death photos in fact were of Ghadafi" - I wonder, was this done with the drones?

Don't get me wrong I dislike the evil American Empire as much as I dislike Moammar Gadhafi. But it is nice to see this evil tyrant meet his fate.

Source

Moammar Gadhafi Dead: How Rebels Killed the Dictator

ABC NewsBy JEFFREY KOFMAN and KEVIN DOLAK | ABC News

Celebrations continued across Libya the day after Moammar Gadhafi was killed by rebel forces in his hometown of Sirte, while details of the hours and minutes that led up to his death begin to surface.

Gadhafi's grisly final moments were captured on a grainy cell phone video that shows the former Libyan leader surrounded by a frenzied mob of rebels. Men are seen grabbing at him, propping him up, and pummeling him while he can be seen dazed, attempting speech and bleeding profusely.

The final hunt for Gadhafi began around 8 a.m. Thursday in Sirte, which is the former leader's hometown and was one of the final loyalist strongholds of his regime. The rebels who took control of Libya in February began what they hoped would be their final offensive to conquer the town.

As the rebels toppled Sirte, a U.S. drone, which was operated remotely from Las Vegas, alerted NATO of a fleeing 80-car convoy.

Soon French fighter jets responded with an airstrike, which took out two of the vehicles. It is still unclear if these French fighters hit Ghadafi's car, but when the rebels poured in they told the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse that the former leader was hiding in a drainage pipe.

"They say they discovered him [in the drainage pipe] just before 12 this afternoon. They pulled him out of the hole, and one fighter told me that Moammar Gadhafi said to him, 'What did I do to you?'" Gatehouse said.

This account of finding Ghadafi in the drainage pipe was confirmed by an English-speaking rebel fighter, who told ABC News, "We catch him there. We shot him."

In a video that surfaced Friday Gadhafi is heard repeatedly saying the phrase "Haram Aleiko," which is an Arabic expression that literally translated means "This is a sin for you." The phrase is generally used as a plea to convey the vulnerability of the victim.

The fatal shot that killed Ghadafi was reportedly fired by a young man donning a baseball cap with a Yankees logo. Afterwards he was photographed brandishing Gadhafi's vanquished golden gun.

Still unknown is the fate of Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, who played a prominent role taunting rebels throughout the seven-month revolution. There had been reports he had been captured or killed, but there also reports that he was fleeing south in the Sahara Desert to Niger. It has been confirmed that one of Gadhafi's other sons, Muatassim, was also killed in Thursday's attack. He was a prominent military commander.

On Friday footage surfaced on Libyan television of Muatassim Gadhafi's body, which was being autopsied to determine his cause of death, according to Libyan TV.

Also dying alongside Gadhafi were some of his notorious female bodyguards -- who were often referred to as his Amazon Bodyguards.

Speaking with Al Arabya News, Ghadafi's former Internal Security chief Mansour Daw said that once national Transitional Council fighters destroyed all of their vehicles, Ghadafi and those with him began to flee Sirte on foot in different groups.

As news of the taking of Sirte and the death of Ghadafi spread across the globe, varying facts were reported by a number of sources; reports indicated that he had been taken alive and was wounded in both legs, while others said that he was killed.

U.S. officials used reliable sources on the ground from many different sources to confirm the facts. The same facial recognition technology used to identify Osama bin Laden was used to confirm that the death photos in fact were of Ghadafi , the self-styled "King of Kings."

Cameras captured the reaction of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- who on Tuesday was the first cabinet level official to visit the war-torn country since the uprising began . Clinton merely said "wow" as she received the news of the dictator's death via e-mail while on a trip to Afghanistan.

Clinton elaborated while in Islamabad on Friday after Ghadafi's death was confirmed.

"[The] death of Col. Ghadafi has brought to a close a very unfortunate chapter in Libya's history and it marks a new start for Libya's future ... I hope this is a continuation of what I saw on Tuesday -- eagerness of Libyans to start a new democracy... and the U.S. will support a new democratic path," Clinton said.

Clinton echoed President Obama's comments Thursday that the death of Gadhafi marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya.

"Today's events prove once more that the rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end," Obama said.

Gadhafi put on display in shopping center meat locker

Oct. 21, 2011 6:47 PM ET

Gadhafi put on display in shopping center freezer

KIM GAMEL, Associated Press

RAMI AL-SHAHEIBI, Associated Press

MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body was on display in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Friday as Libyan authorities argued about what to do with his remains and questions deepened over official accounts of the longtime dictator's death. New video emerged of his violent, chaotic last moments, showing fighters beating him as they drag him away.

Nearly every aspect of Thursday's killing of Gadhafi was mired in confusion, a sign of the difficulties ahead for Libya. Its new rulers are disorganized, its people embittered and divided. But the ruling National Transitional Council said it would declare the country's liberation on Saturday, the starting point for a timetable that calls for a new interim government within a month and elections within eight months.

The top U.N. rights chief raised concerns that Gadhafi may have been shot to death after being captured alive. The fate of his body seemed tied up in squabbles among Libya's factions, as fighters from Misrata — a city brutally besieged by Gadhafi's forces during the civil war — seemed to claim ownership of it, forcing the delay of a planned burial Friday.

Also muddled was the fate of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the only Gadhafi son who stayed in Libya and reportedly survived after his father's Aug. 21 ouster. It appeared Friday that he was still at large: some government ministers had said he was wounded and in custody in a hospital in the city of Zlitan, but a military official at the hospital, Hakim al-Kisher, denied he was there.

In Misrata, residents crowded into long lines to get a chance to view the body of Gadhafi, which was laid out on a mattress on the floor of an emptied-out vegetable and onions freezer at a local shopping center. The body had apparently been stowed in the freezer in an attempt to keep it out of the public eye, but once the location was known, that intention was swept away in the overwhelming desire of residents to see the man they so deeply despised.

Men, women and children filed in to take their picture with the body. The site's guards had even organized separate visiting hours for families and single men.

"We want to see the dog," some chanted.

Gadhafi's 69-year-old body was stripped to the waist, his torso and arms streaked with dried blood. Bullet wounds in the chest, abdomen and left side of the head were visible.

The bloody siege of Misrata over the summer instilled a particularly virulent hatred of Gadhafi there — a hatred now mixed with pride because he was captured and killed by fighters from the city.

New video posted on Facebook showed revolutionary fighters dragging a confused-looking Gadhafi up the hill to their vehicles after his capture and less than an hour before he was killed. The young men scream "Moammar, you dog!" as their former leader wipes at blood covering the left side of his head, neck and left shoulder.

Gadhafi gestures to the young men to be patient, and says "What's going on?" as he wipes fresh blood from his temple and glances at his palm. A young fighter later is shown carrying a boot and screaming, "This is Moammar's shoe! This is Moammar's shoe! Victory! Victory!"

In Tripoli, joy over Gadhafi's end spilled into a second day as thousands converged on central Martyrs' Square for Friday prayers and celebrations. Men danced and hoisted the country's new red-green-and-black flag.

"It's the start of a new era that everybody hopes will bring security and freedom," said Tarek Othman, a computer specialist. "I hope democracy is the path we take so all of these Libyans who have sacrificed will really feel free."

He stood with his wife — who wore a cap in the revolution's colors over her all-encompassing black niqab — in the square, which was formerly known as Green Square and was used by Gadhafi to stage rallies against the uprising.

Khaled Almslaty, a clothing vendor, said he wished Gadhafi had not been killed after being captured.

"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."

It's a tall order after nearly 42 years of rule by one man, who often acted according to whims and tolerated no dissent. Libya's new leaders have stressed the need for reconciliation, but many factions are eager to have their say after years of repression.

The Western-backed NTC, a collection of former rebels, returned exiles, technocrats and Islamists, has always been united behind its goal of ousting Gadhafi. Now the group must overcome divisions and competing self-interests to rebuild the oil-rich North African nation, which was stripped of institutions under Gadhafi.

The NTC said interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will formally declare liberation on Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution began in mid-February. Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril has promised to resign, saying he will not be part of any new government and will instead turn his attention to fighting corruption.

The transitional council has asked the United Nations "to play a significant role" in helping them write a constitution, hold elections and build democratic institutions, Ian Martin, the U.N. envoy to Libya, said.

"No one should underestimate in this moment of celebration in Libya how great are the challenges that lie ahead," he said. He also warned of "a major challenge in the future of those of the fighters who don't wish to return to previous civilian occupations."

Gadhafi was killed when revolutionary fighters overwhelmed him and the last of his loyalists in his coastal hometown Sirte, the last bastion of his regime to be captured after weeks of heavy fighting.

Authorities have promised to bury Gadhafi in accordance with Islamic traditions calling for quick interment, but Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said the burial was delayed because officials were debating "what the best place is to bury him."

Gadhafi's family, most of whom are in Algeria or other nearby African nations, issued a statement calling for an investigation into how Gadhafi and another of his sons, Muatassim, were killed. In the statement on the pro-Gadhafi, Syria-based TV station Al-Rai, they asked for international pressure on the NTC to hand over the bodies of the two men to their tribe.

Gadhafi was captured alive and there have been contradictory accounts of how and when he received his fatal wounds. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the images of his last moments were very disturbing.

"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," Colville said.

According to most accounts from fighters on the ground and their commanders, Gadhafi and his loyalists were in a convoy trying to flee when NATO airstrikes hit two of the vehicles. Then revolutionary forces moved in and clashed with the loyalists for several hours.

Gadhafi and his bodyguards fled their cars and took refuge in a nearby drainage tunnel. Fighters pursued and clashed with them before Gadhafi emerged from the tunnel and was grabbed by fighters.

Most accounts agree that Gadhafi died from wounds 30 to 40 minutes later as an ambulance took him to Misrata. But accounts differ over how he suffered those wounds.

Most commanders and fighters at the scene with whom The Associated Press has spoken say that when he was captured, Gadhafi already was fatally wounded. In the videos of his capture, however, he has blood on his head, but none on his chest or abdomen. At one point, his shirt is pulled up to his chest, but no wound is visible.

Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said Gadhafi was wounded after his capture. "It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists," Shammam said.

Other fighters, commanders and witnesses have not spoken of any such crossfire or further clashes. Siraq al-Hamali, a 21-year-old fighter, told AP that he rode in the vehicle carrying Gadhafi as it left Sirte. He did not mention coming under fire and said Gadhafi died en route of wounds he already had.

Even reports of the coroner's conclusions were confused over which wound was fatal — some said it was the shot to the head, others said it was a shot to the liver.

Muatassim, who had been his father's feared national security adviser, was captured alive separately in Sirte, and how he died also remains unknown.

In a video aired Friday on Al-Rai, the 34-year-old Muatassim, wearing a bloodied undershirt, sits on a mattress in a room with fighters around him. He takes a swig of water and smokes a cigarette as he argues with at least one man who accused him of robbing the country and abusing its sons.

The fighter then orders Muatassim to say "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" before the video cuts to a segment with Muatassim lying subdued on the mattress with his forearm on his forehead. He also appears to check for an injury on his collar bone. The last scene is of Muatassim lying dead, apparently in a hospital, with a huge gash in his chest.

___

Gamel reported from Tripoli. Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi, Sarah El Deeb and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.

In Libya, a spectacle greets Moammar Kadafi's corpse

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times

October 22, 2011

Reporting from Misurata, Libya— His body lay pale in the half-light of a meat locker, head tilted to one side, blood streaking his chest. Men laughed and ridiculed him as the scent of onions rose from the souk.

In life, his specter was towering, but in death Moammar Kadafi was diminutive, put on display along a row of butcher shops and vegetable stands. Boys and their fathers lined up for hundreds of yards outside the market's gates as if going to a carnival to glimpse the man they once believed invincible.

"I want him to keep the face of a tyrant in his mind," said Abdul Rahmen Swasi, pointing to his 11-year-old son, Mohammed. "We saw Kadafi talking for so many years on TV. Blah, blah, blah. But now we see him dead."

Swasi and his son inched forward, stepping over blowing trash, past men in fatigues brandishing guns. They pushed through the doorway into the room's chill, hurrying past the bullet-marked corpse and out into the air of a country much changed since Thursday, when revolutionary fighters killed the man who had ruled Libya for decades in still unexplained circumstances in his hometown, Surt.

The viewing was emotional and surreal, but Kadafi's reign was often beyond imagination. It seemed fitting that Misurata, a city by the sea that was pummeled into a hallmark of Kadafi's brutality during a siege this spring, gave the leader — stripped to the waist, his once famous locks forlorn — his final humiliation.

"Yes, he's gone," said Nagwi Omar, "but I'm an old man. He took my youth."

The United Nations on Friday called for an investigation into Kadafi's mysterious death. Cellphone videos show the former leader bleeding but alive when captured hiding in a drain pipe by fighters of the Transitional National Council. Later pictures show Kadafi dead in the back of an ambulance. The council said he was killed in a crossfire, but some of the footage suggests he may have been executed.

"There seem to be four or five different versions of how he died," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. "There are at least two cellphone videos, one showing him alive and one showing him dead. Taken together, these videos are very disturbing."

Kadafi's burial — reportedly to be in a secret place so his grave doesn't become a shrine for loyalists — has been postponed until an investigation is completed. This has angered some Muslims who contend that he should have been given a funeral quickly in keeping with Islamic law.

The eight-month civil war that led to Kadafi's demise was one of the more disturbing dramas of the so-called Arab Spring, which has slipped from inspiring uprisings against tyranny into a succession of unfinished revolutions. For Libyans, the death of their mercurial dictator has silenced the personality that defined their collective hatred. They must now confront tribalism, a wrecked economy and other problems that could lead to suspicions and new divisions.

For now, those concerns have been tempered by the euphoria over Kadafi's death. Celebratory gunfire rattles the sky, fighters toss candy into windows of passing cars at checkpoints, and streets and alleys are streaked in the colors of the new Libyan flag. But joblessness is high, phone cards are scarce, and heavy-caliber guns perch in the backs of countless pickups.

"There's a joke going around," said Reda Azzrroug, a university architecture student turned rebel who now limps from a gunshot wound. "An engineer from the U.S. came to fix Libya. He said, 'Take me to the highest point in the country.' They took him to a tower in Tripoli. He looked out over the country and said, 'Cover the whole thing in dirt and start over.'"

Azzrroug smiled: "Yes, we have our differences, but it will never come to a gunfight or a civil war again."

Across town, past a burned tank and streets of mortar-pocked buildings, Anwar Swan, a businessman who became an anti-Kadafi fighter, directed his men in an industrial courtyard of cement mixers, a pile of gravel, a forklift and three refrigerated shipping containers, all with shiny new padlocks. The middle container held the body of Mutassim Kadafi, killed in Surt the same day as his father.

Swan and his men were anxious, sweeping debris from outside the container and watering the ground to tamp blowing dust. In a few hours, he said, Moammar Kadafi's body would be brought from the souk and placed alongside his son's. Swan said the slayings of the two men would spare the country years of turmoil and recrimination.

"If we took him to trial, we wouldn't now be seeing his body and his story would drag on," said Swan, sweat running through his beard, his tunic stained with dirt. "We want the story of Kadafi finished. Today, the sun rose and Libya became new."

He walked and sat in the shade near a whitewashed mosque and a crooked radio tower bombed by Kadafi's forces. His men, all of them fighters, sat with him, listening. Bullet casings shone like dull pennies in the dirt.

"I want to block out the memory of war," said Swan. "We want to end our lives as free people. We will never allow anyone to control us again. Kadafi believed in devils, not God."

Swan waited for the truck that would bring Kadafi.

It would not be coming soon.

Miles away, a line of men and boys, and a few girls, stretched outside the souk. They moved slowly along a fence until a man with a rifle opened a gate, letting in about a dozen at a time. Each whispered, God is great. They hurried past onions drying in a stall and guards making tea. They turned the final corner and spotted the crowd at the meat locker's door.

The guards laughed and took pictures. They wanted the world to see that no man can outrun his sins. As Abdul Rahmen Swasi and his son drew closer to the door, they quieted. Other men and boys quieted too. So did Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, who arrived with an entourage and moved to the front of the line.

Swasi's brother, Mustafa, a merchant, stood almost at the door. "I never saw Kadafi face to face," he said. "But victory is now mine. I never thought I'd see this. A divine power has helped us."

He stepped into the half-light. Bullet wounds to belly and head. Blood on the mattress. Blood on the arms. Beige pants and thinning hair, so often disguised by hats. Mustafa Swasi left the souk before dusk, walking through the gate and into a city broken, but on the mend.

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

As Libya takes stock, Moammar Kadafi's hidden riches astound

New estimates of the former leader's assets — more than $200 billion — are called 'staggering.' If they prove true, he would rank among the world's most rapacious leaders.

By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

October 21, 2011, 6:53 p.m.

Reporting from Washington— Moammar Kadafi secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed, about $30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western governments previously had suspected, according to senior Libyan officials.

The new estimates of the deposed dictator's hidden cash, gold reserves and investments are "staggering," one person who has studied detailed records of the asset search said Friday. "No one truly appreciated the scope of it."

If the values prove accurate, Kadafi will go down in history as one of the most rapacious as well as one of the most bizarre world leaders, on a scale with the late Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire or the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

Kadafi's death after he was captured Thursday outside his birthplace, the coastal town of Surt, not only all but ended the armed uprising that erupted in February. Revelation of the stunning size of the portfolio may stir anger among Libya's 6.5 million people — about one-third of whom live in poverty.

Though Kadafi's foreign investments would seem to offer a bonanza for the transitional government, it is struggling to reclaim the money because of legal barriers created by a U.N. freeze on Libyan assets and national laws designed to ensure seized assets are only released to the legal owner.

U.S. and European authorities said Friday that they intended to quickly hand over frozen assets to the transitional Libyan government. But so far, the U.N. has authorized release of only $1.5 billion from accounts in the U.S., and the Obama administration has turned over $700 million of that amount, said Marti Adams, a Treasury Department spokeswoman.

Some African nations were reluctant to freeze Libyan accounts at all because of their loyalty to Kadafi. Others feared that freezing Libyan assets could hurt their domestic economies as bills and workers went unpaid.

During his 42 years in power, Kadafi steered aid and investment to benefit his own family and tribe, but denied support for much of the country, especially the eastern region that historically resisted his family's despotic grip on power.

Obama administration officials were stunned last spring when they found $37 billion in Libyan regime accounts and investments in the United States, and they quickly froze the assets before Kadafi or his aides could move them.

Governments in France, Italy, England and Germany seized control of another $30 billion or so. Investigators estimated that Kadafi had stashed perhaps another $30 billion elsewhere in the world, for a total of about $100 billion.

But subsequent investigations by American, European and Libyan authorities determined that Kadafi secretly sent tens of billions more abroad over the years and made sometimes lucrative investments in nearly every major country, including much of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, officials said Friday.

Most of the money was under the name of government institutions such as the Central Bank of Libya, the Libyan Investment Authority, the Libyan Foreign Bank, the Libyan National Oil Corp. and the Libya African Investment Portfolio. But investigators said Kadafi and his family members could access any of the money if they chose to.

The new $200 billion figure is about double the prewar annual economic output of Libya, which has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa.

Officials of the transitional government point to the secret transfer of so much wealth as proof that Kadafi, who once gave himself the title "King of Kings," had imperial ambitions for himself but little concern for most Libyans.

Kadafi was sending vast sums abroad "at a time when Libyans were struggling for the money they needed for schools, hospitals and all sorts of infrastructure," said one person close to the council, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing.

Investigators believe Kadafi's foreign investments accelerated in recent years. Almost all the assets and accounts found in the United States were from the last four or five years, after Kadafi surrendered a nascent nuclear weapons program and moved toward restoring full diplomatic relations with Washington.

In addition to the vast foreign investments, Kadafi is believed to have amassed billions of dollars in gold reserves inside Libya, possibly for use in case his rule was threatened. Western authorities believe Kadafi and his aides secretly maneuvered to bring some of the cash back to Tripoli to help pay for their war effort.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an NBC interviewer Thursday that rebel forces had worried that Kadafi could still "be recruiting mercenaries, paying with the gold they believe he had absconded with."

Western officials have struggled all year not only to identify Kadafi's money but also to convince countries such as India, China and Russia to seize Libyan investments as required by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Investigations last spring found Libyan regime investments in several high-profile Western ventures, including the Italian soccer club Juventus, the Italian bank UniCredit and the British publisher Pearson, which owns the Financial Times newspaper.

Officials now believe other assets include accounts held by Kadafi family members with money drawn from national oil sales.

Steven Cook, a Mideast specialist at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, said it was known that Kadafi had invested heavily in nearby African nations, since he sought to build and lead a pan-African alliance.

"But all this, of course, goes way beyond that," Cook said.

paul.richter@latimes.com

How do you spell Moammar Kadafi

Yes, we really spell it 'Kadafi'

October 21, 2011 | 3:54 pm

And we seem to have done so since 1969.

The man whose name the Los Angeles Times spells as Moammar Kadafi is Muammer el-Qaddafi in the New York Times, Moammar Gaddafi in the Washington Post and Moammar Gadhafi in Associated Press articles.

We addressed the spelling of the late Libyan president's name in February and again in August. In short: We began using Kadafi in 1969, when the rebel leader seized power, under guidance from our Middle East correspondent at the time. He advised that the sound that begins the leader’s name was best translated as a “k”. (That also explains our spelling of Koran vs. AP’s Quran.)

The Poynter Institute weighed in today with a blog post: Not that news orgs care, but Libyan leader spelled his name ‘Moammar El-Gadhafi’

Many readers, seeing the varied spellings used by others in the news media, are sure The Times is wrong.

Reader R. Kaller emailed today to ask if "Kadafi" was a phonetic spelling and argued that "Gaddafi" was correct. "I expect higher standards of The Times," Kaller wrote.

At least we've been consistent all these years.

--Deirdre Edgar

Will Syria's Bashar Assad be the next Arab dictator strung up from a street lamp?

Syrian protesters gain resolve from Kadafi's demise

October 21, 2011 | 1:08 pm

REPORTING FROM BEIRUT -- Inspired by the demise of Libya's Moammar Kadafi, antigovernment protesters took to the streets of Syria and nearby countries on Friday to demand the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

"People of Libya, we rejoice for your happiness," read one banner held aloft by protesters in the flashpoint city of Homs.

"The news about Kadafi gave us a renewed resolve," said an activist reached by Skype in the city's embattled Bab Amro neighborhood. "It gave us a big boost of morale." The activist asked to be identified only as Shadi because of fears of reprisals.

The Syrian protesters' invoking of the Libyan experience was perhaps the most dramatic example of how the death of Kadafi has rippled across the region. Amateur video of the ousted Libyan leader's last moments, along with photos of his dead body, were aired over and over on Arabic-language television stations.

The protests, which followed mid-day prayers, have become a weekly occurrence in Syria since major demonstrations began in March. Activists say brutal government repression has also become routine.

On Friday, Syrian security forces killed at least 24 people, including 19 in Homs, according to the Local Coordinating Committees, an anti-Assad coalition, which issued a statement extolling the Libyans' struggle.

"We, as participants in a similar battle for freedom, congratulate the Libyan people's great victory," the group said. "There is no turning back from the demands for freedom."

In Homs' Baba Amro district, witnesses spoke of fire from machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons and various armored vehicles, including tanks. Amateur footage uploaded to YouTube was said to show smoke billowing from the neighborhood. (See below)

Still, protesters came out in many sites, activists said, including the suburbs of Damascus, the capital.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency denied the reports of civilians killed by government forces and said "armed terrorist groups" had killed a soldier and two civilians in Homs and Hama.

The government says armed groups, operating under a "foreign agenda" -- likely a coded reference to Washington and its regional allies -- are stoking the unrest. Along with peaceful protesters, some Assad opponents have taken up arms against the government. But the size of the armed opposition remains unclear.

Source

Autopsy: Libya's Gadhafi killed by shot to head

Posted 10/23/2011 8:37 AM ET

By Kim Gamel And Karin Laub, Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya — An autopsy confirmed that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi died from a gunshot to the head, the country's chief pathologist said Sunday, just hours before Libya's new leaders were to declare liberation and a formal end to an eight-month civil war to topple the longtime ruler's regime.

The declaration starts the clock on a transition to democracy that is fraught with uncertainty and could take up to two years.

However, international concern about the circumstances of Gadhafi's death and indecision over what to do with his remains overshadowed what was to be a joyful day. [ So is there a UN approved way of killing brutal dictators? On the other hand the majority of the countries in the UN are run by dictators and despots so I suspect they have good reasons to demand that they be protected from the serfs they rule over. ] Gadhafi's body has been on public display in a commercial freezer in a shopping center in the port city of Misrata, which suffered from a bloody siege by regime forces during the spring.

The 69-year-old was captured wounded, but alive Thursday in his hometown of Sirte as it became the last city to fall to revolutionary forces. Bloody images of Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by his captors have raised questions about whether he was killed in crossfire as suggested by government officials or deliberately executed.

An autopsy completed Sunday in Misrata showed that Gadhafi was killed by a shot to the head, said Libya's chief pathologist, Dr. Othman al-Zintani. He would not disclose further details or elaborate on Gadhafi's final moments, saying he would first deliver a full report to the attorney general.

Most Libyans weren't concerned about the circumstances of the hated leader's death, but rather were relieved the country's ruler of 42 years was gone, clearing the way for a new beginning.

"If he (Gadhafi) was taken to court, this would create more chaos, and would encourage his supporters," said Salah Zlitni, 31, who owns a pizza parlor in downtown Tripoli. "Now it's over."

Libya's interim leaders are to formally declare later Sunday that the country has been liberated. The ceremony is to take place in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution's birthplace.

The long-awaited declaration starts the clock on Libya's transition to democracy. The transitional leadership has said it would declare a new interim government within a month of liberation and elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months, to be followed by votes for a parliament and president within a year.

The uprising against the Gadhafi regime erupted in February, as part of anti-government revolts spreading across the Middle East. Neighboring Tunisia, which set off the so-called Arab Spring with mass protests nearly a year ago, has taken the biggest step on the path to democracy, voting for a new assembly Sunday in its first truly free elections. Egypt, which has struggled with continued unrest, is next with parliamentary elections slated for November.

Libya's struggle has been the bloodiest so far in the region. Mass protests quickly turned into a civil war that killed thousands and paralyzed the country for the past eight months. Even after revolutionary forces captured the capital Tripoli in late August, a fugitive Gadhafi and his supporters fought back fiercely from three regime strongholds.

Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte was the last to fall last week, but Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, apparently escaped with some of his supporters.

Libya's acting prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, who has said he plans to resign after liberation, said Libya's National Transitional Council must move quickly to disarm former Libyan rebels and make sure huge weapons caches are turned over in coming days. The interim government has not explained in detail how it would tackle the task.

Jibril told the British Broadcasting Corp. in comments to be broadcast Sunday that "at the personal level I wish (Gadhafi) was alive" so he could face questions from the Libyan people buckling under decades of his harsh rule.

Jibril said he would not oppose a full investigation under international supervision into Gadhafi's death.

Source

Moammar Kadafi's family reportedly will sue NATO

October 26, 2011 | 11:06 am

The family of deceased Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi reportedly plans to file a war-crimes complaint against NATO for the role they believe the international military alliance played in the former leader’s death, a lawyer for the family told Agence France-Presse news service.

Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who previously worked for Kadafi's regime and now represents his family, told AFP on Wednesday that the complaint would be filed with the International Criminal Court in the Hague because the family believes a NATO strike on Kadafi’s convoy led directly to his death.

Kadafi, who ruled Libya for more than four decades, was captured alive by revolutionary fighters on Thursday in his hometown of Surt, ending an eight-month war that cost more than 30,000 lives. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.

Libyan authorities have said he likely died in crossfire. Others, including the international rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch, believe Kadafi was executed. But Kadafi’s family is convinced that he died as a result of NATO aircraft firing on his convoy as it fled Surt, Ceccaldi told AFP.

"The willful killing [of someone protected by the Geneva Convention] is defined as a war crime by Article 8 of the ICC's Rome Statute," the news agency quoted Ceccaldi as saying. "Kadafi's homicide shows that the goal of [NATO] member states was not to protect civilians but to overthrow the regime.”

It was unclear when the complaint would be filed, but Ceccaldi said the lawsuit would target NATO executive bodies and leaders of the alliance’s member states.

In June, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Kadafi, his son and onetime heir apparent Seif Islam Kadafi, and Abdullah Sanoussi, the regime's former security chief, for murder and other crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the regime's crackdown on protesters this year.

On Tuesday, media reports indicated that Seif was trying to escape to neighboring Niger, where Sanoussi had reportedly already fled.

Source

Kadafi, his son and an aide secretly buried in unmarked graves

October 25, 2011 | 7:09 am

REPORTING FROM BEIRUT — The macabre and divisive drama about the decomposing remains of Moammar Kadafi appears to have come to a conclusion.

Reports out of Libya indicate that Kadafi’s body was buried at dawn Tuesday in a secret location. Also reportedly buried were the remains of his son, Mutassim, and a former chief military aide, Abu Bakr Yunis.

According to international news reports, the bodies were washed and an Islamic ceremony was conducted in front of relatives and local political and military authorities.

[Updated, 7:48 a.m., Oct. 25: The burials came amid reports that another of Kadafi’s sons — his one-time heir apparent, Seif Islam Kadafi — was heading for the nation of Niger just south of Libya. Rissa ag Boula, an advisor to Niger's president and an elected official in the northern Niger town of Agadez, told Associated Press that he was in touch with ethnic Tuaregs who are helping guide the younger Kadafi through southern Libya to Niger.

“If he comes here, the government will accept him, but the government will also need to respect its international obligations,” Boula said, noting that Seif Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court. Niger has said it will turn over members of Kadafi’s regime wanted by the court.

The body of the senior Kadafi had been on public display inside a vegetable cold-storage locker in the coastal city of Misurata. The bodies of Mutassim and the leader’s former aide were later laid down next to Kadafi’s.]

Images of the gruesome spectacle of Libyans posing alongside the gradually decomposing bodies were broadcast worldwide, drawing both morbid interest and revulsion. Many Libyans came from miles to view the remains and record the moment with photos and video of the corpse of the man who ruled Libya for more than four decades.

Delaying the decision on the ultimate disposal of the corpses were reported disagreements between officials in Misurata and authorities of Libya’s transitional leadership in Tripoli, the capital. Libya’s new rulers didn’t want Kadafi's burial place to become a shrine for ex-supporters or a rallying point for potential pro-Kadafi insurgents. Kadafi’s family demanded that the remains be turned over to tribal kin in his hometown, Surt.

All three were reported captured alive Thursday in Surt as the city was overrun by revolutionary fighters after weeks of intense battles. How the three died remains a matter of controversy.

Libyan authorities in Tripoli say Kadafi likely died in crossfire during the heated last morning of the battle for Surt. Others say the evidence indicates Kadafi was executed with a bullet to the his head while he was a prisoner. Amateur video showed fighters manhandling and shouting at the bloodied, dazed Kadafi after his capture.

Succumbing to international pressure, authorities have vowed to investigate the matter.

Kim Jong-il to North Koreans in Libya: Don't bother coming home

Kim Jong-il to North Koreans in Libya: Don't bother coming home

October 31, 2011 | 1:42 am

REPORTING FROM SEOUL -– Worried they might return with provocative tales of a populist uprising that just toppled another Middle East dictator, strongman Kim Jong-il has issued a decree to North Koreans in Libya – don’t bother coming home.

The ban was an effort to prevent word of the often-violent Arab uprisings from reaching the isolated regime, illustrating Kim’s concern about potential social unrest at home inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions, according to stories published in the South Korean press.

The move has left an estimated 200 North Koreans stranded as country-less orphans. They include doctors, nurses and construction workers sent to Libya to bring hard currency back to their impoverished country, which many say is undergoing food shortages as winter looms.

A global pariah who suffers from numerous U.N.-sanctioned boycotts, Kim is left to search for nations that dare to ignore international consensus and conduct trade that allows the regime to continue its missile and nuclear programs. Therefore, Kim maintained close ties with Moammar Gadhafi's regime before the collapse.

According to reports, North Korea has remained silent on Gadhafi’s death and refuses to recognize Libya's rebel-led National Transitional Council as the nation’s legitimate governing authority. The death leaves Kim among a diminished set of iron-fisted rulers worldwide.

North Korea has also issued no-return bans to its officials in Tunisia and Egypt, which have also experienced populist anti-government uprisings, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

North Korean defectors continue to hammer away at Kim's fortress of silence, sending helium balloons into the nation from South Korea with pamphlets criticizing Kim’s regime. It’s not clear whether any of the activists plan to send notices of the series of Arab Spring revolts.

Many consider an uprising against Kim a far-fetched dream. Like Mao’s China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and early 70s, the North Korean leader controls his subjects by a cult of personality that calls for God-like obedience.

North Korea is also intolerant of dissent and tightly controls any information spread within and across its borders.

But some South Korean bloggers hold out hope for Kim's demise.

"Of course the North Korean citizens in Libya will talk about the demonstration and things they saw," one wrote in a posting. "But stopping them from returning home is not going to stop the spread of suspicion, disturbance and dissatisfaction within North Korea."

A recent editorial in the Seoul-based Korean Herald newspaper estimated that less than 1% of North Koreans are aware of the African uprising: all of them top-level party and administration officials with access to satellite television, as well as the few allowed to travel to China on business.

“Pyongyang’s silence about the fall of the dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and the bloody death of Gadhafi reveals Kim Jong-il’s awareness of the vulnerability of his regime in the process of a third-generation dynastic succession of power,” the editorial said.

“Despite their boasting of the perfect loyalty of the 23 million people to the party and its leader, the ruling elite are afraid of what effect the information on the fates of overseas dictatorships will have on the oppressed people of the country.”

Facing food shortages and ongoing international pressure, Kim’s time to step down will come sooner or later, the newspaper predicted.

“Violent demonstrations are raging in two Middle East nations and it is a matter of time before the North Korean people reach the limit of their endurance of hunger and repression and rise up against the Kim rule,” the editorial concluded.

Ex-Lair of Tyrant, Now Just Any Place

Ex-Lair of Tyrant, Now Just Any Place

By ADAM NOSSITER

Published: November 7, 2011

TRIPOLI, Libya — Toothpaste and moisturizing cream, aftershave, shoes, sheep and dogs, pigeons, toilet plungers and bicycle pumps now populate the once-forbidden grounds that were the Brother Leader’s private domain, a sudden reversal of fortune that must rank with the Sack of Rome in its completeness. Up to five months ago anyone lingering near the Bab al-Aziziya complex, much less trying to buy a mattress there, could expect arrest.

Once Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s sprawling and secretive walled compound inside the capital, it has been pillaged and turned over to the people in a big way. He was killed over two weeks ago, but his defeat is re-enacted daily in thousands of people’s victories at what was the center of his power. It is now a testament to the humbling of power: messy fields of smashed concrete, iron rods and mud.

The community has filled the vacuum of the colonel’s demise, transforming this once spectacularly symbolic place into the most ordinary of locations. It is no longer an element in the alchemy of Colonel Qaddafi, but merely the backdrop to a Friday market, with vendors and shoppers outwardly nonchalant about their haunted surroundings. Every day, families tour the still-smoky remains with quiet glee. Where Colonel Qaddafi received foreign leaders, made bellicose televised speeches or simply enjoyed his nicely landscaped swimming pool, small children armed with plastic rifles now romp.

Mothers and fathers from the provinces look on with quiet satisfaction; even those who did not take up arms against the colonel can now redress 40 years of humiliation. The compound was bombed repeatedly by NATO this year before being taken by the rebels on Aug. 23.

“All his 42 years, he said, ‘Just do this, just do that,’ ” said Khaled al-Fittouri, 28, a security guard who came in from Zlitan with his two small daughters on a recent Saturday. His daughters giggled at shreds of a wig hanging from a vine-covered wall. “We want to see how Qaddafi lived,” Mr. Fittouri said.

A visiting taxi driver recalled how five years earlier he had been detained and questioned for an hour after his cab broke down outside the high thick walls. “Tomorrow, you won’t see the sun,” he said his interrogators told him.

“Praise God,” said the cabdriver, Saad Amar el-Arabi, as he recalled the moment. “Now we are free.”

The Libyan capital’s newly famous tourist attractions exist in a world turned upside down.

The evocative whitewashed Medina, the Old City of the Ottoman Turks, is empty of visitors, as are the grandiose nearby Roman ruins of Leptis Magna, a more imposing monument to the temporal limitations of authoritarian overreach than Colonel Qaddafi’s already tattered remnants.

But Bab al-Aziziya, nerve center of the colonel’s feared Revolutionary Committees and Intelligence Bureau, private residence and military barracks, and even the sprawling and now-vandalized Abu Salim prison complex, where political prisoners were tortured and killed, have troops of avid visitors.

“My friends died here,” said Mohammed Khalifa Swisse, a sad-eyed man who had come with his video camera to record the wide-open cell doors, hastily discarded sandals, piles of wiring, broken glass and torn foam mattresses of the now-empty prison.

In the twilight he recalled the day 15 years ago when the prison echoed to shouts of “Allahu akbar” as automatic fire and grenades rained down on prisoners penned in an enclosed courtyard. About 1,200 died in two and a half hours; bullet holes still pockmark the walls of the silent space. Mr. Swisse spent 12 years at Abu Salim for having scrawled anti-Qaddafi graffiti on a downtown wall, he said.

Off the sunlit seaside Martyr’s Square where Colonel Qaddafi (and before him, Mussolini) addressed the masses, crowds of men pore over tables stacked high with outlandish oversized postcards. They are not buying, simply staring in amazement: Qaddafi as a prostitute, Qaddafi wearing shimmering dresses, Qaddafi sporting the Star of David, Qaddafi having his wig shaved by a mean-looking barber, Qaddafi as an aging diva, Qaddafi emerging from a sewer.

A similar over-the-top liberation from the colonel’s psychic stranglehold is playing out elsewhere, too. In Misurata, people lined up for several days to see his corpse, proof that Brother Leader was, indeed, a mortal. And in Benghazi, walls are decorated with mocking graffiti that surpasses even what can be found in Tripoli: One drawing shows Qaddafi enthroned on a toilet.

And the Friday market at Bab al-Aziziya is proof that the commercial opportunities offered by his downfall are limitless, with an ingenious fusion of theme park — Come see how the Brother Leader lived! — and outdoor shopping mall. The visitor is hooked by a peek into the ruined boudoir, then sold on a great deal for an extension cord.

The vendors who have set up shop there in recent weeks take their unusual surroundings in stride. A mountain of rubble that for 25 years was the colonel’s own carefully preserved ruin — the building bombed by the United States in 1986 — is now the backdrop for Abdu Salam al-Harashi’s electrical goods stand. “Wherever you can go and get money is a good place,” he said. “I don’t really mind it, as long as I can sell.”

A shopper clutching plastic bags of newly bought toiletries, Omar Ramadan, said: “The mind can’t believe this. As a Libyan, it is impossible for me to express how I feel.” His small grin told a different story.

Inside the walled grove where the colonel’s residence was located, Nasser al-Ghati’s two boys were scampering around. “We got rockets aimed at our kids, and he was happy in here,” Mr. Al-Ghati said.

Fathi Mabrouk Khalifa, who had just bought some emblems of the new government — some revolutionary posters — said: “A dictator used to live here. Now it’s a Friday market. We’re still living in a dream.”

Fighters who captured Gadhafi son want to hold him

Source

Fighters who captured Gadhafi son want to hold him

Posted 11/20/2011 7:32 AM ET

By Rami Al-Shaheibi And Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Associated Press

ZINTAN, Libya — The revolutionary fighters who captured Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent said Sunday they want to hold him in their town until a court system is established in Libya, and they demanded he be tried inside the country.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi was seized in Libya's southern desert by fighters from the western mountain town of Zintan, the base of former rebels who played a key role in seizing the capital Tripoli in August and toppling Gadhafi's regime. He was put into a plane and flown back to Zintan, 85 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli, where he remains in a secret location.

The head of Zintan's military council, Col. Mohammed al-Khabash, said his fighters have no intention of turning Seif al-Islam over to the National Transitional Council in Tripoli, the interim government that took power after Gadhafi's ouster.

"Seif al-Islam is like any other local prisoner and we will keep him in Zintan until a court system is established and he must be tried in Libya," al-Khabash told the Associated Press.

Gadhafi's son, once being groomed to take over from his father who ruled Libya for 42 years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands on charges of crimes against humanity for his role in violently suppressing the uprising against the regime that began in February.

NTC Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi claimed Saturday after Seif al-Islam was captured that he would be transported to Tripoli soon -- an indication that he was expected to be handed over to NTC custody.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the AP Saturday that he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the NTC on where the trial will take place. Ocampo said that while national governments have the first right to try their own citizens for war crimes, his primary goal was to ensure Seif al-Islam has a fair trial.

The statement by the Zintan fighters raises new questions about how firm the NTC's authority is over the entire country and whether powerful regional factions with bands of armed fighters are able to act autonomously, even on issues of the highest national interest.

Gadhafi himself and another one of his sons, Muatassim, were captured alive last month by another strong regional group, the Misrata fighters, who also took part in the march on Tripoli that toppled the regime. By the end of the day they were seized on, they both ended up dead while still in the hands of Misrata fighters in circumstances that have yet to be explained. The Misrata fighters held onto their corpses and displayed them as trophies for days in a commercial refrigerator in their city, where people lined up to view the decomposing bodies.

Human Rights Watch has called for Seif al-Islam to be promptly turned over to the International Criminal Court in a statement, citing the apparent killings in custody of his father and brother, Muatassim, on Oct. 20 as "particular cause for concern."

Seif al-Islam's capture leaves only former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi wanted by the ICC, which indicted the two men along with Gadhafi in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising against the Gadhafi regime that broke out in mid-February. Protests inspired by the so-called Arab Spring sweeping the region soon escalated into a civil war, with NATO launching airstrikes under a U.N.-mandate to protect civilians.

Photos and video clips showed Seif al-Islam wearing glasses and a beard, clothed in brown robes and a turban in the style of ethnic Tuaregs, a nomadic community that spans the desert border area of Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria and Chad and long fought for his father's regime. In some, he was bundled onto an airplane that apparently carried him to Zintan.

It was a dramatic turnabout for Seif al-Islam, who is the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi. He had one older half brother, Mohammed.

He went underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces in late August and was widely reported to have long been hiding in the besieged town of Bani Walid, issuing audio recordings to try to rally support for his father, but he escaped before it fell to revolutionary forces.

According these articles the freedom fighters in Egypt appear to be losing ground. Even the cops don't like the new dictator.

And here are some articles on other freedom fighters in the Arab world.