Muammar Gaddafi was killed on Thursday as Libya's new leaders declared they had overrun the last bastion of his long rule, sparking wild celebrations that eight months of war may finally be over.
Details of the death near Sirte of the fallen strongman were hazy but it was announced by several officials of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and backed up by a photograph of a bloodied face ringed by familiar, Gaddafi-style curly hair.
"He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that," the NTC's information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, told Reuters.
This a breaking story, and apparently it has not been confirmed by the state department, but there are numerous confirmations coming out of Libya, including from the Libyan Information Minister, that the tyrant has been killed, and there are widespread reports of rebel celebrations in the streets
I am not exactly sure what this means for the relationship between the United States and Libya, but it looks like President Obama's early support of the rebels was certainly the smart choice, and the recent visit by Secretary of State Clinton, may provide the United States with some influence over the type of government that finally emerges from the ashes.
These are fascinating times we live in, that is for damn sure!
.
Good riddance.
ReplyDeletePalin should take a good look at this man's face. Remember when he first came on the scene, he was handsome, dashing in his uniform. Years of lies, corruption, vindictiveness and look at him now!! Scarah, look at what YOUR future holds. Seems she is already on the way, the last appearances she has made, she looks like HELL.
ReplyDeleteFrom
ReplyDeletehttp://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/10/a-tale-of-two-presidents.html
A reader writes:
Bush and Saddam - One Trillion dollars and thousands of US lives.
Obama and Qaddafi - One Billion dollars and zero US lives.
Meep Meep indeed.
And this time, the Arab world loves us as well.
To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now.
----
The above from Andrew Sullivan's site. Very astute I'd say.
I don't know, maybe keeping him alive so he could talk would have been smarter. Of course the Powers That Be would never allow that. Too many of them would be named by him in some of the heinous deeds he was allowed to do and lord knows the PTB cannot have that.
ReplyDeleteNever fear, they'll find some other dictator to fund and make sure they end up owning all the wealth he or she siphons off of the people. Same shit, different century.
The Iranian people, brutally and successfully punished to submission in their incredibly brave rebellion, must be wondering where was international help for them? Egypt and now Libya have new beginnings, freedom from their dictators. The Iranian people's hope for the same, crushed.
ReplyDeleteThis is what people were referring to. THIS is what would happen under singlepayer.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kplr11.com/entertainment/kplr-mendte-palin-death-panels-101911,0,2115743.story
Huh? I thought it was some guy named Khadaffi that was killed? (OK, been watching too many GOP debates...Stupid is catching.)
ReplyDelete7:04,
ReplyDeleteSarah sees that face every time she looks in the mirror. Then she hides it, or tries to hide it, with a makeup mask.
Terrible obituary photo. Thanks for the confirmation of the choice I've made to go grey naturally.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:20, the story is sad IF TRUE but I don't believe it. The reporter is withholding details or doesn't know the whole story. Wait for developments or agitate for the truth, but don't spread rumors. Not that I think you'll listen to me.
Doesn't seem to be much Palin news anymore which is the only reason I come to this site. Maybe that is good new!!
ReplyDeleteGeez he's got a face like a foot.
ReplyDelete~Canuck~
Interesting reports on the death, though, and awfully familiar. He was found in a hole. He was drug. He was pleading for his life....
ReplyDeleteThese accounts sound suspiciously like the accounts of the deaths of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
I think it'll be hard to ever get the real truth of what happened to these men.
More on Gadaffi:
ReplyDeletehttp://theobamadiary.com/2011/10/20/chat-away-8/
O/T..Joe is NOT letting up on Sarah for a second. Here is part of his brilliant smackdown of late:
ReplyDelete...Sarah reached her “do it or get off the pot” moment two weeks ago, and stood up, flushed her supporters down the toilet, and walked away.
Does anyone think she might still influence even one percent of those likely to vote in GOP primaries?
When history looks you in the eye and you blink, the parade marches on, with all the other clowns clamoring for the attention you once commanded.
You become not even history, but merely a footnote to it.
Although I guess being the single least qualified candidate for national office in the political history of the United States does count for something.
But now?
Who, really, is asking, “What does Sarah think?”
She faced her ultimate moment of truth in the first week of October.
And she cowered from it, turned her back and ran for cover, shouting all the way, “It’s God’s fault! He closed the door!”
You don’t have to be an atheist to laugh at Sarah trying to blame God for her own inadequacies.
The Mama Grizzly turned out to be a Mama Ostrich–sticking her head in the sand, so she wouldn’t have to see what a fool she’d made of herself.
I don’t think she’ll ever be able to look herself in a mirror and acknowledge the extent to which she made fools of the gullible and dimwitted who supported her for the past three years, while she carried out the cynical scam that made her a multi-millionaire, even as it left them high and dry–or low and wet, submerged beneath the sewage of her words.
http://www.joemcginniss.net/does-anyone-care-who-sarah-palin-endorses-for-gop-nomination/Joe%20McGinniss
O/T warning.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of dick-tators, here's another gem by Jim Demint, the guy who said that "unmarried single mothers shouldn't be teaching in schools"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/02/demint-gays-unmarried-pregnant-women-teachers_n_748131.html
He now wants to make it ILLEGAL for any woman to talk or communicate over the "internet" with a doctor about abortion or reproductive health care issues
That's right kids, no Skype, no Twitter, no iPhone conferencing, nada.
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/jim-demints-newest-abortion-ban-discussing-
That's right, believe it or not.
I wonder if Demint knows that most of his personal phone calls are carried over peering points to NOCs that are co-shared, and that TCP/IP internet traffic on fiber to satellite communication is using the same network backbones as your cell phone or home phone?
Does that mean no more phone calls?
Can't even make a Dr appointment cuz it might use "interwebZ?
Is Jim Demint the stupidest person on earth, or just a demented, feckless, viciously ignorant stooge?
Gryphen... why did you draw a goatee on Sarah's photo?
ReplyDeleteWith Palin gone is this site just going to show clips from MSNBC and big news from the MSM? You need some original content.
ReplyDeleteBTW, where's Fred's book? You're starting to look pretty bad on this.
I was looking at photos on MSNBC and damn those are some hard ass fighters, the rebels.
ReplyDeleteNo fancy uniforms, many in FLIP FLOPS, and just bolt on a machine gun to the truck and lets go! A real revolution, wonder if the Wll St. folks could go that rogue?
I hope for the best for the country, such a shame it had to get trashed to get rid of the trash.
I often hum this song
"Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me" or anywhere in the mideast?
peace to all
You say that this may provide the U.S. with influence over the type of government that emerges as if that were a good thing. But if the U.S. does have such influence, we'll be blamed for the (likely) failures of that government. And the government will be unlikely to last, because governments perceived as puppets of foreigners don't usually last, and when it falls, the next government will be strongly anti-U.S., since it will blame the U.S. for the faults of its fallen predecessor.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but here's some thigh-fat for the 7:20 troll:
ReplyDeleteYou're serious? A dead Gaddafi has any comparison whatsoever with Sarah Palin's "Death Panels?" Please note that your "news" piece is filed under "Entertainment," and the reporter says, "IF THAT'S TRUE," meaning that he didn't bother to actually interview the patient, or her "advocate," or a hospital or Medicare official, or do any of those journalist-y research-y type thingies.
And you, dearie, didn't bother to do any thinking either. "Single payer" means single payer, with no profit-motive, care-withholding gold-plated-executive-multimillion-dollar-bonus crap. Get rid of that whole layer of cream-skimming insurance industry profiteering and there WOULD BE money for old ladies with broken arms. Obviously under the current FREE MARKET system the homeless and uninsured are dying and going without treatment. I wonder why your beloved Mendte Man doesn't boohoo over THEM?
"I don't know, maybe keeping him alive so he could talk would have been smarter. Of course the Powers That Be would never allow that. Too many of them would be named by him in some of the heinous deeds he was allowed to do and lord knows the PTB cannot have that.
ReplyDeleteNever fear, they'll find some other dictator to fund and make sure they end up owning all the wealth he or she siphons off of the people. Same shit, different century."
---------------------------------
@7:11 AM
It was the Lybian rebels who killed him. They are the ones who chose not to keep him alive.
@Sam
ReplyDeletePeople like you are always complaining, and can never be happy with even a little progress.
@7:20 AM
ReplyDeleteHorseshit.
Can you imagine if the recent events in the Middle East had happened under Bush and Cheney? Mt. Rushmore indeed...they would have claimed an entire mountain for themselves! Parades, self-congratulatory news conferences, rewriting Texas history books again: all would have happened to show how tough they are and how safe the rest of us are under the GOP thumb. I can hardly wait for the GOP pretender to attack this President on defense. Or, frankly, any other issue...what have they been doing since 2008 other than demonizing him and anyone not buying their horrible agenda?
ReplyDeletePlease, Gryphen, this is not the time to mock the late King of Kings of Africa. (better late than never, I say!!) Let's show some restraint. Some decorum. Let's be dignified about this and take a moment to remember Kaddafi/Ghadaffi/Gaddaffy/Qaddafee/Khad'afi/K'adddaffii/Qad'afi/et al not at his bloody nadir, but at his pinnacle, resplendent in his comically ginormous gold fringed epaulets you could land a small helicopter on. He had his faults, sure, but he died justifiable proud of his efforts to bring his gigantic, tiny country from the isolation, violence, corruption and ignorance of the 11th century into the isolation, violence, corruption and ignorance of the 14th century. Col. Kaddafi/Ghadaffi/Gaddaffy/Qaddafee/Khad'afi/K'adddaffii/Qad'afi/et al, I take my ridiculous looking spun gold pillbox hat off to you, sir! Good bye and good riddance!
ReplyDeleteAnother superb outcome led and devised by the Obama admin. Another high value terrorist fed to the pigs. Remember 2 months ago when ALL the Republicans (especially limp wristed Lindsey Graham, McCain, the porky pill popper, McConnell and Boehner) told us over and over that Obama's Libyan policy to oust Kadafi was disasterous. Some disaster - not a single American loss, we succeeded brilliantly 'on the cheap' with the British and the French assisting - magnificent NATO high tech cooperation. Plus the free Libyans did all the heavy lifting in terms of fighting and dying. It's win-win for everyone except anti-American Republicans and pro-Kaddafi sympathizers.
ReplyDeleteSorry OT - but this is the right place for my plea.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, I am one of the very last people to give up on the evolving aol-Huffington post. But I am finally done with the ridiculously moderated comments, where anything other than the accepted mindset is deleted !!
Can anyone suggest a better one-stop-shop where I can get the latest political & world news? I know its a naive question...but, I've got only www.thinkprogress.org.
(Are any of you regularly using BBC or Al jazeera english online?)
If you dont want to hijack the thread...you can email me directly at stilljustval@yahoo.com.
Thank you.
I had no idea the late tyrant wore a weave ~ and one can only hide beneath a quoth of unnatural hair for so long . . .
ReplyDeleteOnes choices bear consequences.
Hint, hint.
Some wag said that the coverage of Gaddafi's death on FOX News would be something like this:
ReplyDeleteBlack man mugs and kills senior in his home.
(Same as the Bin Laden story.)
I hope that the people in Libya, like others who recently rid themselves of dictators, act wisely. History shows that the overthrow of one totalitarian regime often ends in the new regime becoming worse that what it replaced.
Anonymous 7:20 wrote: This is what people were referring to. THIS is what would happen under singlepayer.
ReplyDeleteActually, we were "referring to" the death of Muammar Gaddafi. The title of the article should have been a clue.
Having said that, note that the proposed funding of consultation with one's doctor re end-of-life wishes/planning was passed at the state level by the Alaska legislature, and endorsed by then-Governor Palin in a proclamation on April 16th 2008.
For ‘Death Panels’ Before She Was Against Them? Palin Endorsed End Of Life Counseling As Governor
You can find this reference and others by Googling: end of life alaska
What is with these desert despots and their gold plated guns? Didn't Sadam have one too?
ReplyDeleteLast I heard, corrosion wasn't too much of an issue in the dry heat.
Don't suppose they'll let him be buried with it....
I'm glad because I think this will help to bring the conflict to a conclusion, but after seeing the picture of the body I'm not exactly wildly happy about it.
ReplyDeleteLife is life*. Capture and trial would have been the best (moral and democratic) option. Of course in the real complicated world maybe this is the best option. It's the same with Bin Laden really. You can spend hours debating what would have happened if he had been brought to trial and then what the effect of that would have been on the country.
* Unless your a 32 cell blob of undifferentiated stem cells not even advanced enough to approach having a central nervous system.
-Nick G
Great comment (can't remember where, read a lot this morning):
ReplyDelete"Obama's biggest successes have come as Commander in Chief.
Why you ask?
Cuz the GOP can't obstruct or filibuster his ability to lead our military.
Although, I'm sure they wish they could. They don't want Obama to get even the smallest win...."
And to anon @ 7:04am--
X2. Beauty is only skin deep. The ugly--it goes to the bone!
Wow! His face matches Sarah's thighs.
ReplyDeleteOT, but trotted over the the Great Sargasso Sea of Pee to check out reactions to Gaddafi's death. Comments were about what I expected, but also too, the Faithful are now reduced to pleading on bended knee to the Lawd above (copied directly; boldface is mine):
ReplyDelete"Lord God, You ALONE are mighty, with power to create lasting change and to sustain redemptive love. Help Americans come to know and honor the REAL Sarah Palin, which the movie [Undefeated] presents well: the strong woman of courage and intelligence who stands for the right and faces down those who are corrupt.
"Please send forth Your power and light to heal and transform the FALSE portrait of Gov. Palin, painted viciously by the Left and the LSM, which many Americans still hold.
"Stir up healthy PASSION for the candidacy of Sarah Palin, move in the hearts and minds of her family to help them fully support her work,
provide her with ALL the funds and favor she will need to run her campaign, and guard every plot and each polling booth, so that she will WIN the presidential race and become our President in January, 2013. AMEN"
It just gets more and more amusing over there--or just downright scary.
I had a coffee spilling reaction to the part here about how the U.S. may have some say in how the Libyan future plays out.
ReplyDeleteEver since I read "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, I've been watching how what she wrote is exactly how it always goes down, in these circumstances.
American greed spans the globe, and any opportunity to stick its nose into the affairs of other countries, is taken immediately.
Keep your eye on the International Monetary Fund, with respect to Libya: it is sadly likely they will be the first to offer billions in loans to the fledgling nation, with the provision that they give up all ideas of running the place they way they want, and play by the rules of their new masters.
It seems just as hard for an American to accept this, as it is for a Baptist to realize their intrusion into the lives of "the natives" is NOT the grand magnanimous scheme they intended.
Lets hope the Libyan people don't have to stage a second revolution soon, to maintain their sovereignty.
Is that three long-term tyrants down in just a year? Saddam Hussein, Egypt's Mubarak, and now Gaddafi. Times they are achangin'...
ReplyDeleteIt is fascinating times we live in Gryphen, simply amazing. So many good things happening so fast. And yes Obama and his policies are working, just not so well at home because of the gop/tp obstructionist. But we will prevail. Keep up the good work you do Gryphen. We need your input on every thing, not just sp.
ReplyDeletei wonder if Dick Cheney will write his obituary. They were sure good buddies while DIck was at Halliburton.
ReplyDeleteObama has done another great job but as you can see from this Video, Fox & GOP won't give him any credit.
ReplyDeletePlaying Politics: Marco Rubio
Champions 'French And British Who Led This Fight' mediaite.com/a/agaff
7:04 exactly what went through my mind. Sarah Palin in her later years. Narrowed shifty, paranoid eyes, wearing look at me outfits.
ReplyDeleteShe is on her way.
But I read he was cornered in a sewer outside of his home city by the rebels.
Just as well he is dead. The rebels were brandishing his gold handgun, so he is dead.
He was loathsome.
His children were just as bad. His daughter in law poured boiling hot water over one of her foreign servants. Horrible people.
The most interesting thing here is that when they got Osama no one in my office said a word about it. I kid you not - not one word.
ReplyDeleteHow much do you want to bet I won't hear a word of this either?
My boss (who owns 3 companies) is a Reagan lover. He actually has a picture of him in his office. One day I was in the kitchen talking about what a horrible horrible speaker Bush was he informed me that Bush wasn't as dumb as he sounded. He is astute!
Ask me why I found all the anti-Palin blogs immediately after she was nominated to run with the old man? They talk about politics all freakin' day long. Sometimes I want to scream and never stop;)
Those who say "maybe Gaddafi shouldn't have been killed" need to remember (or ask their parents about) Pan Am 103. 189 Americans killed on Dec 21, 1988, many of them college students returning from London to Syracuse NY for the Christmas holiday. So heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteGaddafi has ruled as an insane tyrant since Nixon was in office. If he doesn't deserve his fate, who does?
What's amazing to me is the selective reasoning/memory that the GOP gets away with. Tea Party darling Marco Rubio credits the French and British for this action, yet plenty of scorn and blame were hurled Obama's way when the Libya invasion began in March. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry won't deign to speak Obama's name unless they're (unfairly, inaccurately) bashing him. I wasn't keen on a prolonged war in the open desert, but thank god now we can consider our obligations to the Libyans done and close this chapter of the "Tales of Tripoli."
Agree 100% with Andrew Sullivan (a conservative, remember, but a sane and tolerant one) and Anonymous @7:10 am.
I would imagine various right-wing spin outlets have been desperately trying to find a way to put a negative spin on this outcome, blaming Obama again for an 'assassination' coup or that he failed to defend a world 'leader' from the rebels. Has the griz weighed in yet telling us how SHE would have fought those pesky turncoats in Libya who took out one of her valued associates?
ReplyDeleteThere is no opportunity they will miss to blame President Obama for any world event. You know that volcano brewing in Iceland? Yep, they'll try to pin that on him too.
Way off topic for this blog segment, but I just got some feedback from my son on the whole "tranny" issue. I am including it here because chances are pretty good we have all moved on from the Palin/Fox interview, and I think it's important enough to show you what he has to say about it.
ReplyDelete"What I don't understand is why everyone collectively thinks that "tranny" is referring specifically to transvestite since that is not the case. And, even if it did mean that specifically, why does it make it okay to say it if it is "only" a transvestite? Having a debate about whether it refers to a transvestite or a transsexual is not the issue. Bottom line is that the author's use of the term "tranny" is meant to be derogatory regardless of which particular member of the collective gender community is being addressed."
"And, another bottom line, is that it boils down to sexism. Regardless of my lack of love for Sarah Palin, why is it STILL okay to negatively label any woman who is powerful as a man/masculine. Our iconic representations of the ideal femininity, are STILL ridiculously anorexic women with fake boobs. As a feminist/humanist, I am sick of that particularly f@%ked up so-old-I-fell-off-my dinosaur valuation of femininity/masculinity."
Is that three long-term tyrants down in just a year? Saddam Hussein, Egypt's Mubarak, and now Gaddafi. Times they are achangin'...
ReplyDeleteMAKE THAT FOUR...........and you know who #4 is!
hahaha
10:07 am -
ReplyDeleteThat is some damn scary shit coming from the sea of pea.
Serious mental instability - in the flock, and their shepherd, Granny Grifter !
Oh isn't that wonderful! That is, if Obama is your party's president. If you're of the other party it won't be anything to lose sleep over. And it's so sad too. Sad not because a dictator is dead but sad because Obama side will celebrate and keep buying the pap that it's good to help people in countries that have lots of oil. Now that's sad!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, that's right, the second comment has it perfectly. That commenter can tell by looking at a man's face that he's a bad man. Yep, that's the depth of all this. Why just look at pictures of Timothey McVeign and tell me you don't see satan in his eyes!
ReplyDeleteDuhhhhhh, the depth of some people is just bewildering!
Sam @ 7:16, don't lose hope for Iran yet. They have oil and that means their people have to be saved from something?
ReplyDeletethe dude was such a style machine
ReplyDeleteof tacky, tacky look at me outfits. all he needed to complete his ensembles would have been a giant blingy cross or pin or Jewish Star of David
yeah sarah I AM MOCKING YOU
But-but-but I though having RAM write nasty Facebook posts was the common sense conservative solution to all foreign dictators.
ReplyDeletePalin should take a good look at this man's face. Remember when he first came on the scene, he was handsome, dashing in his uniform. Years of lies, corruption, vindictiveness and look at him now!! Scarah, look at what YOUR future holds. Seems she is already on the way, the last appearances she has made, she looks like HELL.7:04 AM. Those were my exact thoughts and you expressed them better than I could have.
ReplyDeleteLet Marco Rubio spin his effing BS all he wants - he's a complete loser! The Tea Bagging Birthers are after him and Bobby Jindal - both will get what they deserve for not calling out (or strongly enough) the TeaBag/Republicans for the blatant racism and birtherism long ago.
ReplyDeleteCain will be next - for there's no denying his ancestors came from Africa w/o papers, and of course - that leaves the not Christian enough Huntsman and Romney - Mormons.
Ultimately, the modern version of the KKK will not elect Mormons, Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, OR Catholics (Santorum/Woman Hater). That leaves us with Perry (closet gay and sex addict), and Palin Clone Michele Bachmann. As soon as Marcus is outed, she's gone, too! And Ron Paul just ain't got any charisma, although lots of hate to share!
As far as the 'French and Brits" being the ones to accomplish Qadaffi's demise - well, as the most powerful nation on earth with President Obama being the leader of the free world - nothing gets done w/o him - and they know it.
7:20
ReplyDeleteSome background on "larry mente", the "reporter" of the fable about death panels.
He had a long, distinguished carreer in Philadelphia as a news broadcaster. He switched stations and got a huge pay increase... then they hired a beautiful and smart female co-anchor, Alecia Lane. She bought in ratings, did great work as a reporter, and outshined the older, washed out Larry "Merde".
He kept commenting about her rack and hoo ha, hacked into her computer and leaked some very personal information. He even went so far as to "date" her (and he's married to another broadcaster on another network, Dawn Stricklamd), and he got blacklisted, fired, booted, axed, convicted, served time, and booted out of town.
Whatever he writes is pure bullshit, I'm surprised he landed another job in broadcast news or even in print.
Here's a clue- he's not even employable at Fox News.
I can see his attraction to "Palin", she's every viagra addicted old con's wet dream.
Wiki and Google are your friend.
Yes, he's officially achieved room temperature. Good Riddance!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the Republicans give credit where credit is due. Freedom Fries for All! Viva La France!, God Save The Queen!
Obama got it wrong, had nothing to do with it.
--------------------------------
Thank You, President Obama, for being a real leader. Let's wish the Lybian People well. I hope this gives some small dose of comfort to the families of the Lockerbie Attack, there will never be closure, but knowing the man who took credit for it will never take another breath is truly something to be grateful for.
8:53 AM, if you believe that I have a bridge in London to sell you.
ReplyDelete"But-but-but I though having RAM write nasty Facebook posts was the common sense conservative solution to all foreign dictators.
ReplyDelete12:52 PM"
Too bad RAM has been demoted to writing condescending snark in the comments section of a famously "defunct" blog....