The Execution of Colonel Gaddafi (Qaddafi)

I'm not going to support the guy. Although he became a friend of sorts to the West, not too many years ago, it's obvious that he presided over some absolutely shocking things.

Today, after returning from a poor round of golf, I walked in the door to the breaking news that Gaddafi (otherwise known as Qaddafi) had been killed or captured. So I sat down, and watched for a few hours, wanting to know whether it was true, wanting to know whether it was really him, wanting to know how it happened.

To begin with, there were a lot of conflicting reports, and the odd photo. But then the news channels started to show mobile phone footage surrounding his capture. Eventually, a phone video was shown of Gaddafi being escorted to a truck by a group of rebels, apparently surrendering. There was blood, much of it dried, down one side of his head. But he walked to the truck, sat on the back of it, and was clearly talking to them.

A later phone video showed him laid out in an ambulance. From the dressings on his stomach, and the circular wounds underneath the dressings, it was obvious that he had been shot twice in the stomach. Blood ran from one of the wounds, back along the centre of his chest, to his neck.

It struck me that the first video didn't show the demeanour of someone who had been shot twice in the stomach. The rebels obviously executed him. Much as he was a tyrant, and even given the obvious advantages of not giving him a courtroom platform to preach from, I was left wondering whether what they did was right. I guess if anyone deserved summary justice, he did, and I suppose it was a better way to go than the inevitable hanging.

But was what happened right? What do you think?