See the last moments of Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi:
If you're stumped by whether the rebels are hustling a dazed former potentate around after capturing him or just frogmarching his body through some Weekend At Bernie's camerahogging, you'll be interested to learn that the U.K. Telegraph claims Gaddafi died of wounds sustained during his capture.
It seems to me that Gaddafi is already captured here, and that some of the shots heard after the camera leaves Gaddafi are not just celebration shots. I've been watching TV all my life, so I'm an expert.
You kids won't believe this, but there was a time when the world was transfixed by footage showing the killing of Nicolae Ceau?escu, natalist dictator of tiny Rumania, along with his wife Elena. That's how rare it was to see a leader ripped apart by his political opponents during the George H.W. Bush administration.
After the footage of Saddam Hussein's execution, dictator-death footage has lost some of its novelty. It's also, for me at any rate, lost some of its bearableness. While I've never been a fan of any kind of snuff, at least with dictators you used to be able to kid yourself that the death would be followed by freedom or progress or some other fairy tale.
I wish the Libyans the very best for their country, but this occasion is even less promising than your usual brutal killing of a brutal killer.
Right next door, the Egyptians overthrew their dictator only to replace him with a murderous goon state where the army ethnically cleanses Christians and connives when a mob attacks Jews and drives them into exile. (Where else but in the Washington Post can you hear incidents wherein armed secuity forces kill 23 unarmed people and wound 200 described as "clashes"?) And Egypt is Switzerland compared to Libya. At least Mubarak is getting a semi-civilized trial.
Dictator snuff just isn't as full of hope and change as it used to be.
Video courtesy of Iyad El-Baghdadi, who notes that some of the people in Libya were shouting "Bashar, you're next."
Comments