Was The Summary Execution Of Muammar Gaddafi Justified?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Poll question: Was The Summary Execution Of Muammar Gaddafi Justified?

[quaker bill]

1. No, it is never justified, but sometimes inevitable.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Never

I oppose the death penalty and vigilante justice but sometimes there is a difference between vigilante justice and spontaneous moral outrage.

[quaker bill]

30. Conceptualize it anyway you care to

the result is unsurprising. The rebels, from all description were by no means a "well regulated militia". Many I am sure had lost friends in the fight. That they may have taken an opportunity to even the score is entirely predictable. It would have been far more surprising to me if he had survived capture.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. No, a strongly worded message would have been sufficient.

:sarcasm:

[ProSense]

4. Someone

"Summary Execution"

...needs to take certain phrases away from some people. Here a term is being applied to an ongoing conflict between two armed forces, the result of a revolution.

[elleng]

7. Right, premise of question/poll flawed.

[Kind of Blue]

14. +1, well said. n/t

[ChandlerJr]

5. If only real life could be reduced to a yes or no poll

things would be so much simpler.

[phleshdef]

6. I don't think I could say it was or it wasn't.

On one hand, I would have much rather have seen him captured and handed over to international authorities, to be held for trial in either the Hague or in Libya itself.

On the other hand, Ghaddafi was killed by the same environment he helped to created. He was treated exactly as he taught his people to treat enemies. Had Ghaddafi used the power of his regime to create a government that was at least semi-just and had he granted the right of due process to the citizens he was in charge of, then I might be a bit more apt to be outraged over the way his capture and killing happened. But I can't be mad at a bunch of people who were doing exactly what he spent his many decades in power teaching them to do.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Revolutions Are By Nature And Definition Messy

.

[Mimosa]

15. A trial would have brought some inconvenient facts and associations to light

"WE" and NATO knew a trial would be very inconvenient.

Just now, at least CNN was mentioning the tremendous amounts of oil reserves in Libya.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. The Irony Doesn't Escape Me But I'm A Realist

It is ironic that the "west" gave Khadafy a "get out of jail free" card and them discarded him when he was vulnerable and no longer useful but that's an occupational hazard for despots. Kind of like joining the mob.

[phleshdef]

21. We nor NATO executed him.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. But It Is Ironic How We "Rehabilitated" Him After He "Forswore" Terrorism And Then Abandoned Him

Same game we played with Saddam Hussein.

I am not saying they weren't bad guys and didn't get what they deserve but polititcs, especially international politics, isn't for the faint hearted.

[jefferson_dem]

9. Whatever one wants to call justice raining down on Gaddafi today...

...it was perfectly justified.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. This Was A Threefer

We killed a bad guy.

Libyans are freer today than yesterday.

And the president's enemies on the left and right are apoplectic.

[Ian David]

11. I don't condone it, but I understand it. n/t

[Mojambo]

12. I have no idea, but I do know Gaddafi is not the guy I want to take my stand on. n/t

[tularetom]

13. It sure as hell was to the people who did it.

[Mimosa]

16. Islamists.

And in the future 'WE' may find an Islamist dominated Libya troublesome indeed.

[grantcart]

17. that would be a good question for the Libyans to answer.

The US is not actually the center of the US.

[Kaleva]

33. "The US is not actually the center of the US."

?????

[riverwalker]

18. he was dead anyway

I doubt he would have survived that initial abdominal wound and the massive blood loss shown in the videos. The head shot killed him a few hours sooner.

[demosincebirth]

20. I say no. Ben Laden and his ilk, yes.

[Phx_Dem]

23. We didn't execute him so I don't give a shit.

Good fucking riddance.

[AtomicKitten]

24. Ask the Libyans. I'm guessing they'll come down on the side of justice served.

[craigmatic]

25. Looking at the video sickened me. I hate when we glorify death even if it is a dictator.

[Cali_Democrat]

26. No

[DCBob]

27. With a guy like this, you shoot first and ask questions later.

cant take the risk of escape and who knows what he might have had planned as a last gasp effort to go out in a blaze of glory.

Congratulations to the rebels! Well done.

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. Yes! (nt)

[bhikkhu]

29. I think you need to define "summary execution" first

Its usually difficult to perform a summary execution on an armed guy, surrounded by armed guys, who has promised to fight to the last drop of blood.

He got exactly what he asked for - no hand-wringing necessary for once.

[Cali_Democrat]

31. Here:

A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_execution

[DCBob]

32. and in this case it was justified.