The Death of Qaddafi
This morning, a BBC reporter in Libya spoke to a National Transitional Council fighter who told him that Muammar Qaddafi had been captured in Surt, holding a golden pistol. It was a measure about the uncertainty of his fate that, as far as anyone knew, it might well be have been true. There were also reports that he was dead, or shot in both legs, or still at large in the desert; a gruesome cell-phone picture that might be him or his corpse, but at any rate bloody; and that Surt had fallen, or hadn’t. And then, after an hour or two, the N.T.C. confirmed the news: Qaddafi is dead. The snapshot was supplanted by a video of what appeared to be his body, half-stripped, being dragged by a crowd. (The video is below; I will be updating this post as we know more.)
But here are some questions one can ask already: If he was killed, how? As a prisoner or a fugitive? Was it a NATO strike, or was he shot in a gunfight? Was he captured alive, and then killed? (That matters, even for him.) Who is left in his circle, who has been captured, will they be tried, and by whom?
Most of all, what comes next? Libyans suffered terribly under Qaddafi for decades, and also in his fall—as he put down their uprising; in Benghazi, in the siege of Misrata; now. It would be a mistake to draw lines too brightly—to ignore, for example, what might happen in the next triumphant days to the civilians of Surt. (The Washington Post had a report on the grim conditions in the hospital there.) There have also been discouraging reports about the treatment of migrant workers, and of infighting within the National Transitional Council. Perhaps such circumstances will prove to have been a great crucible for a democratic future; but that has not always been the case. One can celebrate a victory, and still be cautious of its character.
And we can’t forget our own role there. Libyans seized their country with their own hands and now will build their own future. But our planes and our bombs helped; we are involved. (Though it’s worth remembering, amid talk of the vindication of that decision, that Congress was not consulted, or not adequately; we need to have a better domestic conversation about that.) We didn’t want to turn away from the people of Benghazi; what is our responsibility for the settlement after the storm? Maybe there was golden pistol: there are, in war and peace, very few silver bullets.
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