Look at Ceau?escu and Mussolini. It will happen when people have been oppressed for years on end and there in front them lays that figurehead of their oppression. It's a civil war in Libya, and NATO's only presence was in the air and sea, no boots on the ground to prevent this from happening.

A show trial would have been nice though.

After 42 years, he must have had a lot of enemies around the world and secrets as old as the old Soviet Union. It would be easy to infiltrate the rebels with one or two agents whose sole purpose was to make sure he did not end up in prison where he can talk.

Did the KGB or its modern re-incarnation, the FSB, do him in? He was useful to the Russians for generations. He must have been privy to a secret or two that could at least embarrass the Kremlin.

Or was it MI6? The British had their lips glued to his ass for so long he was farting with a British accent. They released al-Megrahi to get on his good side and probably promised him much more than that so that BAE Systems and BP could have their way inside Libya. Him and his family was practically bankrolling the London School of Economics for the odd PHD here and there.

What about the Qataris? They might not have had the huge Geo-political interests at stake but they did stick their necks out when they decided to back the rebels full tilt. Did he have some secrets about the ruling families of theirs or of the other Arab autocracies that someone wanted him to take to the grave?

These and others must surely be sighing with relief at the sight of the corpse on TV and congratulating themselves right about now.

It looks like the Brother Leader died as he lived, and that is fitting. There are far larger probelms in Libya and in the world for Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and similar organizations to concern themselves about than how some two-bit dictator met his well-deserved fate. Would these same organizations have complained about how Mussolini and his mistress were executed and hung by their heels by Italian partisans near the end of WWII? I hope not. Let the hand-wringing stop now.

Hounshell is right. The Rule of Law is a long way off in the future of Libya, and that is a direct legacy of one man's cruel rule of that country for more than 40 years. Although the Qaddafi regime may have ended, it is not clear whether Libya will become anything better than a loose-knit collection of tribal peoples, battling over who will succeed the past dictator.

For all the cheering about the so-called "Arab Spring", there is no clear indication in any of these nations - from Tunisia to Eygypt - that 'democracy' will give rise to governments that actually respect individual rights. Let's not bet the house on any of these new governments until we see if any of them are the real deal.

The UN and the Western powers that intervened apparently did what was necessary to prevent Qaddafi from slaughtering thousands more of his people. Those nations can pat themselves on the back for that, I suppose. But it is not certain yet that such intervention is a sound policy for the future, in other hot spots. The USA's new adventure in Uganda, well-intentioned though it may be, and our interventions into civil disturbances in Somalia, Yemen, etc. do not constitute a foreigh policy - they are ad hoc responses to limited conflicts, and the interests of the US and its long-time European allies are tangientally involved at best. it is time to encourage the growth of liberal democracies, but to let the freshly liberated peoples of these countries create their own institutions and futures. Until they do so, welcoming them to the club as civilized societies may be deferred.

The Libyan people had a chance to show that they respect the rule of law, human rights and human dignity, all the things they are allegedly fighting for by bring Qaddafi to justice. Murdering Qaddafi in the street simply shows that the motive of revenge is much stronger than any motive for justice. That bodes ill for Libya.

By treating Qaddafi no better than he treated his victims you simply lower yourself to his level. We do the same when we send out drones to kill people without trial.

But it does matter that the media cover the full transformation of Libya from this point on rather than ignoring it like it has been ignoring Tunisia and Egypt since the revolutions. The way western media tells it, revolutions are always good with zero negative consequences.

"A Picture Essay of the End of the Qaddafi Regime" at http://globalbearings.net

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...on what kind of society the Libyans want.

If they want a democratic state where justice is valued and protected, then yes it does matter, and this was a profound defeat for them. If they just want to put some other violent and arbitrary power in control, then no, it doesn't matter at all.

That is - Members of the U.S. Democrat Political Party - now being run by Thugs from Chicago - they EXECUTED him - Gangster style!

The UN and the Western powers that intervened apparently did what was necessary to prevent Qaddafi from slaughtering thousands more of his people. Those nations can pat themselves on the back for that, I suppose. But it is not certain yet that such intervention is a sound pc tips policy for the future, in other hot spots.