# Peace, love and understanding in Libya **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 24, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648 "2011-10-24T17:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/41 "2011-10-25T14:36:19Z")
Lefty wimp chiming in. Fuck him. If he wanted humane treatment he should have got out and handed himself over to a government rep of another country. The people that abused and killed him were commoner garden militia and revolutionaries. They weren’t professional level soldiers. They were an angry mob who were gifted the fucker they were looking for. This is the sort of shit that happens when you subdue a population and eventually they rise up. If they catch you it’s not going to be nice for you. It isn’t pleasent to watch, it isn’t how I would have prefered it but that’s life and human nature right there in those videos. We are aggressive animals and will be horrible to each other once the shackles of civilization are removed. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/42 "2011-10-25T14:50:22Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Which is really an unrealistic expectation considering there was hardly a legitemate government in place that has the authority to answer that. There is a legitimate government. The transitional council has been in charge of the country since around March, and they certainly could have issued instructions saying “if you’re able to catch him alive, treat him as a prisoner of war, which means don’t abuse him or execute him if he’s been disarmed.” And maybe they did that, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/43 "2011-10-25T15:00:30Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > The people that abused and killed him were commoner garden militia and revolutionaries. They weren’t professional level soldiers. They were an angry mob who were gifted the fucker they were looking for. This is the sort of shit that happens when you subdue a population and eventually they rise up. If they catch you it’s not going to be nice for you. It isn’t pleasent to watch, it isn’t how I would have prefered it but that’s life and human nature right there in those videos. We are aggressive animals and will be horrible to each other once the shackles of civilization are removed. That pretty much sums up my position as well. It’s not something I condone, but it’s certainly something I understand. And we should not be shocked, SHOCKED, when something like this happens. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/44 "2011-10-25T15:35:28Z")
I believe politics trumps any laws in this situation. What to me, is a clear violation of a law, will be ignored because of politics (you’re not going to charge anyone with torturing Gadhaffi; it’s too ironic). And probably rightly so. Having said that, there’s about 7,000 Gadhaffi loyalists being detained right now. I’m thinking a lot will be freed in the next few months, but some will be tried for war crimes (like torture). Is that right? They will not get a pass. Politics will not save them, in fact, politics will be working against them and they will be made examples of (“We will not tolerate that type of behavior anymore in Libya, ect. ect.”). Of course, the victim is the difference, but should that matter? Like matter in a _it’s no longer illegal because I think the victim deserved it_. In theory, once in custody, everyone deserves to be treated humanely, but only in theory. And that’s just the way it is. What if American soldiers did that to bin laden and someone caught it on video? Fine? Talk about a PR nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/45 "2011-10-25T15:44:41Z")
For some reason I’m craving an omelette right now. ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/46 "2011-10-25T16:30:54Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > Lefty wimp chiming in. > > Fuck him. If he wanted humane treatment he should have got out and handed himself over to a government rep of another country. > > The people that abused and killed him were commoner garden militia and revolutionaries. They weren’t professional level soldiers. They were an angry mob who were gifted the fucker they were looking for. This is the sort of shit that happens when you subdue a population and eventually they rise up. If they catch you it’s not going to be nice for you. It isn’t pleasent to watch, it isn’t how I would have prefered it but that’s life and human nature right there in those videos. We are aggressive animals and will be horrible to each other once the shackles of civilization are removed. The only thing I’d like to add to this is that the people you see in the video probably went through more shit in the last few months than most of us will see in a lifetime. The source of that pain and frustration was in their hands. Yet in my casual following of this story I am hearing far more about Qaddafi (was it Qaddafi duck or something years ago?) than the victorious fighters my tax dollars went to support. I want a moratorium on wussy hang-wringing and let’s get back to the winners. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/47 "2011-10-25T17:33:45Z")
> [@inbred mm domesticus](#): > > the only thing i’d like to add to this is that the people you see in the video probably went through more shit in the last few months than most of us will see in a lifetime. The source of that pain and frustration was in their hands. Yet in my casual following of this story i am hearing far more about qaddafi (was it qaddafi duck or something years ago?) than the victorious fighters my tax dollars went to support. I want a moratorium on wussy hang-wringing and let’s get back to the winners. li-by-a! Li-by-a! Li-by-a!! ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/48 "2011-10-25T19:03:58Z")
This ignoble end is the legacy he deserves, I wonder some times if something similar happened to Hitler there might be less grudging respect for him. I’d love to see THAT History Channel special. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/49 "2011-10-25T19:21:50Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > This ignoble end is the legacy he deserves… To add to this, one of the chief reasons I’d like there to be no formal inquiry into who pulled the trigger is that it would upgrade his death from “Killed by angry mob” to “Assassinated.” I about chewed through my teeth when President Obama called Bin Laden’s death an assassination. Partly because assassination is murder, but mostly because only important people are assassinated–everyone else is simply murdered or KIA. The label gives post-humous respect and that bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/50 "2011-10-25T19:29:49Z")
Cell phone video recording makes iconoclasm so much sweeter. Li-by-a! Li-by-a! Li-by-a!! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648/51 "2011-10-25T19:37:23Z")
Somebody’s already out there taking credit for shooting The Unspellable One, so formal inquiry or not, that’s already out there. > [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I about chewed through my teeth when President Obama called Bin Laden’s death an assassination. I’m pretty sure he’s never said that. He certainly didn’t say it when he announced Bin Laden’s death and I doubt he’s done it since. The U.S. officially stopped using assassination as a tactic a generation ago (stop laughing) and calling it an assassination would be an admission the team was ordered to kill Bin Laden. Officially they were sent to kill or capture him and Obama has been very cagey in his descriptions of what the Seals were supposed to do. I think there’s a clear inference they were supposed to kill him because nobody wanted to deal with the headaches that would have been involved in determining his status, but that’s neither here nor there. I welcome a cite if I’m wrong, but I think there would’ve been a serious uproar if he’d called it an assassination. > [@](#): > > Partly because assassination is murder That’s another reason I have trouble believing Obama called it an assassination. > [@](#): > > mostly because only important people are assassinated It’d be nice to think Bin Laden and Gaddafi were unimportant because AQ is headed for the dustbin and Gaddafi had been recently deposed, but let’s not delude ourselves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peace-love-and-understanding-in-libya/600648.md?page=2)