Friday, October 21, 2011

Tutu condemns Gaddafi Killing

IOL
October 21, 2011.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu condemned on Friday the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, saying mob justice and violence should always be deplored. 

“The manner of the killing of Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday totally detracts from the noble enterprise of instilling a culture of human rights and democracy in Libya,” he said in a statement.

“... the people of Libya should have demonstrated better values than those of their erstwhile oppressor.” 

Gaddafi was shot dead in his hometown of Sirte. He sustained fatal injuries to the head and stomach. 

As news of his death spread, images of the 69-year-old former leader's bloodied body were broadcast across the globe. 

Tutu said the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, could not be proud of calling for Gaddafi's killing. 

“Nor is killing a human being something to be celebrated,” he said. - Sapa 

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Comment: Thanks to the Arch for standing by principle even though he previously condemned Gaddafi's regime for its excesses.

But like I said below.  That is not the point.

The point is that even in war there are humane principles.  And killing a man who had surrendered is just plain inhumane, immoral, and wrong.

I have read elsewhere that Gaddafi's wife, Safiya Gaddafi, is calling on the UN to investigate the  killing of her husband and her son, Mo'tassim.

You may have seen the footage of Gaddafi and Mo'tassim lying in what looks like a freight storage unit somewhere in the desert.

At one point the footage captures about four or five men posing for a picture with Mo'tassim's body.  They had their hands up flashing victory signs.

How brutal.  How un-Islamic.  And how thoroughly disgusting.

I know that it is wrong to assume that Libya is filled with this kind of mutated buffoons.  Still, if these f*cks are the kind of folks who dream of a new country then Libya is in a sh*t load of trouble.

Just saying.

Onwards!

4 comments:

Erica said...

I totally agree with Archbishop Tutu.

While it's true that Gaddafi was no saint and I don't condone the things he's done. I thought it inhumane the way in which he was captured, beaten, and murdered, while all captured on video. It was vile and inexcusable.

Justice would have been better served if he would have been allowed to stand trial and face the people he had wronged.

Families who wanted answers as to how and why their loved ones were murdered.

Onward?

(?)intended

Kweli said...

Salaam, Ridwan.
How un-Islamic indeed. I saw the photos. I went on The Standard (Kenyan paper) website and there on the front page was the gruesome photo. Lots of news websites did that: they just hit you in the face with it.

And those men taking photos were desecrating those bodies.

The farce of a democratic Libya begins now.

Ridwan said...

Hi Erica:

You raise excellent points. So much has been lost with the killings.

This morning I saw footage of Mo'tassim Gaddafi drinking water after capture.

Then he is shown dead.

So they executed him after capture and he was not resisting.

That is barbaric and reflective of the type of fighters the West assembled to do their dirty work in Libya.

It is all very sad indeed and we have not even taken into consideration all the innocent children and women who have been hurt and killed as the West sought its interests in Libya.

It is an old story and a familiar history being replayed.

Onward!

Ridwan

Ridwan said...

Salaam Kweli:

It is indeed a "farce" as you say.

The West is lined up for contracts to "help rebuild Libya" as one CNN commentator said yesterday.

And already Obama thinks this 'victory' is stumping material.

He used Libya to open the nonsense about ending the war in Iraq?

Who was at war with the US in Libya and Afghanistan?

And he mentioned Osama in the same speech yesterday.

It is all business as usual.

Kill overseas so the idiots occupying this or that street think they really matter.

They don't. The US is an empire with democratic pretensions.

Like The Standard papers here splashed out the gruesome pictures much the same.

So much for Ubuntu.

Be well my brother. I will be over your spot shortly.

Onward!

Ridwan