Libyan Rebels: 'Colonel Gaddafi's Son Captured'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Sky News

Libyan rebels have told Sky News that Saif Al-Islam, Colonel Gaddafi's son, has been captured as the end of the regmine appears to draw ever closer.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/home/article/16053951

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Gaddafi himself is thought to have been in Algeria for some time according to live Sky TV News..

[maddezmom]

1. Al Jazerra reporting the same.

[maddezmom]

3. as well as the Republican guard surrendered

[Posteritatis]

7. That's the one that probably ended this. (nt)

[maddezmom]

8. agreed. And now they are saying the elder son has also surrendered

after a battle.

[gateley]

2. Woo Hoo! I am so happy for those people!! nt

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[Lunabelle]

5. Wow, I hope they just kill him and don't torture him

These people are righteously angry.

[al bupp]

6. I think he will be treated much better than...

almost all of those imprisoned by his government, some of whom who were reportedly put into shipping containers.

[dipsydoodle]

9. He needs to be

at least for now. He controlled the Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund and may be the only person who know where its all at.

btw putting people into shipping containers, if true , may have been kinder than the methods used in Latin America as a result of training by US's School Of The Americas about which there is no doubt.

[al bupp]

10. I can think of few places more tortuous

than a crowded and sealed shipping container in the desert. Barring release, death would truly come as a blessing in that case, I imagine.

[harmonicon]

16. You mean like the US used in Afghanistan? nt.

[al bupp]

17. What evidence have you of that, sir?

I know that there were reports of the Northern Alliance having done so, but not US troops.

[harmonicon]

18. You think the US didn't know? You don't think they were involved?

Of course our military won't admit to it, but there are indications that it was coordinated by the US. I didn't read through all of them, but here are a few links from the first page of a google search:
http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/atrocity.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8147977.stm
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newsweek-cover-special-report-the-war-crimes-of-afghanistan-americas-afghan-allies-asphyxiated-hundreds-of-surrendering-taliban-prisoners-en-route-to-jail-transporting-them-in-sealed-cargo-containers-bodies-buried-in-mass-g-76752017.html
http://www.rawa.org/us-massacre.htm
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/issues/mass-atrocities/afghanistan-war-crime/
http://www.globalissues.org/article/373/afghan-massacre-haunts-pentagon
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/08/29/afghanistan.mass.graves/index.html

In any case, I think you're arguing semantics. Did Gaddaffi personally put people into shipping container prisons? I doubt it, but those under his command did, just as happened in Afghanistan in relation to the US command.

[al bupp]

19. I do not wish to argue semantics, sir

However, I cannot agree that, taken on the whole, atrocities committed by US allies in Afghanistan either w/ or w/o implicit or explicit US approval amount to anything in either scope or scale to what's alleged to have been committed by Gaddafi's forces in the last six months. While Gaddafi may not be personally responsible for many of those acts, as a long-time an autocratic dictator, who's ruled ruthlessly, he clearly bears considerable responsibility for setting the tone.

There have been reports that Gaddafi's security apparatus detained tens of thousands of suspected opposition, while having made little provision to humanely treat them while doing so. In fact, there are numerous reports of torture, extremely crowded conditions, extemporary holding cells (including dog cages) and denial of food & water. I do not think anything like that happened following the US invasion of Afghanistan (which I opposed, BTW).

You can continue to make false equivalencies between the US/NATO occupation of Afghanistan and the revolution in Libya, but I will continue to point out where the comparisons fall far short of the mark. I do not think that is mere semantics.

[harmonicon]

20. I'm not defending either.

I think all war is disgusting, but I don't think the US has any moral high ground in this case. What we have done in prisons - both official and unofficial - across the world is just as atrocious as anything else that's going on anywhere in the world today. The US has tortured and executed prisoners. I think that's pretty widely known, so I see no reason to pick sides between two criminal agents.

[al bupp]

21. As Churchill said, "War is horrible, but slavery is worse"

We can agree, sir, that the US use of "enhanced interrogation", extraordinary rendition to black sites for torture among other tactics employed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere have greatly undermined our country's moral position. Nevertheless, I do not think it comes close to matching the scale scope and level disregard for mass human rights shown by Gaddafi and Assad, for instance.

I will remind you that here we can march in the streets, critisizing our government in the strident tones, w/o having to fear for rooftop snipers picking-off marchers or tanks rolling into our hometowns.

[harmonicon]

23. We can disagree.

What you call marching in the streets is/was a civil war. The US had a civil war too. What was the government supposed to do? Hand the country over the confederacy because they didn't like it?

[al bupp]

24. That's another bad analogy

The protests in Libya were initially peaceful. They took up arms only after being shot at. The US Civil War started when the Confederates attacked Fort Sumpter. There were no peaceful Confederate marches attacked by Union troops (though there were anti-conscription protests fired upon), and the Libyan protesters did not open-up on Gaddafi bases w/ cannon fire until long after all peaceful avenues had been proven suicidal.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. He's wanted by the ICC; they have confirmed his arrest

which hopefully means he's going to be handed over to them.

[jefferson_dem]

12. ICC PROSECUTOR'S SPOKESWOMAN SAYS HAS CONFIRMATION GADDAFI HAS BEEN DETAINED

Source: Reuters

Also being reported by Al Arabiya (http://twitter.com/#!/AlArabiya_Eng/statuses/105412286444879872) and BBC (http://twitter.com/#!/brianstelter/statuses/105413596179202049)

UPDATE: Initial reports were not clear but this seems to be confirmation of the detainment of Saif al Islam (son) not Muammar. I'll ask that this thread be joined with the other.

Read more: http://twitter.com/#!/Reuters/statuses/105413086902624256

[Maccagirl]

13. Is this refering to Gaddafi, or his sons, or both?

I pray no more innocent lives are lost. I pray that Gaddafi gets the justice due him, and you can take that anyway you want.

[RebelOne]

14. According to CNN, it is two of his sons that have been captured. n/t

[OnlinePoker]

15. Hmmm...two sons captured (not killed)

I wonder how many months until the Grand Poobah is found disheveled in a rat hole somewhere in the sticks.

[christx30]

22. Update:

capture happened during the taping of a phone interview with Al Jazeera. You can plainly hear gunshots and shouting in the background. Interview ends with Gaddafi saying "there is no god but Allah" before the line goes dead.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/libya-video/8715161/Libya-conflict-Gaddafis-son-captured-live-on-television.html