Al Jazeera:

The former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has gone. He is now officially “dead and buried”, but just how did he and more than 50 of his supporters die?

As Gaddafi was buried at an undisclosed location at dawn on Tuesday, the National Transitional Council (NTC) bowed to international pressure and announced the formation of a committee to investigate how he and his son were killed.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the NTC, still held to the initial explanation given that Gaddafi may have been killed in crossfire – a view many of his officials do not appear to believe.

There is also a report from Human Rights Watch pointing to evidence of atrocities committed against 53 captured Gaddafi supporters who were found in the grounds of an abandoned hotel in Sirte, some bound and shot in the head.

Yes, atrocities were committed by NTC rebels. But war is nothing but confusion. War is something you try to avoid because it can’t be managed, controlled, or directed. At the end of any war, you will not find a hand that doesn’t have blood on it.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

5 replies on “War Is Ugly”

  1. Good Morning Charles,
    Agree with you. War is definitely ugly and can be confusing depending on the objective. Overthrowing a dictatorship is one thing but replacing it with what? Equally important in any war (be it civil or inter-state) isn’t just winning the war. It’s winning the peace. And, that that peace be accompanied by justice. This civil war ending in Libya is a test for that country. The verdict is still out.

  2. Gaddafi and his followers had every possible opportunity to transition the country to democracy and they chose to fight it out. That’s basically what President Obama said and I agree.

  4. Tired of those who dust off their hands with the old “war is ugly” statement, which is all too often uttered by the opposing side as well. We should be working toward ending warfare not shrugging at it.

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