Obligatory Gaddafi (Khadafi? Qadafi?) Comments

I guess I may as well talk a bit about the demise of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi. The footage (h/t HotAir) of his body being drug through the streets of Misrata are graphic, but hey, I've seen plenty of Friday the 13th-type movies, so that didn't bother me. What kind of pinged in my head about this whole this is that, one minute he's alive (and not so well), being grabbed at by a bunch of NTC fighters, then the next minute he's on the ground with what seemed to be a gunshot wound to the head. The "cameraman" taking the footage is bouncing all over the place and there's a deafening cacophony of guns firing, screaming and "Allahu akbars" all over the place, so it's hard to really see what's going on.

The reason I'm a bit troubled by this is: should a democracy start like this? Granted Gaddafi was an evil guy, but can we honestly say that our expectation of a liberal rule of law standard will be at the forefront of Libya's effort at liberty? Hosni Mubarak is on trial after, while not as violent of a revolution as Libya's, a similar uprising. Both men were dictators who oversaw secret police and public oppression, so why the different end to their reigns? Hell, Saddam Hussein was captured (granted by U.S. forces) and put on trial and executed. Was it just the fervor of the moment? Was it because of the makeup of the various competing tribes in Libya that would have made a capture and public trial impossible (or inconvenient)?

The world (except for Louis Farrakhan) is glad Gaddafi's dead, but we should all keep a close eye on the processes that come out of the start of this new chapter in Libya's national story.