Libyan Interim Prime Minister on Qaddafi's Death

Libyan Interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril was on NPR yesterday, and said "Nobody can tell if the [fatal] shot was from the rebel fighters or from his own security guard." 

Okay, if he bled out from the wounds he suffered before being captured, this is possible.

"The [fatal] shot was in his head," Jibril said.  "When he came out [from hiding] he was safe.  [But] the intensity of the fire" led to Qaddafi's death.

Wait, say what?!?  Was Jibril watching the same videos the rest of us were?  Because: a) Moammar looked like a bloody mess when they apparently took him into custody; and b) Qaddafi was also very much alive --albeit wounded and staggering -- when the NTC forces got him. 

Now I suppose it is possible that he could have survived a shot in the head long enough to walk from the hood of one car into the back of another and subsequently died of his wounds.  But given the video evidence to date, it strains credulity to suggest, as Jibril does, that he was killed in a crossfire after as he was being taken into custody.

New Qaddafi Video

This still doesn't answer the question of exactly how he was killed, but in this clip Qaddafi (assuming it is him) is clearly alive, making it all the more disturbing as he staggers, surrounded by rebel forces. 

Note: I have no way to verify the authenticity of these videos.  It was difficult to tell in the video below from Al Jazeera whether or not we were looking at Qaddafi's corpse or not.  This video looks more like him, however, although the camera work is still jittery enough and in his wounded/dishevelled state it is not 100% obviously Qaddafi.

Qaddafi Video

Here is a clip from al Jazeera (via You Tube) purportedly showing Qaddafi lying wounded (and possibly dead) in the streets of Sirte.  WARNING: Unsurprisingly, this is slightly graphic.

Qaddafi Update

At least one more account has emerged on al Jazeera, which only muddies the picture further.  Qaddafi definitely appears dead, either from:

a) (via Reuters and al Jazeera) Shot by NTC forces during the final offensive against Sirte, either from wounds to the leg or to the head;
b) (via Reuters) Wounded in a NATO airstrike as his convoy tried to flee Sirte; (Note: Abdel Majid Mlegta is apparently the same source for these conflicting accounts); or
c) (via Reuters) Found by anti-Qaddafi fighters in a hole, saying "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him, and then somehow was wounded and killed.

Photo of Bloody Qaddafi

This looks authentic, and would appear to verify at least the reports that he was wounded . . .

Qaddafi Killed?

Deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi is alternately being reported as captured or killed this morning.

Libyan TV began reporting over an hour ago that Qaddafi had been arrested near Sirte and had been taken to Misrata.

However, Reuters has subsequently reported that Qaddafi was killed, although the circumstances described in the story are murky and rely entirely upon Libyan sources.  They suggest he was either wounded in a NATO airstrike on a fleeing convoy and then captured, or pulled from a spiderhole similar to Saddam Hussein's in 2003.  Yet a National Transitional Council official says Qaddafi "was also hit in his head.  There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."

More details will follow, to be sure.  But for now it seems as if the hunt for Qaddafi has come to an end. 

COL Moammar Gaddafi

Boston University Appearance

The location for my talk at Boston University at 4PM today has moved to the International History Department at 226 Bay State Road. Hopefully I will see a few of you there.