Worth watching the BBC coverage of Libya

[Merlin]

Why?

Well because highly respected BBC journalist Caroline Hawley is doing the stuff from Tripoli and somehow, since she did the live reports from Baghdad a few years ago she seems to grown an impressive amount of rather fab hair :-)

(too much time on LHC and in the midst of one of the major news stories of recent times, you notice somebody has grown their hair..)

[Milui Elenath]

Lol not what I was expecting to read!

[alwayssmiling]

Have been avoiding the news recently because of all the depressing violence, but now you've mentioned someone had nice hair.........

[Melisande]

I noticed that Ghaddafi must have worn a wig all along.

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.

[Othala]

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.

I couldn't have said it better myself. the whole thing is hypocritical and sickening.

[Milui Elenath]

I also agree with you Melisande.

I feel the need to explain that my lol was purely a reaction to LHC. Only here could you click on a link about Libya and it be about hair.

Since I had actually just been ranting elsewhere at the way the world cheers as 'tyranical regimes' or leaders are overthrown (murdered) while at the same time completely disparaging peaceful protesters in their own country who are questioning the status quo of their own society :(

And since I've been surrounded by political talk, critical thinking and alot of doom and gloom today I was expecting a similar thread. (Though why I would want to engage in more thought today I don't know.) So I was pleasantly surprised to hear someone talking of hair.

(BTW I didn't watch the youtube vid and I don't watch the news)

[moon2dove]

Where am I?....LHC or political thread ladies... I'm confused!!!!!! :(

[princessp]

I noticed that Ghaddafi must have worn a wig all along.

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.


I totally agree with you. I can't watch/listen to any of the coverage (and I'm a news junky). It's sickening.

[EmiliaF]

I noticed that Ghaddafi must have worn a wig all along.

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.

If there was a 'Like' button....!!!

[Unicorn]

I noticed that Ghaddafi must have worn a wig all along.

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.
LIKE.

I'm having to avoid, not only the news, but news stands where pictures are on the front page, in order avoid those dreadful pictures. I'm really not seeing how we can claim any sort of moral victory on this.

Unicorn

[Alun]

I noticed that Ghaddafi must have worn a wig all along.

Actually it's shocking how the world applauds a lynch killing. I should get used to the cynical disregard for the values the West claims to adhere to but I simply can't.

IMO, if you want to start a democracy, start with a fair and honest trial against the former dictator. But all the newspapers seem to be united in their praise for the killers of a man with whom all Western leaders smiled into the cameras until a year ago.

Excuse me while I go to vomit.

Sorry if I offend people but this video and the reactions made me so sick. No amount of good hair can compensate me.

I agree, but it seems that's not what happened, or so they say.

They did capture him, and stories differ as to how and when he got shot in the arm, but that wasn't the shot that killed him. They say his ambulance was caught in crossfire and they can't tell who fired the fatal shot, and then he died just before he got to hospital, or at any rate before they got him out of the ambulance.

So they didn't kill him when he surrendered after all. All the same, it is shocking that so many people were OK with it when they thought that was what happened. That would have been against the Geneva conventions.

I was in McPherson Square earlier today, where the Occupy DC protesters are, and had a long conversation with someone who was telling me how the ordinary people were quite well off under Gaddafi, and I have to admit I don't know enough to disprove what he said. It might even be true. But I do know that he and his family controlled the whole country in a very dictatorial way, and that he was deeply involved in some very nasty terrorist attacks.

Nobody is 100% good or bad. I think he may have started out with good intentions, but somewhere along the way he must have become obsessed with power. Lately he seemed to show some signs of remorse, but apparently too late.

Did you know that Gaddafi was in the Boy Scouts as a kid and became a Queen's Scout? That was under British rule, of course. And yes, that is equivalent to an Eagle Scout in the US. Something to ponder.

I don't think he was playing with a full deck, as they say. Of course, that isn't much consolation when a whole country had to suffer from his mental aberrations.

As for the rug, with hindsight we all should have guessed.

[Evie]

Sorry to hijack a hair thread, and I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, and just from the outset I'll say that I am not pro the death penalty in any form, but I'm afraid I am not prepared to completely bash the Libyan people IF the truth is someone did shoot him. How do we, who do not live in a country where men, women and children can be taken and tortured without any real pretext, possibly know what went through the mind of the person who (may) have fired a shot that killed him? How do we know that it was done out of blood lust or because maybe that person lost a loved one to torture at the hands of the regime? I am finding it really difficult to hear people write off a whole nation, when I regularly read comments on here from people saying they'd shoot an intruder to kill and the like. I do not condone the killing, nor do I like the glorying in it that has taken place in the media, but I cannot write off all of Libya because of this. How is it different to the shooting of Bin Laden without trial? I am afraid I just don't understand the sudden dismissal of Libya, I truly hope that the country makes the long as difficult transition to productive and more progressive nation.

[Maverick494]

Very interesting information Alun, something to ponder about indeed.

If you're going to get flamed Evie, it's not going to be by me.

First off since the details surrounding his death are still sketchy I'm not even sure that it is what it seems. But if he was killed during his capture, I can understand why.

It's very hard to offer someone like Ghadaffi a trial when you have lost friends and family thanks to him. I'm willing to bet that the person whose shot ended up killing him had personal reasons to do so. Ghadaffi has a lot of blood on his hands. One bullet to end his life is in no way equal to the amount of death and hurt he caused. This is not an eye for an eye. This is one life for countless of others.

I think it's too much to expect them to step back and say, "Wait, let's give this dictator, this man who caused our misery a trial so he can go on to live and manipulate people to bend to his will." Ghadaffi said he would go on till the end and that's what he got. It's naive to think this could have ended any other way with the way things are now. I'm not saying it's right. What is "right" is a very elusive and subjective thing. I am in no position to dictate to anyone what "right" is.

But I can understand how this all came to be if this indeed is the way he died. Don't be so quick to judge the people who killed him.

However, I find it extremely hypocritical that the politicians who were shaking his hand not so long ago are now all nodding and euphoric about what happened. I wish they were consistent in their actions....but that's wishful thinking...

Anyway sorry to butt in and ofcourse this is just my opinion.

[Annibelle]

Very interesting information Alun, something to ponder about indeed.

If you're going to get flamed Evie, it's not going to be by me.

First off since the details surrounding his death are still sketchy I'm not even sure that it is what it seems. But if he was killed during his capture, I can understand why.

It's very hard to offer someone like Ghadaffi a trial when you have lost friends and family thanks to him. I'm willing to bet that the person whose shot ended up killing him had personal reasons to do so. Ghadaffi has a lot of blood on his hands. One bullet to end his life is in no way equal to the amount of death and hurt he caused. This is not an eye for an eye. This is one life for countless of others.

I think it's too much to expect them to step back and say, "Wait, let's give this dictator, this man who caused our misery a trial so he can go on to live and manipulate people to bend to his will." Ghadaffi said he would go on till the end and that's what he got. It's naive to think this could have ended any other way with the way things are now. I'm not saying it's right. What is "right" is a very elusive and subjective thing. I am in no position to dictate to anyone what "right" is.

But I can understand how this all came to be if this indeed is the way he died. Don't be so quick to judge the people who killed him.

However, I find it extremely hypocritical that the politicians who were shaking his hand not so long ago are now all nodding and euphoric about what happened. I wish they were consistent in their actions....but that's wishful thinking...

Anyway sorry to butt in and ofcourse this is just my opinion.

Agreed. :) I was especially icked out by Hillary Clinton LAUGHING about the death. In a way, it is a triumph (isn't everything, from at least one perspective?), but, whether warranted or not, death is never something anyone, especially a leader, should LAUGH about. :(

[Unicorn]

No flaming here either Evie, its the reaction (practically a victory dance) of those in the west that I so objectionable.

If those who were directly affected appear somewhat victorious, that's one thing, they have lived whatever they have lived, I'm wouldn't judge from the comfort of my sofa. For me that's as offensive of those (us) in the west celebrating what appeared to be death by mob, from the safety and comfort of their armchairs. It's really goulish.

One doesn't have to mourn the death of someone one believe is (or has caused) evil, to be able to accept it without celebrating.

DeBe

[bte]

Another candidate for Merlin's Hall of Fame must be Susannah Reid - BBC Breakfast - who has been gradually growing her hair for the last year or two.