The Surreal Ruins of Quaddafi's Never-Never Land

September 22, 2011 9:08 AM

[...]There was still talk of snipers, of a counterattack by Qaddafi’s men, of a fifth column of “sleeper cells” lurking inside the capital. Victory had come too easily. Only weeks earlier, the rebels seemed in disarray, and Qaddafi’s forces, having withstood more than four months of NATO air strikes, seemed poised to hold out for many more. Then, on Aug. 20, a planned uprising broke out in Tripoli, as the ragged rebel army converged on the city from various directions. The final battle, expected to last weeks, was over in two days. Qaddafi and his top lieutenants fled almost immediately. Now it was hard to know who was a killer and who a mere dupe.[...]
The Surreal Ruins of Quaddafi's Never-Never Land, Robert F. Worth (Note: nytimes. Via longform.com)
posted by JHarris (13 comments total)

On the other hand, they seem to have finally found all those Weapons of Mass Destruction. Notify Judith Miller immediately!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:22 AM on September 22, 2011

Re: WMD, it's worth pointing out that these stockpiles were known, and that there were some legitimate and some illegitimate delays in their destruction. In short, safely disposing of chemical weapons requires special equipment and dealing with NIMBYism. Safely transporting them to the disposal site (especially old munitions) is not trivial either.

I used to live not too far from the chemical weapon depot / incinerators in Alabama. In your back yard you expect some extraordinary precautions.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 9:42 AM on September 22, 2011

On the second day we met, he brought his laptop and showed me some of the files he had copied, including a long list of Qaddafi’s assassins, with their real names, cover jobs and telephone numbers.

Wow, that's great. If enough of Qaddafi's intelligence and security information is captured instead of destroyed, maybe we could actually bring a lot of the ruthless mercenaries and killers he employed to justice?
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:43 AM on September 22, 2011

Note: nytimes.

I thought nytimes links don't count against your monthly free 20 articles if you're following a link from a blog like Metafilter.
posted by John Cohen at 9:51 AM on September 22, 2011

A fascinating little snapshot into the aftermath of Gaddafi's fall from power for a few Libyans. The sense I get is that things are a little confused and everyone's rather uncertain, and not quite sure what to make of it, with some lingering unease.
posted by WalterMitty at 9:57 AM on September 22, 2011

An abandoned amusement park?

Ruh-roh!
posted by Sys Rq at 9:57 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Children of the Revolution: Libya. The youngest Libyans adjust to life post-Qaddafi.
posted by homunculus at 10:04 AM on September 22, 2011

I thought nytimes links don't count against your monthly free 20 articles if you're following a link from a blog like Metafilter.

Maybe they do and maybe they don't. I don't care, I'm going to warn people the link comes from the New York Times just in case. This bit of bad publicity, they deserve.
posted by JHarris at 10:21 AM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I wish I could feel positive about this but they have oil which means they will be fucked with quickly and thoroughly.
posted by srboisvert at 10:28 AM on September 22, 2011

Wow, Quaddafi and Michael Jackson were more alike than I ever imagined!!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:40 AM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Surreal Ruins of Quaddafi's Never-Never Land

I believe you have misspelled the man's name - it's Kwgfmthfxi. We just went over this. Please, try to keep up.
posted by kcds at 12:35 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am opposed to the superfluous 'u' in Quaddafi. It also lacks an emphatic 'h' to recreate the ذ

In fact, I'm putting a Jihad on you.
posted by dougrayrankin at 3:28 PM on September 22, 2011

Gaddafi forces "executing people" in Sirte-residents
posted by metaplectic at 8:52 PM on September 22, 2011