The Gaddafi war crime

The body of Muammar Gaddafi after he was lynched by NTC forces in Sitre

During the Libyan Civil War which has just ended no doubt many war crimes were committed by both sides and many UN members have stated that NATO has operated outside the UN Resolution authorising intervention. Muammar Gaddafi, rightly or wrongly, bravely led from the front in fighting foreign intervention in Libya. His retreating convoy from Sitre was destroyed by NATO forces that intervened in a civil war on the pretext of a UN Resolution authorising protection of civilians. France, UK, Qatar and Egypt had Special Forces on the ground in Libya with no legal basis. Both Muammar and his son Mutassim (who visited the White House in 2009) were murdered after they were captured. Will the International Court of Justice punish this clear war crime?


The lynching of Gadaffi by the NTC forces bring law and democracy to Libya?

The intervention by Western Powers again in Libya is a very dangerous business. Libya had free education, health, women working freely and equally and with a standard of living which was above the USA's. This intervention happened because of the natural resources that the NATO countries want. The western intervention is cynical while at the same time ignoring attacks on civilians in Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This time Russia is right to deride the cynicism of the "freedom loving democracies."



Libya has also has suffered terribly from foreign intervention in the 20th Century. The Italians invaded in the "Libyan war" which was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy from September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy was awarded the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. These provinces together formed what became known as Libya.


Mutassim Gaddafi after his capture as a POW by NTC troops


Mutassim Gaddafi after his summary execution in the field

During the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea. Italy had agreed to return the Dodecanese Islands to the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of Ouchy[in 1912 (also known as the First Treaty of Lausanne (1912), as it was signed at Ouchy Castle in Lausanne, Switzerland). However the vagueness of the text allowed a provisional Italian administration of the islands, and Turkey eventually renounced all claims on these islands in Article 15 of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. In Libya Italy subjected the country to a bloody pacification campaign which saw public hangings in the main towns. Resistance petered out only after the execution of the rebel leader Omar Mukhtar on September 15, 1931. The “War in the desert” against Rommel’s Afrika Corps took place in the Libyan Desert and the country was left destroyed in its aftermath.


Sitre, Libya showing how NATO protected its civilians

This was the genesis of Gaddafi’s strident Libyan nationalism and of the 1969 coup deposing Idris Senussi, leader of the Senussi Sufi sect and a Libyan patriot who opposed the Italians. He was installed by the British in 1951 as the one and only King of Libya. It was also why he closed the British and American bases in Libya, expelled 20,000 Italians and nationalised the foreign owned oil industry.


Mutassim Gadaffi visiting Hilary Clinton in 2009

My point is simple and is nothing to do with pro or anti Gaddafi. Whatever we think otherwise Gaddafi and his son were clearly captured combatants who were entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions. The NTC has been recognised as the government by NATO countries and these were their armed forces that captured Gaddafi & his son after NATO attacked a retreating convoy. They were being directed and supported by NATO (including Special Forces on the ground) who used air & naval power (including HMS Liverpool) to capture Sitre. The Allies have executed German & Japanese commanders who breached the Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg established that ignorance of them or "obeying orders" were no defence. These conventions have afforded protection to American, French & British prisoners. The Geneva Conventions are not optional for victors - they ARE International Law.



Who gave coalition forces in Libya the right to eliminate Gaddafi? That's the question Vladimir Putin's been asking, during an official visit to Denmark. The Russian Premier also said NATO's effectively joined one of the warring sides in the conflict. And more responsible action should be taken instead. This has been a murky intervention in a civil war and the war crime committed and recorded in Sitre won't go away, neither will the Geneva Conventions.