Lots of international busybodies have their panties in a bunch over the summary execution of Muammar Gaddafi, but let's be adults: justice doesn't always require a courtroom.
Libya's rebel army has been accused of executing both Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in cold blood as the United Nations suggested their deaths amounted to war crimes.Human rights groups and Gaddafi's wife Safia called for an independent investigation into the deaths, which robbed victims' families of the chance to see Gaddafi put on trial for his murderous acts.
Both Gaddafi and his son were filmed or photographed alive and relatively uninjured after their capture on Thursday, before both died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Unless there's doubt about the identities of men, there's absolutely no reason that Gaddafi or his sons need to be tried before their are executed. Their evil is well-known, and they reveled in it for decades. If there were trials, everyone knows that the outcomes would be preordained anyway.
Good riddance to some of the most evil people on earth.
"If there were trials, everyone knows that the outcomes would be preordained anyway."
rather misses the point. Trials are not only for the benefit of the potentially innocent defendant. The trial is what distinguishes a lynching from an execution. The boys who dragged Gaddafi etc. through the streets and shot him are the ones who have will suffer for not having gone through the official motions.
Also, for my money, a parade of witnesses and victims testifying against Gaddfi before his sad, defeated eyes is a more satisfying punishment than his mere death. I drew more satisfaction from S.H.'s drawn-out, humiliating trial than I did from his momentary death.