NATO Airstrike kills Mohamar Ghadafi's son and three grandchildren

[WRoss]

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The Libyan government said Sunday that ruler Moammar Gadhafi's son and his three grandchildren died in a NATO airstrike, and vowed to retaliate with death to "invaders" in the nation.

Gadhafi and his wife were in their son's house when it was targeted, but they are in good health, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists.

In addition to Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, three of the ruler's grandchildren also died in the attack, he said.

CNN could not independently confirm the reports.

Saif al-Arab Gadhafi is one of two sons whose names begin with Saif. The 29-year-old is the sixth of his eight biological children.

Another son -- Saif al-Islam Gadhafi -- had previously touted reform, but has emerged as one of his father's most visible defenders in recent months.

The strikes destroyed the house in Tripoli, leaving a massive crater where it used to be.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/05/01/libya.gadhafi.son.killed/index.html?hpt=T1

[Seran]

One down, one to go.

[Parkbandit]

Ghadafi had 6 sons... which "one to go" were you referring to?

[WRoss]

Probably the one who has been in the media defending him.

[Showal]

I heard this was a mistake. They didn't target them all. The reason they got them all in one airstrike is because they were together making this video: http://youtu.be/HKn6o3LzEgI (http://youtu.be/HKn6o3LzEgI)

[Kuyuk]

w.t.f.

[crb]

I find this distasteful.

Dither and hem and haw and dick around, be indecisive "lead from the behind" we're not there to get rid of khadafi, khadafi must go, we won't attack khadafi, we do attack khadafi.

And some kids die.

Obama has more in common with Rumsfeld than he'd like to believe I think. Trying to do the bare minimum to get by. Small footprint and all that nonsense. If you're going to act militarily, do so decisively, quickly, and with overwhelming force. With this pussyfooting around, the longer you drag it out, the more collateral damage there will be. If it was our intention to kill Khadafi, I'm sure we had opportunities weeks ago that probably would not have killed kids.

Or hell, we could have destroyed his entire military capability in a day, but we didn't. We've been doing this pussyfoot LBJ Veitnam style bullshit for weeks now. Dragging it out. How is it libya still has forces that are beating back the rebels? How weak is NATO that they cannot stop 30 year old tanks and guys in pickup trucks in a desert with no cover?

This half-assed "not war" kinetic military action is lame. The longer it drags out, the more civilians will end up dead, and it will be Obama's lack of leadership that caused it. Fucking hedger.

[Warriorbird]

I find this distasteful.

Dither and hem and haw and dick around, be indecisive "lead from the behind" we're not there to get rid of khadafi, khadafi must go, we won't attack khadafi, we do attack khadafi.

And some kids die.

Obama has more in common with Rumsfeld than he'd like to believe I think. Trying to do the bare minimum to get by. Small footprint and all that nonsense. If you're going to act militarily, do so decisively, quickly, and with overwhelming force. With this pussyfooting around, the longer you drag it out, the more collateral damage there will be. If it was our intention to kill Khadafi, I'm sure we had opportunities weeks ago that probably would not have killed kids.

Or hell, we could have destroyed his entire military capability in a day, but we didn't. We've been doing this pussyfoot LBJ Veitnam style bullshit for weeks now. Dragging it out. How is it libya still has forces that are beating back the rebels? How weak is NATO that they cannot stop 30 year old tanks and guys in pickup trucks in a desert with no cover?

This half-assed "not war" kinetic military action is lame. The longer it drags out, the more civilians will end up dead, and it will be Obama's lack of leadership that caused it. Fucking hedger.

There's a deep irony to this view compared to ZOMG HE DIDN'T TELL CONGRESS WE CAN'T GO IT'S EXPENSIVE! from Republicans a few weeks ago.

[4a6c1]

Disgusting.

[HJFudge]

An unfortunate thing indeed.

All war is distasteful, no matter the rightness of the cause. When it stops becoming distasteful, then we'll have a problem.

[Asha]

THEY'RE GONNA FUCKING NUKE US ALL!!!

[Latrinsorm]

The strikes destroyed the house in Tripoli, leaving a massive crater where it used to be.

Gadhafi and his wife were in their son's house when it was targeted, but they are in good health, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists.

...what?

[4a6c1]

Where are the WMD's?

[Parkbandit]

There's a deep irony to this view compared to ZOMG HE DIDN'T TELL CONGRESS WE CAN'T GO IT'S EXPENSIVE! from Republicans a few weeks ago.

The irony is almost as deep as those who were against the war in Iraq and that it's not our business to change the regime of other countries...

Or that we need to control the spending and that war in Iraq has cost billions of dollars...

[crb]

There's a deep irony to this view compared to ZOMG HE DIDN'T TELL CONGRESS WE CAN'T GO IT'S EXPENSIVE! from Republicans a few weeks ago.

Things are not mutually exclusive.

It is possible for me to feel that..

A. Obama is a hypocrite for getting less approval from Libya than Bush did for Iraq, especially considering that oh-so-very high horse he road being antiwar from 2006-2008.

B. Once the decision is made to use the military, no matter if that decision was correct or not, do it fucking right. Don't half ass it because you're hedging.

I personally never complained about the expense, its better spending than stimulus union slush funds, it takes US workers to make cruise missiles afterall. Though, cruise missiles are a pretty expensive option. Bombers can drop cheaper ordnance.

[Stanley Burrell]

I find this distasteful.

Dither and hem and haw and dick around, be indecisive "lead from the behind" we're not there to get rid of khadafi, khadafi must go, we won't attack khadafi, we do attack khadafi.

And some kids die.

Obama has more in common with Rumsfeld than he'd like to believe I think. Trying to do the bare minimum to get by. Small footprint and all that nonsense. If you're going to act militarily, do so decisively, quickly, and with overwhelming force. With this pussyfooting around, the longer you drag it out, the more collateral damage there will be. If it was our intention to kill Khadafi, I'm sure we had opportunities weeks ago that probably would not have killed kids.

Or hell, we could have destroyed his entire military capability in a day, but we didn't. We've been doing this pussyfoot LBJ Veitnam style bullshit for weeks now. Dragging it out. How is it libya still has forces that are beating back the rebels? How weak is NATO that they cannot stop 30 year old tanks and guys in pickup trucks in a desert with no cover?

This half-assed "not war" kinetic military action is lame. The longer it drags out, the more civilians will end up dead, and it will be Obama's lack of leadership that caused it. Fucking hedger.

Honestly, the more it looks like waffling, the better. Unfortunately.

The seeds we and our allies/cronies are planting are, imho, making greater instabilities burn their own flag instead of just ours. I do think we have to be careful on a lot of spectra when it comes to making a large sum of folks believe their governments were toppled by "rebels" and not The Great Satan and Co. Thinktanks are probably a hundred years ahead on this as it is.

And sadly, I don't think I believe in true humanitarian values ever having existed, or having existed since there were humans. Peace will only exist when rationalism and fatalism triumph.

[Androidpk]

Peace will only exist when rationalism and fatalism triumph.

Which would probably take WW3 to make that happen. Or zombies.

[Hazado]

Which would probably take WW3 to make that happen. Or zombies.

No just zombies...or maybe aliens attacking us.

[Stanley Burrell]

Which would probably take WW3 to make that happen. Or zombies.

If the blinders are removed.

[Androidpk]

If the blinders are removed.

I hear nukes are good for that.

[Stanley Burrell]

I hear nukes are good for that.

Definitely. Fortunately, no one has a soap box to be stood upon to make the TNT kiloton comparison via compound explosives and understand that nukes have already been dropped.

[Androidpk]

Yeah. Fucking win streaks.

[ClydeR]

We killed his daughter in Operation El Dorado Canyon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_El_Dorado_Canyon) in 1986 under President Reagan. Then Gaddafi said he would pay reparations to victims of terrorism and we became friends. Later Gaddafi started financing terrorism again and we imposed economic sanctions. Then Gaddafi said he would get rid of all his nuclear bombs if George W. Bush would lift the sanctions, which Bush did, making us friends again.

[Showal]

I heard this was a mistake. They didn't target them all. The reason they got them all in one airstrike is because they were together making this video: http://youtu.be/HKn6o3LzEgI (http://youtu.be/HKn6o3LzEgI)

At first, this was a joke. It's starting to look like it might be true.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42795146