the fate of Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi

His father’s death is, of course, confirmed by now. (I made the mistake of watching some of the video, which is bloodcurdling.) But there have been mixed reports about his son Seif; the BBC was reporting his capture, while al-Arabiya TV reports as follows:

“Seif al-Islam, son of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who was killed today, has been found dead in the Libyan city of Sirte.”

I’ve mentioned before that I saw Seif lecture in Cairo maybe 18 months ago. He showed his true colors in the spring of 2011 with his violent television speech, but I’m afraid he had me pretty well fooled during his Cairo speech (which wouldn’t have happened if I’d bothered to research some of his previous public statements ahead of time). It was a smooth, likable, progressive-sounding talk about the future of Libya and of all Arab countries– and obviously complete bullshit, in retrospect. But I’m glad I had a chance to see it as a learning experience, just as I’m glad to have had the chance to see Berlin in Cold War militarized form a couple of months before it all caved in.

I’m glad Libya will get a new chance, but it’s hard to feel good about such a gruesome day. You have to wonder what it would be like if we’d had amateur cell phone video of the last minutes of Mussolini or Hitler.

[ADDENDUM: Just looked it up. I heard Seif lecture on May 5, 2010.]