(Related to a Knix post, which I'm continuing here):
Qaddafi wrecked a half-dozen African countries by fomenting civil war and chaos --
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, and Congo.
Not to mention propping Mugabe up in Zimbabwe for decades with cheap oil and loans. A primer:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/03/05/harvard-for-tyrants/When Qaddafi stopped most of his terrorism in Europe fearing he'd be killed by the US (good job Reagan!), the colonel merely switched his murderous impulses and excessive oil wealth to raping and murdering smaller African countries. While the West largely lost interest.
Charles Taylor was his main protege and he helped decimate and implode three countries.
Qaddafi recruited Liberia's Charles Taylor, a war criminal standing trial for crimes against humanity, including the abduction of children for combat, systematic rape, and mass murder. Another Qaddafi recruit, Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF), would be standing trial in the same court for similar crimes had he not died of natural causes.
Sankoh, an illiterate corporal, formed the RUF under Taylor's auspices and together they pioneered their signature atrocity in the 1990s -- the amputation of the arms and legs of men, women, and children as part of a scorched-earth campaign designed to take over the region's rich diamond fields. Their atrocities were backed by Qaddafi, who routinely met with Taylor and his closest associates to review the progress of the conflicts and supply weapons. Qaddafi continued sending arms to Taylor even as the latter was being forced from office in 2003.
So yes, Qaddafi's death was a service to mankind. Well executed. But then unfortunately little to no follow-up, in a country that has no ethnic/religious divisions and lots and lots of oil wealth. It should have been possible to set up a gov't to run a wealthy country of under 7M.
Obama/Clinton can be blamed for not having a post-Qaddafi strategy and assuming Europe could handle things. But the suffering and human tragedy in the decade post-Qaddafi is still less than was inflicted by Qaddafi on other countries for much longer and far greater numbers of Africans. Yes, that's an ugly set of scales, but Qaddafi was a scourge, bringing death and destruction to tens of millions throughout Central and West Africa.