Kadafi

As you might expect, Republicans aren't exactly rushing to credit the Obama administration for first the downfall and now the death of Moammar Kadafi, even though the United States was part of the NATO force that backed the rebels who deposed the longtime Libyan leader. Sens. John McCain and Marco Rubio, who have favored strong U.S. intervention in the Libyan conflict, took it one step further Thursday, praising the efforts of Britain and France in bringing down Kadafi. That's right.

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday developments in Libya show the U.S. approach to dealing with Moammar Kadafi was the right one. "Whether he's alive or dead, he's gone. The people of Libya have gotten rid of a dictator," Biden said at an event in New Hampshire, seeming to want to avoid a definitive statement on Kadafi.President Obama is due to address his death at 2 p.m. EDT from the White House. Biden also seemed to compare the regime change unfolding in Libya with the Bush administration's approach to Iraq.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday when an aide handed her a phone with the news that deposed Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi was reportedly captured. “Wow,” was her immediate response. “Unconfirmed reports about Kadafi being captured,” she told the room of aides and television crews. Later reports revealed that the former Libyan strongman had been killed. PHOTOS: Moammar Kadafi | 1942 - 2011 The reaction that followed reflects the skepticism that had developed over a months-long drama that saw multiple false reports of Kadafi's capture.

For a president who promised to end the gunslinger ways of his predecessor, Barack Obama has proven himself comfortable with the use of lethal force. In the last six months, he authorized Navy SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. He approved the fatal drone strike on an American cleric in Yemen and dispatched military advisors to Uganda to help hunt down the leaders of a notorious militia. All told this year, he has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents.

President Obama paid tribute to the Libyan people for ending the regime of Moammar Kadafi with his death on Thursday and promised the U.S. will be a “partner” as they build a new and just society. “Today belongs to the people of Libya,” Obama said. “This is a moment for them.” The remarks in the Rose Garden came shortly after administration officials determined the reports of Kadafi's death were credible. PHOTOS: Moammar Kadafi | 1942 - 2011 There are still conflicting reports about how Kadafi died, and U.S. officials did not disclose whether a NATO airstrike was part of the operation.

The photo taken by a Libyan resistance fighter of what is purportedly a dead Moammar Kadafi is horrific: a bloodied face frozen in a grotesque death mask. And for several hours on Thursday, it aired steadily on television broadcasts as news organizations scrambled to confirm early reports of Kadafi's death. To children young and old who are likely to have seen the image - or to find it while surfing the Web in the coming days, what's a parent to say? The answer, say experts, depends on the child's age, of course, and his or her level of anxiety about the graphic and extremely bloody image . But especially for younger children, the message should focus on reassurance: This can't happen to you or to our family.

Sen. John McCain, one of the most ardent supporters in Washington of the Libyan resistance, released a statement on the reported death of Col.Moammar Kadafi, calling for the United States to “deepen” its support for the strife-torn nation. Revolutionary forces stormed the Mediterranean coastal city of Surt on Thursday, with reports saying that Kadafi had been captured and wounded in the fighting. Some of the reports said he had died. McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, traveled to Benghazi, a rebel stronghold, in the midst of the fighting in April.

In the modern pantheon of the world's dictators, Moammar Kadafi stood apart. Far apart. Erratic and mercurial, he fancied himself a political philosopher, practiced an unorthodox and deadly diplomacy, and cut a sometimes cartoonish figure in flowing robes and dark sunglasses, surrounded by heavily armed female bodyguards. He ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years, bestowing on himself an array of titles, including "king of culture," "king of kings of Africa" and, simply, "leader of the revolution.

The remains of more than two dozen men lay facedown in the dirt, their hands bound behind them. Plastic cuffs cut into the flesh of their wrists; bullet holes riddled their blood-spattered backs. According to fighters for Libya's transitional government who say they found the corpses last week, the men were recent victims of supporters of ousted Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi. The fighters say all were executed by loyalist forces in a paroxysm of revenge and fury as former rebels advanced into the crumbling Kadafi stronghold of Surt.

Forces of Libya's transitional government pounded holdout positions of Moammar Kadafi loyalists in the ousted leader's hometown of Surt on Friday, and fighting flared up in the capital for the first time in nearly two months. In the coastal city of Surt, the attackers said the last remaining pro-Kadafi troops were trapped in a few neighborhoods and that it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. The fight for Surt has dragged on for almost a month after the government that ended Kadafi's reign predicted it would be over in a few days.