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20 October 2011

Gaddafi and the war in Libya: a reader

The former dictator has been killed. Here's the best of the NS archive.

By Samira Shackle

Muammar Gaddafi has died after being captured in Sirte (for the latest on this story, click here).Here is a selection of New Statesman articles from the magazine and the website on the dictator and the war in Libya.

1. NS Profile – Colonel Gaddafi

Britain’s new friend struts about in fancy dress and throws dollars to the poor. But, asks Nicholas Pelham (writing in 2002), will the Libyans put up with him?

2. Libya — is war over?

Pelham revisits a Libya euphoric at the fall of Gaddafi. With the “interim” government headed by the dictator’s old justice minister, and a treasury running on empty, is the violence really over?

3. It may be goodbye to Gaddafi, but it’s far from Mission Accomplished

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Those who suggest Libya could be a template for intervention are deluded, says Mehdi Hasan. War should be a last resort, not the first or only option.

4. Gaddafi and friends: in pictures

Samira Shackle collects images of Gaddafi and and an array world leaders in happier times.

5. Libya — Battle of the Arab Spring

Xan Rice writes from the frontline of Misurata – a messy, bloody and terrifying urban war.

6. Literature and silence

Daniel Barrow blogs on how Libyan writers thwarted the Gaddafi regime.

7. The NS Profile: Muammar Al-Gaddafi

Back in 2009, Sholto Byrnes profiled the”mad dog of the Middle East”, back in the spotlight, 41 years after he took power.

8. Under fire from Gaddafi’s tanks, we said goodbye to our families

Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford writes a diary column on reporting the war in Libya.

9. Inside the Saif house

The UK home of Colonel Gaddafi’s son is in the hands of Libyan exiles. Laurie Penny describes what it’s like from within.

10. Colonel Gaddafi: “mad dog”?

The Staggers lists five of the dictator’s more eccentric moments, after he called for jihad against Switzerland.

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