Libya's Gaddafi caught hiding like a "rat"

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters)

Muammar Gaddafi called the rebels who rose up against his 42-years of one-man rule "rats", but in the end it was he who was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth.

"He called us rats, but look where we found him," said Ahmed Al Sahati, a 27-year-old government fighter, standing next to two stinking drainage pipes under a six-lane highway.

Government fighters, video evidence and the scenes of sheer carnage nearby told the story of the dictator's final hours.

Shortly before dawn prayers on Thursday, Gaddafi surrounded by a few dozen loyal bodyguards and accompanied by the head of his now non-existent army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr broke out of the two-month siege of Sirte and made a break for the west.

But they did not get far.

NATO said its aircraft struck military vehicles belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces near Sirte at about 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Thursday, but the alliance said it was unsure whether the strikes had killed Gaddafi.

Fifteen pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns lay burnt out, smashed and smouldering next to an electricity substation some 20 metres from the main road, about two miles west of Sirte.

They had clearly been hit by a force far beyond anything the motley army the former rebels have assembled during eight months of revolt to overthrow the once feared leader.

But there was no bomb crater, indicating the strike may have been carried out by a helicopter gunship, or had been strafed by a fighter jet.

Inside the trucks still in their seats sat the charred skeletal remains of drivers and passengers killed instantly by the strike. Other bodies lay mutilated and contorted strewn in the grass. Some 50 bodies in all.

Gaddafi himself and a handful of his men escaped death and appeared to have ran through a stand of trees towards the main road and hid in the two drainage pipes.

But a group of government fighters were on their tail.

"At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use," said Salem Bakeer, while being feted by his comrades near the road. "Then we went in on foot.

"One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me," he told Reuters.

"Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'," said Bakeer.

"We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'what's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car," Bakeer said.

At the time of capture, Gaddafi was already wounded with gunshots to his leg and to his back, Bakeer said.

Other government fighters who said they took part in Gaddafi's capture, separately confirmed Bakeer's version of events, though one said the man who ruled Libya for 42 years was shot and wounded at the last minute by one of his own men.

"One of Muammar Gaddafi's guards shot him in the chest," said Omran Jouma Shawan.

Army chief Jabr was also captured alive, Bakeer said. NTC officials later announced he was dead.

Fallen electricity cables partially covered the entrance to the pipes and the bodies of three men, apparently Gaddafi bodyguards lay at the entrance to one end, one in shorts probably due to a bandaged wound on his leg.

Four more bodies lay at the other end of the pipes. All black men, one had his brains blown out, another man had been decapitated, his dreadlocked head lying beside his torso.

Joyous government fighters fired their weapons in the air, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and posed for pictures. Others wrote graffiti on the concrete parapets of the highway.

"Gaddafi was captured here," said one simply.

From there Gaddafi was taken to the nearby city of Sirte where he and his dwindling band of die-hard supporters had made a last stand under a rain of missile and artillery fire in a desperate two-month siege.

Gaddafi, dazed and wounded, but still clearly alive and gesturing with his hands as he was dragged from a pick-up truck by a crowd of angry jostling group of government soldiers who hit him and pulled his hair.

He then appeared to fall to the ground and was enveloped by the crowd. NTC officials later announced Gaddafi had died of his wounds after capture.

(Writing by Jon Hemming Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Don't shoot, pleaded Gaddafi

'Don't shoot,' pleaded Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi when he was captured 20th October 2011by fighters of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) in Sirte.

A soldier who claimed to have captured Muammar Gaddafi told the BBC that Gaddafi shouted: 'Don't shoot!'

NTC field commander Mohemmed Buras Ali Al-Maknee told Xinhua that a group of fighters from the western Libyan city of Misrata captured Gaddafi, who was severely injured, in Sirte.

Libya's deposed leader Gaddafi captured: A profile:

Tripoli (Capital and largest city in Libya) Oct 20, 2011 (IANS):

Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi has been captured. Here is a brief profile:

Muammar Gaddafi was born to nomadic parents in the desert region of Sirte in 1942. He went to study history at the University of Libya in 1961 and then entered the Benghazi Military Academy.

After graduating in 1965, Gaddafi served in the Libyan army and he was sent to Britain Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for training in 1966, said Xinhua.

On Sep 1, 1969, the 'Free Officers Movement', a small group of military officers led by Gaddafi, staged a bloodless coup that toppled King Idris and established the Libyan Arab Republic.

From then on, Gaddafi became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Libya.

He served as Libya's prime minister and minister of defence from 1970 to 1972 and in 1977; he became the revolutionary leader and supreme commander of the armed forces.

Gaddafi relinquished all his administration positions in March 1979, only retaining the title of 'Revolutionary Leader of Libya'.

Gaddafi was ousted in August after 42 years in power.

Fighting for Brand Brandy

Sunday, 16 October 2011, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Fighting for Brand Brandy

Say brandy,and the response in India is: ah,that cold weather,after-dinner drink.But brandy has got new champions now.Hotels and brandy connoisseurs are promoting it as a cocktail drink,even as an aperitif

:: Nupur Amarnath


Before you stole swigs off your dads liquor stash,or made secret rum-and-coke cocktails from his bar,chances are,he offered you your first drink even before you turned five.It was a classic in most households : feeling a sniffle,swig a little brandy with hot water.It was,and remains,the ultimate cold remedy for most.And unfortunately its this image that doesn't really help the cause of Brand Brandy.
Beverage consultant and mixologist Shatbhi Basu says the connection between brandy and older people or the drink as a restorative is what lets the spirit down.Even Rohit Dasgupta,food and beverage manager at The Trident,Gurgaon,says the classic image you associate with brandy is of a well-heeled gentleman probably sitting in his library smoking a cigar,and holding a brandy snifter.
Cognac is expensive and has the classic perception of being an after-dinner drink.Hence its fall,and not just in India, Basu says.And the big cognac brands (cognac is a variety of brandy made in the town of Cognac in France) Remy Martin,Hennessy,Martell,Courvoisier,Hine are trying to give it a young fillip by promoting it as a cocktail base.Remy Martin recently launched an Ice BoXX that helps bartenders serve cognac as chilled shots.Still,it is difficult and we believe that you must be older,richer and wiser to enjoy cognac, she says.
The cocktails that use cognac with a younger VS (Very Special),the VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) and XO (Extra Old) blends are meant to be had ye olde way.VS,VSOP,XO are part of the traditional quality rating system of brandy but are followed only by cognacs and armagnacs (yet another region).

Brandy vs Cognac

Simply put,all cognacs are brandies,but not vice versa.Technically,brandy is any distilled wine but cognacs are region-specific.Or as food and wine connoisseur Magandeep Singh describes it,Brandy is to cognac,what Indian whisky is to single malt. But adds that Indian whiskies are still more qualitative,with brandies you are not sure,what goes into it,alluding to the fact a blend of grapes and molasses spirits.All brandy is made from grapes,but now you have cherry,apple,coconut and fruit brandies.Most people see either cheap Indian brandy or expensive French cognac.But a brandy can be fruits other than grape.Singh leans more towards cognacs and suggests to drink it as an aperitif (with tonic or soda) and not as a digestif.
Christophe Bourrie,international brand ambassador,Louis XIII,suggests drinking cognac along with food.He suggests: spicy food,mainly Indian,Thai and Chinese cuisine,and adds,A cellar master glass is recommended to reveal the aromatic intensity,especially for neat tasting.

In the Mix

Theres no one way to enjoy your brandy,and it all depends on which type.Young ones can be made into a highball cocktail.The aged cognacs are best drunk straight.While fruit brandies are drunk cold,straight or even in long drinks and cocktails.Trident,like most hotels,has widened its brandy menu besides the classic brandy and benedictine cocktails,fuelled by a push from cognac manufacturers.
Basu says there are a lot many brands and types of brandy available in India.Theres Fundador a Spanish grape brandy,Nonino (a grappa from Italy) and Calvados (apple brandy) and Kirsch (clear brandy from cherries) now available here.The verdict is more towards French cognacs.And good cognacs dont come cheap with Louis XIII by Remy Martin and Richard Hennessy by Hennessy retailing between $1,900 and $2,500.

! DID YOU KNOW

The word brandy comes from the Dutch word brandewijn or burnt wine,which is how the Dutch traders who introduced it to northern Europe in the 16th century described wine that had been burnt,in order to distil it

Glass Act

FOUR BRANDY COCKTAILS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM

RECIPES BY : SHATBHI BASU

SIDECAR Glass: Martini



Take: 45 ml cognac,20 ml Cointreau (orange liqueur),20 ml fresh lime juice

Garnish: Twist of orange peel/half a slice of orange

Method:

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half filled with ice.Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass.Drop the peel in

BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE Glass: Martini



Take: 30 ml cognac,30 ml Drambuie,20 ml lime juice

Garnish: Twist of lime/ orange peel

Method:

Mix in a cocktail shaker half filled with ice.Strain into the chilled glass.Drop the peel into the drink

APPLEJACK Glass: Tall



Take: 45 ml cognac,1 cinnamon stick,200 ml apple juice

Garnish: Cinnamon stick or slice of apple

Method:

Fill glass with ice.Add the cognac and cinnamon stick (snapped in two).Top with apple juice and stir.Slide the apple slice in

DESPERADO Glass: Brandy Balloon



Take: 60 ml brandy/cognac,2 tbsp honey,2-3 lime wedges,2 cinnamon sticks,2 cloves,hot water

Garnish: Lime peel & spices

Method:

Pour brandy and honey in a glass.Squeeze the lime & drop the peels in.Break and add cinnamon and clove.Add water.Stir.