Hundreds of Libyans, mostly men, rushed to a former shopping mall in Misrata to view the corpse of the man they'd feared for decades. NBC's Adrienne Mong reports on the aftermath of Moammar Gadhafi's death.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News
MISRATA, Libya ? By the time we?d reached the shopping mall on the edge of town, it looked deserted.? But after driving around several corners, we could see a stream of people funneling down an alleyway.
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They were mostly men, with the occasional child ? many of the latter were wrapped in the new Libyan flag or wearing festive attire.? Their presence lent the scene an almost carnival-like atmosphere, underpinned by a sense of urgent excitement.
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?I am going to see him,? said an elderly gentleman in a dark gray suit, speaking in precise English.? ?He is alive.?
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?He? was Moammar Gadhafi.
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But he was most definitely not alive.
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The body of the late dictator was laid out on a ratty mattress on the floor of a cold storage facility behind the strip mall.? It was covered in wounds, yet it still looked in better condition than it had in the videos of him just after his capture in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.
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?Allahu Akbar!? Allahu Akbar!?
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?I am happy!? Happy!?
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Many of the men who had crowded into the small room to see Gadhafi?s body emerged in a state of excitement.? All of them were being rushed in and out of the freezer by rebel forces guarding the body; they were clearly concerned with trying to make sure the long line of people kept moving quickly.
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We asked one man why he had come to this place.? ?To see this man, this very bad man,? he replied.
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Another compared Gadhafi to Dracula and another reviled dictator.? ?He is like our Saddam in Iraq, you know??
Adrienne Mong / NBC News
Crowds wait to see the body of Moammar Gadhafi in Misrata, Libya, on Friday.
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A young man said it was good to see their former leader dead and that it was a sign Libya was truly free.
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The display of Gadhafi?s corpse was an about-face from earlier statements by members of the National Transitional Council that he would be buried one day after his death, in accordance with Islamic law, and without any ceremony.
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But the decision followed growing international concerns over the manner in which Gadhafi died.? The details of his last moments remain very unclear, with conflicting reports from senior Libyan officials, fighters on the ground, and eyewitnesses, and do not seem to fit with the video clips of the late leader after he was captured?alive.
Libyans we spoke to shrugged at the possibility that Gadhafi might have been executed.
"Everyone wanted to kill him," said one young man.? "Everyone has a part of their life he killed."
The public?s ability to view the body also came as more people expressed surprise that Gadhafi had been found so soon.
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?He was so powerful,? said one man who had gathered with hundreds of others for Friday prayers on Freedom Square in Misrata.? ?I did not expect they would catch him so quickly, so easily.?
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?I didn?t think he would be in Sirte,??said 26-year-old Ahmed el Musrati.? ?I thought maybe Hawaii!?
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El Musrati stopped joking when asked about his country?s future.? ?I think the first thing is better health care for the injured,? he said, echoing many people?s thoughts for the fighters lost in the uprising.
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During regular prayers, which had a special meaning this week, an imam thanked Allah for helping?revolutionaries capture Gadhafi and urged everyone not to forget the fighters he called ?martyrs.?
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?Gadhafi liked to call himself the king of kings or the king of all men,? the imam told a few hundred worshippers kneeling in the square.? ?But only Allah is king.?
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