Rebel Claims of Libya ‘Mass Graves’ Come Up Empty, Again

Since the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi, the rebel claims that the former dictator had killed some 50,000 people in the civil war began to be scrutinized, and suffered from a major lack of actual bodies. The rebels acted quite vindicated yesterday, announcing some 900 bodies were found in a “mass grave.”

The problem is once again, it never happened. The rebel National Transitional Council’s (NTC) crowing about the find continued right up until journalists arrived at the spot and found empty trenches, with no signs of any bodies.

At which point officials claimed that locals had “reburied” all 900 bodies, and produced photos of rotting bodies they claimed were taken on site. The photos too were a sham – many of them were photos taken by the New York Times photographer quite awhile ago, and at a completely different location.

The NTC’s credibility seems to be plummeting all the time, as claims about the old regime turn up false and predictions of their impending military victories likewise fall by the wayside, to be replaced by new, nearly identical predictions, the following day. Though NATO’s military leadership seems fine with continuing the war more or less forever, the embarrassment coming out of Benghazi must eventually do serious harm to voters’ willingness to put up with a nonsensical claims.