"Gaddafi advance into Benghazi is over."

[vaberella]

Stated on Al Jazeera a few moments ago, this is coming after the wave of bombing from the French from the air.

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

[pinboy3niner]

1. CNN--Residents of Benghazi have one message, and that is: "Thankyou!"

CNN's Arwa Damon reporting from Benghazi.

She reports Benghazi residents wanting everyone to know that Gaddafi's claims of coalition attacks striking civilian targets are not true--the strikes on Gaddafi's tanks outside Benghazi were "right on target."

She also reported that the people of Benghazi "have one message, and that is: 'Thankyou!'"

Earlier reports said that at least 94 people were killed when Gaddafi forces attacked Benghazi with tanks and heavy artillery late Friday night and early Saturday morning before the arrival of the French jets.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[joshcryer]

5. There's a major sense of trepidation in this image gallery:

http://www.elpais.com/fotogaleria/Operacion/Odisea/Amanecer/Libia/elpgal/20110319elpepuint_1/Zes/2

The west is so overpowering to Gaddafi it is a joke. This will be over very quick.

[meow mix]

6. bunch of thugs and cowards, theyll scatter like roaches

shameful rat people will suddenly remember "oh i was for this action all along"

[joshcryer]

8. I'm considering starting to put people on ignore.

I've never done this ever (actually, once, during the primaries, for about 45 minutes). We'll see how they are in about 2-3 weeks if this is over by then.

If not they'll gloat and revel in Libya becoming a disaster.

[Arkana]

18. Ehhhhhhhhhhhh don't say that. Ever.

I realize that there are vast differences between Iraq and this, but that line was used so often in the runup to Iraq that hearing it makes me jumpy.

[joshcryer]

26. They are overwhelmed, is what I think.

They've called for more strikes since then. Stuff that goes beyond NFZ I think, but I dunno.

[vaberella]

13. Oh wow...that's deep. I need to start watching some of the live footage on this. n/t

[joshcryer]

2. Second Treaty of Paris?

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gmaki]

7. Actually CNN reported before the strikes that there were no Libyan forces in Benghazi

You are being lied to.

[joshcryer]

9. Actually, I heard reports all night that there were Libyan forces in and around Benghazi.

From a variety of sources, so, I think I know who is lying to me and who isn't.

[gmaki]

11. well of course I heard that too.

However the CNN report was from a live feed from a CNN reporter in Benghazi.

I believed THAT report more than the ones I heard from rebels over telephone saying they were being "constantly shelled" at that moment although I could hear no explosions in the background.

I DO understand that neither situation constitutes proof...

[pinboy3niner]

16. Look up the reports by CNN's Arwa Damon and AJE's Michael Bays from Benghazi Sat.

Bays gave several reports describing how, after shelling Benghazi late Friday night and early Saturday morning with tanks and heavy artillery, Gaddafi forces "punched through" (his words) opposition defenses to enter the city Saturday morning, entering and firing on residential neighborhoods.

Damon's reports Saturday showed footage of the damage in those neighborhoods that morning from shelling, heavy caliber weapons and small firearms before government forces and their tanks either were repelled or withdrew to a short distance outside the city. (Several government tanks were captured by the opposition and were displayed in the city.)

AJE also aired footage of the visit that morning by Mohammed Nabbous, a journalist who founded Libya Alhurra, to a home where two children---a 4-month-old and a 5-year-old--were killed in their beds when a shell crashed through the roof of their home and exploded. Within hours of that visit, Mo Nabbous was fatally wounded either "by a Gaddafi sniper" or "in a firefight" between Gaddafi fighters and opposition fighters while he was reporting on the fighting.

There is a time difference. Perhaps Saturday morning in Benghazi wasn't Saturday morning where you are.

[gmaki]

23. If they were firing at residential neighborhoods

How were the tanks captured? In all my years I have never once seen unarmed civilians capture one, let alone TWO tanks from an army. It is simply not possible.

In any event I don't care about the words of some journalist using words like "punched through" and I do not believe that Libyans would roll into a city and fire at residential dwellings simply because they work for Gadhaffi.

I never bought into the idea that Iraqis, or Iranians, or Afganis are somehow inherently capable of such inhuman acts, and I am not about to suddenly believe Libyans are.

There is more (or less) to the story than we are being told.

[pinboy3niner]

24. You want an account from a journalist who was there? Here...

Here are excerpts from a the Washington Post story today--an account of the battle at Benghazi by a Post reporter who was there:

Mother and son were inside their car, fleeing the onslaught of Moammar Gaddafi’s forces that invaded their Benghazi neighborhood in tanks and trucks Saturday morning. After fierce street battles, after barrages of artillery and rockets pounding this rebel stronghold and cradle of Libya’s populist uprising, Gaddafi’s troops withdrew in the afternoon.

...


By 8:30 a.m., Gaddafi’s forces had moved from the entrance to Benghazi past Garyounis University, heading to the center of Benghazi. As a Washington Post reporter made his way toward the area, rebel fighters in a red car coming from the other direction flashed their headlights and motioned to stop.

Street battles erupted in several areas. In Tabalino Square, under an overpass, a two-hour battle raged, pitting Gaddafi’s tanks against young people wielding Kalashnikovs, machine guns and molotov cocktails.

Wissam Mohamed, 36, a software engineer living in the neighborhood, grabbed his rifle and joined the fight. The rebels captured four tanks and forced Gaddafi’s men to flee. The road on which Gaddafi’s forces came and left Benghazi was a tableau of destruction. At the university, two sport-utility vehicles belonging to Gaddafi’s men were in flames near a wall with graffiti that read: “Libya will never die.” Down the road were the carcasses of three buses gutted by fire, the smell of charred metal still wafting in the air. And on a light pole, someone had hung a Libyan government military uniform.


Benghazi, Libyan rebels’ stronghold, hit by artillery and rocket fire
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Sunday, March 20, 11:50 AMhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gaddafis-forces-enter-benghazi/2011/03/19/ABjlL5u_story.html

As for the tanks, other reports from battles in Libya gave accounts of revolutionary fighters diving into tank hatches with knives and killing or capturing the crews, and capturing the tanks.

But your original point under discussion had nothing to do with capturing tanks. It was about your insistence that "there were no Libyan forces in Benghazi" according to CNN--even though I saw Arwa Damon reporting by live feed on CNN--from Benghazi--that government tanks entered the city and opposition fighters battled them there. AJE's correspondent in Benghazi Saturday said the same in his live feed reports. As does the WaPo reporter in Benghazi.

Are they ALL lying?

BTW, Damon has been doing live feeds for CNN all day reporting on the battle against the tanks in the city and the shelling of homes.

[gmaki]

25. They took tanks down with a knife?

In that case these rebels don't need our help. they're fucking ninjas!

[pinboy3niner]

31. Is that meant to be a serious response? Seriously?

Throughout the thread you have denied or ignored all the evidence presented about what happened in Benghazi, insisting that journalists who were actually there are lying and that you know better than they do.

I suggest you find a better source of information than a Magic 8-Ball.

[gmaki]

12. Doesn't sound like much of a slaughter or a battle in Benghazi to me.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-libya-cease-fire-20110319,0,1084301.story

"A large crowd in Benghazi was watching the vote on an outdoor TV projection and burst into cheers, with green and red fireworks exploding overhead. In Tobruk, east of Benghazi, happy Libyans fired weapons in the air to celebrate the vote."



http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14922018,00.html

"The Security Council, meeting in emergency session Thursday, passed a resolution backed by the US, Britain and France endorsing a no-fly zone to halt government troops now around 100 km (60 miles) from Benghazi. "

[joshcryer]

17. 92 people died. :(

:(

[gmaki]

22. 92 died?

Where? how? who?

Libyan forces are dying too. It's a battle for christs sake. No one denies people are dying.

But I doubt Gadaffi forces are indiscriminately massacring citizons... and if they were a LOT more than 92 would die.

Check the 100,000's dead in Iraq killed by US forces for the type of carnage that occurs when a military indiscriminately fires into a city.

[joshcryer]

27. Gaddafi is certainly killing civilians, he said as much, that he would "have no mercy" on the "rats"

[gmaki]

30. saying "no mercy" constitutes proof of killing Civilians?

Truth be told I have no doubt his forces are killing civilians, and no doubt the rebels are as well. That happens in war.

I also have no doubt the US will be killing civilians as well just as we did (and are doing) in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The only difference is I don't single Gadhaffi forces out as doing it intentionally, and accept the rest as "collateral damage" just because I don't like Gadhaffis politics.

[meow mix]

10. right, they were actually in RIO

swimmin and stuff. :rofl:

[vaberella]

14. Al Jazeera lies?! You'd sonner believe CNN than AJE? You're nuts. n/t

[gmaki]

15. Don't believe any of them

nt

[thewiseguy]

19. Then who do you believe? The Libyan state TV? Baghdad Bob? Tripoli Tom?

[gmaki]

21. I believe what I actually see

For example the tanks outside of Benghazi that were blown up by French aircraft. There are photos and video footage of them.

When there are photos and footage of these massacres by Gadaffi forces in Benghazi I will believe it, even if Fox airs it.

Why do I have to pick one organization to believe everything they say? and one to disbelieve everything they claim?

I believe real evidence, no matter who presents it.

[joshcryer]

28. It is trivial to find those reports!

I bet you can think of three key words to find those videos on YouTube.

[Zynx]

20. Then how do you propose obtaining information?

[pinboy3niner]

29. Isn't it obvoous by now? ...

:rofl: