Libyan Revolution Day 36 part 2 (Misrata shooters removed, but still under siege)

[joshcryer]

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-25">AJE Live Blog March 25 (today) http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard http://feb17.info/">feb17.info http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks">Libya Alhurra (live video webcast from Benghazi) http://www.libyafeb17.com/">libyafeb17.com

Twitter links: http://twitter.com/#!/aymanm">Ayman Mohyeldin, with AJE http://twitter.com/#!/bencnn">Ben Wedeman, with CNN http://twitter.com/#!/tripolitanian">tripolitanian, a Libyan from Tripoli http://twitter.com/#!/BaghdadBrian">Brian Conley, reporter in Libya http://twitter.com/#!/freelibyanyouth">FreeLibyanYouth, Libyan advocate http://twitter.com/#!/LibyaFeb17_com">LibyaFeb17.com twitter account http://twitter.com/#!/ChangeInLibya">ChangeInLibya, Libyan advocate

Useful links: http://audioboo.fm/feb17voices">feb17voices http://www.google.com/search?q=time+in+libya">Current time in Libya http://www.islamicfinder.org/cityPrayerNew.php?country=libya">Prayer times in Libya

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x730234#735026">Day 35 part 2 here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/24/libya-unitednations">Libya, the UN and the R2P debate
It is doubtless of some comfort to the citizenry of Benghazi or Misrata that if Gaddafi "exterminated" them without hindrance, it would advance the cause of national sovereignty and that their sacrifice would somehow constitute a blow against western imperialism. But generally, they wisely seem to prefer to stay alive, despite the Manichean principles of some protesters.

The American left and right are united in isolation. On the right, there is un-Samaritan disdain for the fate of a crowd of Arabs in a faraway country. On the left, some have espoused a concern for national sovereignty that owes more to the Treaty of Westphalia than the slogan "Workers of the World Unite", which motivated the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish civil war.

It is true that the UN security council could and should be involved in Bahrain, Yemen and, indeed, Palestine. But that is no excuse for inaction when there is an actual opportunity to save lives in Libya. Those who, with some justice, accused Blair and Bush of war crimes for attacking Iraq without a UN mandate, disregard as a mere technicality the security council resolution 1973 (SCR 1973) that authorised – in fact, called for – this operation.

While Moscow and Beijing might now be trying to cover their tracks, just in case Gaddafi survives, they could have vetoed or amended SCR 1973; but they did not. The other abstainers had a more principled position – although one could think for some time about India's entirely justifiable intervention in Pakistan, which gave birth to Bangladesh, and wonder how it squares with such rigid principles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8405273/Libya-Misurata-hospital-damaged-in-fighting.html">Libya: Misurata hospital damaged in fighting - video
Broken glass and wrecked furniture can be seen in the footage after pro-Gaddafi tanks lay siege to the city of Misurata despite coalition air strikes.

A huge hole has been blown in one wall of the facility and gunfire can be heard in the background.

The coalition did manage to destroy tanks outside Misurata but appear to have pulled back from targets within the city, perhaps to avoid civilian casualties in line with the policy explained by Rear Admiral Gerard Hueber, the US chief of staff for the mission who said: "Our mission here is to protect the civilian populace and we choose our targets and plan our actions with that as a top priority."

Video of the convoy sent to take Benghazi, taken from a dead soliders cell phone (shows how massive the operation was): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwWwOeZqz6M

Sky News went with Gaddafi minders to find a "civilian town bombed" only they were never shown any such thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5KJavfiQo

TNC presser talking about various details of the revolution (thanks to Waiting for Everyone): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=730234&mesg_id=731532


Videos to bring the Libyan Revolution into context:

The Battle of Benghazi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0vChMDuNd0

BBC Panorama on Libya Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyaPnMnpCAA

BBC Panorama on Libya Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzwQvcx62s

Latest indiscriminate shelling in Misurata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wop3C4zrPXI


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x677397">Text of the resolution.

How will a no fly zone work? AJE reports: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEwehTtK2k

Canada:

http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110317/cf-libya-canada/20110317/?hub=WinnipegHome">Canada to send six CF-18s for Libya 'no-fly' mission
Canada will contribute six CF-18 fighter jets to help enforce a no-fly zone in Libya, sources have told CTV News.

Norway:

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFOSN00509220110318">Norway to join military intervention in Libya
OSLO, March 18 (Reuters) - Norway will join the international military action against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Libya, a Norwegian daily quoted the defence minister as saying on its website on Friday.

"We will contribute to the operation," Grete Faremo told the daily Verdens Gang. "But it is too early to say exactly in what way. Sending air capabilities would be natural."

Belgium:

http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/monde/2011-03-18/la-belgique-prete-a-une-operation-militaire-en-libye-828970.php">Belgium ready for a military operation in Libya
Our country is available to take part in a military operation in Libya, following the UN vote authorizing the use of force against Gaddafi. The government has observed, in Parliament yesterday, a broad consensus in the Belgian political class on the need to prevent the Libyan leader to crush the rebellion in Benghazi.

Qatar and the UAE:

http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/776/?SID=e80884adc09a37d26904578a9b5978cb">Run-up for Western world’s next military commitment ... with unusual support
France and the United Kingdom, which spearheaded the diplomatic push in the Security Council for the implementation of a no-fly zone, received unusual but certainly very welcome support. According to a further unnamed AFP source, the Council confirmed that Qatar and the UAE will join the international effort.

Denmark:

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/51229-denmark-ready-for-action-against-gaddafi.html">Denmark ready for action against Gaddafi
Espersen will discuss the resolution “as soon as possible” with the other political parties.

“We’re ready to take action immediately, and that includes ensuring prompt treatment of the resolution in parliament, so that Denmark can deploy its four F-16 fighter jets,” she said.

France:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19libya.html?src=twrhp">Following U.N. Vote, France Vows Libya Action ‘Soon’
UNITED NATIONS — Only hours after the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action, including airstrikes against Libyan tanks and heavy artillery and impose a no-flight zone to try to avert a rout of rebels by forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. French officials said on Friday that military action would start “within a few hours” and news reports said British and French warplanes would spearhead the attack.

Italy:

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72G2HE20110317">Italy to make bases available for Libya no-fly zone-source
TUNIS, March 17 (Reuters) - Italy is ready to make its military bases available to enforce a U.N. Security Counci resolution imposing a no-fly zone on Libya, an Italian government source told Reuters on Thursday.

United Kingdom:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12770467">Libya: UK forces prepare after UN no-fly zone vote
UK forces are preparing to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya after the UN backed "all necessary measures", short of an invasion, to protect civilians.

United States:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/nations-draw-up-plans-for-no-fly-zone-over-libya-1.2765122">Nations draw up plans for no-fly zone over Libya
The United States, France and Britain were making plans Friday to prevent Moammar Gadhafi's forces from attacking Libyans after the U.N. Security Council authorized a no-fly zone over Libya and "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.

Jordan:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/military-strikes-on-libya-within-hours-20110318-1bzii.html?from=smh_sb">Military strikes on Libya 'within hours'
Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join international forces ready to enforce the no-fly zone, US Congress and UN diplomatic sources say.

Spain:

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/19/2801s627320.htm">Spain Expected to Join NATO No-fly Zone Enforcement over Libya Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is expected to confirm Spain's contribution of two air force bases at a summit in Paris to discuss the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya Saturday.

"One month ago (Western countries) were sooo nice, so nice like pussycats," Saif says in a contemptuous sing-song tone."Now they want to be really aggressive like tigers. (But) soon they will come back, and cut oil deals, contracts. We know this game." - http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2058389,00.html">Saif Gaddafi

(Yeah, Saif, as if you weren't "cutting oil deals, contracts" with western states. Who are the 'tigers' now? Bombing your own people.)

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-10-0">March 10 7:28pm Saif al Islam Gaddafi says "the time has come for full-scale military action" against Libyan rebels. He goes on to say that Libyan forces loyal to his family "will never surrender, even if western powers intervene".

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/25/world/middleeast/map-of-how-the-protests-unfolded-in-libya.html">Click here for updated map

Military Installations



Oil Map



http://bit.ly/fe3P">Google Earth DL here to see positions of army and patrolling route of mercenaries

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=212059469427545728757.00049c4df2474b6543347&ll=31.203405,30.058594&spn=96.173452,183.867188&z=3">MAP of Protests across the Middle East

Mohammed Nabbous, killed by Gaddafi's forces while trying to report on the massacre in Benghazi

"I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid to lose the battle" -Mohammed Nabbous, a month ago when all this began

I'm struggling to come up with something to say about this man. I was not aware of the Libyan uprising until I saw Mo's first report, begging for help, posted here on DU. I was stricken. Here was a man giving everything he had to explain a situation that clearly terrified him, I would not call him a coward in that moment, but you could see the fear in his eyes, and desperation in his voice. For 30 days Nabbous would spend many hours covering the uprising in Benghazi. For many nights I would go to sleep with the webcast of Benghazi live on my computer screen, looking to it occasionally to be sure it was still 'there.' Mo treated the chat room as if we were his friends, and in some way, we were. I never signed up to LiveStream to thank him for all his work and it seems somewhat shallow to do so now, given that I was a lurker for so long. Ever since I took over posting these threads "Libya Alhurra" has been linked as a source of information. It wasn't until last night, when I posted, and twitter posted on Mo's adventures out into Benghazi to try to determine the truth of the situation, that Mo's webchannel became a hit, over 2000 people were watching him stream live. This was curious to him because he'd done many reports like this in the past but he appeared somewhat bemused that the view count exploded as it did. Last night Mo became a star. This is a man who first started out with a webcast replete with fear and desperation finally overcoming that aspect of himself and losing that fear, to become someone who was a fighter for the resistance just as much as those who held the guns. Reporting on the front lines of Benghazi became his final act, and for that he should never, ever be forgotten. I'm so sorry Mo that I never got to know you better.

Mo's first report, which many of you may remember, begging for help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EXALI60hg

Mo's last report, a fallen hero trying to spread the word to the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecu_iWLn-rg

Mo leaves behind a wife who is with child, she had http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/23/a_bright_voice_from_libyas_darkness">this to say about the No Fly Zone and R2P UN resolution:

We started this in a pure way, but he turned it bloody. Thousands of our men, women, and children have died. We just wanted our freedom, that's all we wanted, we didn't want power. Before, we could not do a single thing if it was not the way he wanted it. All we wanted was freedom. All we wanted was to be free. We have paid with our blood, with our families, with our men, and we're not going to give up. We are still going to do that no matter what it takes, but we need help. We want to do this ourselves, but we don't have the weapons, the technology, the things we need. I don't want anyone to say that Libya got liberated by anybody else. If NATO didn't start moving when they did, I assure you, I assure you, half of Benghazi if not more would have been killed. If they stop helping us, we are going to be all killed because he has no mercy anymore.

[joshcryer]

1. Current time in Libya, 7:56am, Friday March 25

[joshcryer]

2. UN rights experts sound alarm on wave of enforced disappearances in Libya

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37884&">UN rights experts sound alarm on wave of enforced disappearances in Libya
24 March 2011 – A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today voiced deep concern about hundreds of alleged enforced disappearances that have taken place in recent months in Libya, where what started as peaceful civilian protests demanding the ouster of Muammar Al-Qadhafi has turned into a violent military crackdown by the regime of the opposition.

“Enforced disappearances may amount to a crime against humanity when perpetrated in certain circumstances,” warned the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

According to information received by the group, which is tasked with assisting families determine the fate or whereabouts of disappeared relatives, hundreds of people have been taken to undisclosed locations where they might have been submitted to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or executed.

In most of the cases reported, the fate and the whereabouts of these persons are still unknown, the group noted in a news release, calling on all States to eradicate the practice of enforced disappearance.

[pinboy3niner]

3. K&R

[joshcryer]

4. Royal Navy blockade forces Gaddafi's gunboats off the ocean

http://www.navynews.co.uk/news/1123-royal-navy-blockade-forces-gaddafis-gunboats-off-the-ocean.aspx">Royal Navy blockade forces Gaddafi's gunboats off the ocean
THE naval blockade of Libya is keeping Colonel Gaddafi's gunboats holed up in port.

Whitehall says since frigates HMS Westminster and Cumberland began enforcing the United Nations Resolution with other Allied naval forces on Friday, the dictator's ships had shown “a very marked reluctance” to leave their bases.

Until the UN Resolution was enforced, Gaddafi’s ships had been used to bombard targets in rebel-held locations ashore.

Capt Karl Evans, former T-boat commander and operations officer on the Naval Staff, said: "We had seen Libyan surface ships used to shell shore positions. That's now stopped. Our ships and their capabilities may well be a factor in why that's stopped."

[bobbolink]

41. How is this affecting humanitarian aid getting through?

[joshcryer]

5. USS Bataan: Mission uncertain?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2011/03/the_uss_bataan_mission_uncerta.html">USS Bataan: Mission uncertain?
Two tugs play around the USS Bataan, guiding her out of port, the beginning of her long journey to the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. Sailors and Marines line her decks, standing to attention while relatives say their goodbyes from another ship on the quayside. One woman rubs her hands up and down the arms of her young son, comforting herself with the repetitive motion as much as him. Another waves as the ship departs, waves as it moves into the open waters, and is still waving as it shrinks into the distance. There are tears, as those who remain behind hug each other in support.

One woman tells me: "Every time they go it is like a little bit taken out of a puzzle. That puzzle is your life. And they never come back the same."

The pain of parting for probably around a year must be great. But this mission is not like Afghanistan, or in the past Iraq, where those leaving would definitely see action. Indeed, no-one seems certain what they are going to do.

Not, as is sometimes the case, because they are unwilling to discuss a military operation. They really don't know.

[uppityperson]

6. k&r, thanks for continuing to post these. Rec'd up from +1 to +1.

[joshcryer]

7. Libyan unrest: Misrata voices (audio of people in Misrata telling of their ordeal)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12850157

[Tx4obama]

8. Seems a bit strange to read up above that Jordan is helping w/ the no fly zone ....

because Jordan has protesters of it's own that want to oust the Jordanian government.
I guess as long as Jordan is working with the UN to protect the protesters in Libya it would be hard for the Jordanian government to turn around and start attacking the protesters in Jordan! Something to think about.
-----------

24 Mar 2011 14:54

Protest camp set up in Jordan capital

Hundreds of Jordanians have set up a protest camp in a main square in the capital to press demands for the ouster of the prime minister and wider public freedoms.

SNIP

"Today is the dawning of the Jordanian revolution," al-Khawaldeh said.

"We will not move an inch from here until our demands are met," he said under pouring rain at the Interior Ministry Circle in the heart of Amman.

SNIP

Al-Khawaldeh said the protesters want prime minister Marouf al-Bakhit to be "instantly replaced with a liberal government that would quickly implement reforms".

SNIP

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132414304102344.html

[joshcryer]

9. Jordan and Egypt both get massive aid from the US, military aid.

Jordan is actually populated almost entirely of former Palestinians. It's one of those more lucrative deals for the US.

[joshcryer]

10. Misrata audio interview via satellite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13eTI5RfJhQ

[joshcryer]

11. Tensions on the road to Tripoli

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12848369">Tensions on the road to Tripoli
A special forces soldier pulls a spare can of petrol from the back of someone's car, opens it and kicks it so the petrol leaks out into the sand.

A passenger on a minibus is caught trying to hide money in his shoe and is punished by having everything he has on him strewn on the ground.

A group of children being shepherded home from school hurry past a group of soldiers with obvious anxiety, averting their eyes.

Each of the towns we drive through, Zuara, Sabratha and Zawiya, has been a battlefield in the last few days and although the pro-Gaddafi forces have recaptured them, the signs of fighting are everywhere still.

[joshcryer]

12. Missing: Agency and Alternative in the Anti-Intervention Critique

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/977/missing_agency-and-alternative-in-the-anti-intervention-critique">Missing: Agency and Alternative in the Anti-Intervention Critique
The Libyan people’s revolution against Muammar al-Gaddafi has been called the February 17th revolution. It has been named – like Egypt’s January 25th revolution – after the day on which protests were called for demanding freedom and an end to a brutal and long-standing regime. In Libya, however, the protests erupted before schedule. They began two days ahead of time in response to the arrest and imprisonment of Fathi Terbil – the lawyer representing the families of the victims of the Abu Salim prison massacre. For years, Terbil and these families have demanded the release of the location of the corpses of those 1,200 individuals killed. They have filed suits and protested on a regular basis demanding accountability for the government’s brutality in Abu Salim. When they took to the streets on February 15th to demand the release of the man who had defended their cause, they found the citizens of Benghazi at their side. The protesters were immediately met with violence. By the 17th, Libyans were painfully aware of what they faced when they took to the streets – but they marched on regardless, even as they knew no cameras would be documenting their courage.

Since the 15th, Gaddafi and his sons have responded with ruthless and merciless violence against the people of Libya. Onlookers watched with horror, shock, and helplessness. Even in the most violent moments of the Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes during Tunisia and Egypt’s revolutions, there seemed to be a deeper sense of optimism and hope towards the developments as we watched. In Libya, pride gave way to horror as courageous demonstrators faced an unbridled brutality. Mercenaries flown in from other African countries whose governments Gaddafi had spent years courting, videos of burned bodies of soldiers who refused to shoot at civilians, mass graves in Tripoli, stories of massacres in al-Zawiya, hospitals under attack and medical personnel murdered, and a liberated east aching but unable to aid their countrymen in the west. Imagine a town – al-Zawiya – that now when its name is uttered has the effect on Libyans that Deir Yassin had on Palestinians in 1948. Like the reports of Deir Yassin for Palestinians, the stories of al-Zawiya and other towns from early weeks have caused thousands of Libyans to flee, in addition to migrant workers, causing a massive humanitarian crisis on Libya's borders with neighboring countries. The archive of collective memories of horror seems to be amassing as fears spread that Misrata is the current target of the Gaddafi forces’ butchering of women and children. Al-Jazeera and others reported today that Gaddafi forces have taken control of the hospital and set up snipers on rooftops throughout the town.

[joshcryer]

13. Libya rebels coordinating with West on air assault

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-libya-rebels-20110324,0,3195209.story">Libya rebels coordinating with West on air assault
Reporting from Benghazi, Libya, and Washington— Leaders of the opposition national council in rebel-controlled eastern Libya say they are making regular, secure contacts with allied military representatives in Europe to help commanders identify targets for the U.S.-led air assault.

The contacts, conducted through the council's civilian representatives in France and elsewhere in Europe, are made by secure satellite telephone connections, according to spokesmen for the rebel leadership in its eastern base of Benghazi.

"There is communication between the Provisional National Council and U.N. assembled forces, and we work on letting them know what areas need to be bombarded," spokesman Ahmed Khalifa said in an interview Wednesday.

[joshcryer]

14. 350 British special forces already deep inside Libya... and more are ready to be deployed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369763/350-British-special-forces-deep-inside-Libya--ready-deployed.html">350 British special forces already deep inside Libya... and more are ready to be deployed
Hundreds of British troops have been deployed deep inside Libya targeting Colonel Gaddafi’s forces – and more are on standby.

While Chancellor George Osborne repeated that UK ground troops would not be involved, the Daily Mail can reveal there are an estimated 350 already mounting covert operations.

In total it is understood that just under 250 UK special forces soldiers and their support have been in Libya since before the launch of air strikes to enforce the no-fly zone against Gaddafi’s forces.

[bobbolink]

43. I'm not liking the sound of this........:(

[joshcryer]

15. US May Supply Gaddafi Rebels With Weapons

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201009115959909">US May Supply Gaddafi Rebels With Weapons
Western diplomatic sources have confirmed to Sky News that the US is considering the legality of arming the Libyan rebels.

One of the unintended consequences of United Nations' Resolution 1970 was to starve the rebels of the weapons they would need to take on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

It requires all UN members to "immediately take the necessary measures" to prevent the supply or sale of weapons to the Libyan government - with no exemption for anti-Gaddafi forces.

But Sky News now understands the US is looking at a legal framework to allow limited supplies of arms to the rebels, if they can prove they need them to defend themselves from attack.

[joshcryer]

16. Opposing Gaddafi’s massacre and foreign intervention in Libya

http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/opposing-gaddafi’s-massacre-and-foreign-intervention-in-libya/">Opposing Gaddafi’s massacre and foreign intervention in Libya
GADDAFI IS NOT ANTI-IMPERIALIST

Many progressive persons sympathise with Gaddafi because he represented himself as anti-imperialist leader who supported freedom fighters. However, a close examination of the political economy and cultural practices of Gaddafi would show that far from being anti-imperialist, he was like a semi-feudal leader. Gaddafi used Libyan people’s money to try to harness the reservoir of traditional rulers and buy over leaders from across the continent in order to gain support for his aspiration to become the despotic king of kings of Africa. In the process, Gaddafi was also grooming his son in a monarchical tradition to reproduce a semi-feudal political relation inside of Libya. On the international front, while Gaddafi was verbally anti-imperialist, over US$150 billion of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund was distributed between New York, Paris, London, and Geneva to support the speculative activities of international financial oligarchs. At the same time, Gaddafi used billions of dollars to support arms manufacturers in the West.

In a previous article about Gaddafi, I drew reference to his history of mischief making in Africa, noting his support for elements such as Charles Taylor, Foday Sankoh, and Idi Amin. Immanuel Wallerstein in his contribution titled, ‘Libya and the World Left’ spelt out clearly the reasons why Gaddafi cannot be considered as anti-imperialist. Wallerstein was speaking directly to Hugo Chavez and other left forces who have articulated support for Gaddafi. Revolutionaries in Latin America who oppose US imperialism need to be better educated about the real social conditions in African societies.

[Iterate]

55. Highly recommended,

especially for fans of critical thinking.

Of particular note for the moment is an argument I'd forgotten and haven't see elsewhere. It concerns the topic of "Which states should be trusted to carry out this intervention under RtoP, and especially the current one." We often forget that past interventions of the RtoP type were carried out by neighboring states who (arbitrarily and by fate) happened to have the military ability, national interest, and moral argument to do so.

The images of Tomahawk cruise missiles and bombs raining down on Libya from British, French, and US warplanes have ensured that many people now oppose the foreign military intervention in Libya. Yet, the same people were condemning the killing of civilians by the dying Gaddafi regime. On the surface, it may seem to be a contradiction to oppose both the West and Gaddafi, but this contradiction arises from the reality that there is no popular democratic force in Africa capable of mounting the kind of intervention that is necessary to translate Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act (the charter) of the African Union into action. There is no international brigade similar to the period of the Spanish Civil War when anti-fascist forces mobilised internationally to fight General Franco. There is no Tanzanian Peoples Defence Force (TPDF) with its tradition of supporting liberation that had the capabilities to fight and remove Idi Amin who was butchering Ugandans. The emerging new powers such as Turkey, Brazil, Russia, India and China are quite quick to do business in Africa but are quiet in the face of mass killings. In short, the world was willing to stand by as Gaddafi called those who opposed him ‘cockroaches’, ‘rats’, and ‘germs’ and vowed: ‘I will fight on to the last drop of my blood.’ The sight of the array of forces at the gates of Benghazi meant that this was not an idle threat.

Emphasis added. We might also put the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in the highlighted category.

For all the depth in the article, the author has missed the simplest point: that the EU nations and Libya are, first and foremost, simply neighbors. It's 1100 miles from Strasbourg to Tripoli, roughly Chicago-New York. I could paddle a canoe from Rome. Small wonder then, that at the conclusion, they miss the simplest moral point and oppose intervention with all it's consequences, distracted by the hope of a suddenly stronger AU and the fear of a suddenly dangerous US African command. That I cannot abide.

[bobbolink]

103. That is really important information. Is that at the same link?

I'm thinking that this would be something worth posting in GD... do you think so, and would you be willing to do so?

There are a *few* who are open to new information.

Maybe it would be worth the effort.

Thanks for this... I am trying to absorb all of this.. steep learning curve!

[Iterate]

109. I thought about it.

You right I meant to include the link and should have.

I thought about GD, but in the end it promotes a narrative in the left that I really hope we can get away from. It's almost as if those who repeat that narrative are so vested in it that it's become part of an intellectual industry, one that hasn't made progress in 50 years and won't make progress in the next 50.

Plus that, to really dissect the article in depth would realistically have taken two days or so, and people are generally not receptive to new ideas during times of high stress anyway. There are good bits in the article as well. But then again, I'll likely change my mind tomorrow morning.

[bobbolink]

110. You make very good points. You are thinking it through clearly.

That's the problem with my brain...not always seeing the outcome, at least in this issue.

Digging a rut deeper won't help.

Do you have any thoughts about posting the real story about the "funerals" and corpses of "civilian victims"?

[Iterate]

115. Sure.

Several.
First, two things I've never had a problem saying, "I'm sorry", and "I don't know".

The right thing to say about the story early on, at best, is "I don't know the truth of the matter." I think it's obvious the story is staged and gruesome theater, but "I don't know the absolute truth" will do as well.

Of the two sides who would claim they they somehow know the absolute truth, one is going to be very, very wrong. And there's pretty good evidence for which side that will be.

The side that is wrong will not say "I'm sorry".

We saw this coming days and days ago, maybe even a week ago. Then it happened. It's a good sign that you understand the situation when you can predict. I think that we're also grown up enough to realize that at some point, a real accident will happen. We have to look for the truth when that happens as well.

[joshcryer]

17. Sarkozy Libya Plan Got Push From ‘American Vertigo’ Author Levy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-22/sarkozy-libya-plan-got-push-from-american-vertigo-author-levy.html">Sarkozy Libya Plan Got Push From ‘American Vertigo’ Author Levy
French author Bernard-Henri Levy was present at the creation of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to intervene in the Libyan civil war.

With Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Brussels, Levy, 62, attended Sarkozy’s March 10 meeting at the Elysee Palace with leaders of the Libyan opposition. Having arranged the encounter, Levy urged Sarkozy to become the first to recognize them as the government of Libya -- which he did.

It was Levy who confirmed a Le Monde report that day that Sarkozy was pushing for air strikes against Muammar Qaddafi. Juppe’s meeting in Brussels with his European Union counterparts failed to yield consensus on recognizing the Benghazi-based opposition and on military attacks. The United Nations voted a week later to authorize a no-fly zone.

“It’s too serious an issue to have someone like Bernard- Henri Levy tell France what to do in Libya,” said Stephane Rozes, who founded the Paris-based Cap Institute, a political- advisory firm. “His public posture is not good for France or its diplomacy.

Bernard-Henri Lévy, a target of islamists in the past, supporting them? :rofl:

[joshcryer]

18. France 24 Exclusive: the Battle of Brega (wow, MUST SEE doco)

http://www.france24.com/en/20110324-france-24-exclusive-battle-brega?ns_campaign=Reporters_Libye&

[bobbolink]

46. whew... excellent... thank you!

[joshcryer]

19. EU to fund AU mission to Libya

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1131946/-/c3eo6ez/-/">EU to fund AU mission to Libya
The European Union will provide 265,000 euros (Shs840 million) in urgent funding to the African Union High-level ad hoc committee to Libya.

A statement released by the EU delegation to Uganda yesterday said the international body “responded positively” to an AU request for the funds.

The AU mission consisting of the heads of state from Uganda, South Africa, Mali, Mauritania and Congo was delayed last weekend after a UN Security Council resolution imposed a no-fly zone over the war-torn country.

More whites manipulating blacks. I bet when this is over the AU is on board.

[pinboy3niner]

25. More...

The Daily Monitor, Uganda's largest independent newspaper, reports that the European Union authorised the transfer of 265,000 euros to the African Union two days before the two sides, along with the United Nations and other bodies, were scheduled to meet in Addis Ababa to discuss Libya. (hat tip to Alex Thurston of Sahel Blog for pointing this out.)

The African Union has strongly criticised the international military intervention in Libya, while the European Union has supported it. The funding was announced in an EU statement on Wednesday and was provided through the African Peace Facility Early Response Mechanism - a four-year-old project that's part of a 740 million-euro "conflict prevention" effort.


11:40am:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-25

[joshcryer]

20. UNESCO Director-General condemns killing of Libyan journalist Mohammed al-Nabbous

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_director_general_condemns_killing_of_libyan_journalist_mohammed_al_nabbous_and_calls_for_freeing_of_detained_media_workers/back/18256/">UNESCO Director-General condemns killing of Libyan journalist Mohammed al-Nabbous
"I condemn the killing of Mohammed al-Nabbous, who was killed while fulfilling his professional duty of informing citizens about the dramatic events taking place in Libya," the Director-General said. "His tragic death, along with numerous reports of journalists being detained in the country, indicates just how dangerous Libya has become for media workers.

"In keeping with the Geneva Conventions to which Libya is a State Party, it is essential that all those in positions of power in the country respect the right of journalists to do their work unhindered."

[joshcryer]

21. Yemen: Saleh speaking live now on AJE (speaking about transforming power)

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

[joshcryer]

22. Pulled a Mubarak, transfer powers in months, threatened a Gaddafi, divided country.

:puke:

He's a piece of work for sure.

[pinboy3niner]

23. 60% of Americans support US, allies bombing Libya to impose NFZ to protect civilians

Ipsos/ Reuters Poll: Libya

Thursday, March 24, 2011


Washington - Ipsos' latest poll carried out on behalf of Reuters and published today shows that 60% of Americans support US and allied military action in Libya, and eight in ten (79%) agree that the US and its Western allies should seek to remove Gaddafi.


...

•A majority (60%) support US and allied military action in Libya. Men are more likely to support this than women (65% vs 56%). There is very little difference in support for the military action between Democrats (65%) and Republicans (63%)

•There is supermajority agreement that the US and its Western allies should seek to remove Gaddafi (79%, consistent across socio-demographic and political subgroups)

•The public are equally divided on whether the costs of the military operations are justified -- but a split sampling exercise demonstrates that opposition to this notion increases when a dollar amount is affixed to the operations (from 49% to 57% disagreeing that the costs are justified)

•Almost half (48%) of the public choose 'cautious and consultative' as the set of adjectives that best describe Obama's leadership -- and this figure rises to 63% among Democrats. Over a third (36%) choose 'indecisive and dithering' -- and this figure rises to 64% among Republicans. One in six (17%) choose 'strong and decisive'

•In the event that the air strikes fail to restrain Gaddafi, a quarter of people (25%) feel that the UN should send in peacekeeping troops, and another quarter (23%) believe air strikes should be increased. One in five (20%) advocate the US and allies sending in special forces. Just 7% advocate sending in ground troops. It is clear the public do not have any appetite for seeing American troops on the ground in Libya.

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5172

[pinboy3niner]

24. Overnight airstrikes by France, UK destroy artillery, tanks near Ajdabiya

More detail is emerging of overnight air strikes near Ajdabiya, where Gaddafi troops have proved surprisingly resilient. France's army chief of staff, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, said a plane destroyed an artillery battery. Guillaud also says French forces destroyed a military base, a munitions depot and maintenance facilities in Libya's interior.

The BritishDefence Secretary, Liam Fox, says British Tornado GR4 aircraft launched a number of guided missiles at Libyan armoured vehicles.

"The Tornado aircraft launched a number of guided Brimstone missiles at Libyan armoured vehicles which were threatening the civilian population of Ajdabiya. Brimstone is a high precision, low collateral damage weapon optimised against demanding and mobile targets," said Fox.


9.26am:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/25/libya-middle-east-gaddafi-yemen-syria-bahrain-nato

[pinboy3niner]

26. UN Sec. Gen. on why action being taken against Libya but not other countries

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has told the BBC that the intervention in Libya has been effective. Mr Ban also tried to explain why action was being taken against Libya and not other countries where uprisings were being suppressed. He said :

It has deterred further aggression of military campaign by Libyan authorities and it was able to protect the civilians in Benghazi and some other areas. But we'll have to see. I believe that the superiority of the military power will prevail.

While we have been condemning all other leaders in the other regions where many civilian populations were killed, we have been urging them to exercise maximum restraint and caution to protect the human lives. But in the Libyan case, he has been killing so many people with heavy artillery.

08.32:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[pinboy3niner]

27. Obama doesn't have an exit strategy? Guess who does...

Some interesting lines from a Reuters round-up of Libya, particularly suggestions that members of Gaddafi's circle are putting out feelers on a ceasefire or safe passage.

Messages seeking some kind of peaceful end to UN-backed military action or a safe exit for members of Gaddafi's entourage have been sent via intermediaries in Austria, Britain and France, said Roger Tamraz, a Middle Eastern businessman with long experience conducting deals with the Libyan regime.

At the UN, envoys said Sudan had quietly granted permission to use its airspace to nations enforcing the no-fly zone. Sudan's UN ambassador, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, neither confirmed nor denied that report.

South of the Sahara, local media quoted a cabinet minister as saying Uganda would freeze Libyan assets worth about $375m in line with a UN resolution imposing sanctions on Libya following Gaddafi's violence crackdown.

10.40am:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/25/libya-middle-east-gaddafi-yemen-syria-bahrain-nato

[pinboy3niner]

28. Syria: Checkpoints dismantled in Sana'a, security removed--but no journalists allowed

There is no security presence in the southern Syrian city of Sana'a for the first time since Friday when protests began in a move to reduce tension. Checkpoints have been dismantled, but AP reports that journalists have not been allowed in the old city.

"As you can see, everything is back to normal and it is over," an army major, standing in front of the ruling Baath party head office in Daraa, told journalists before they were escorted out of the city.


11.23am:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/25/libya-middle-east-gaddafi-yemen-syria-bahrain-nato

[pinboy3niner]

29. Map from the attack on Benghazi by Gaddafi forces

Map, courtesy of Al Jazeera, shows where advancing Gaddafi forces' barrage of shells hit Benghazi 's western outskirts:





11:23am:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-25

[pinboy3niner]

30. African Union calls for 'transition period' in Libya leading to democratic elections

The African Union has called for a transition period in Libya that would lead to democratic elections. The head of the AU told a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that a consensus was possible. Libyan officials and representatives of the rebels are reported to be in Addis. This from AP.

African Union commission chairman Jean Ping said in an opening speech that the AU favours an inclusive transitional period that would lead to democratic elections. Ping stressed the inevitability of political reforms in Libya, and said that he believes a consensus can be reached. He called the aspirations of the Libyan people "legitimate."

"We are convinced that there is enough base to reach a consensus and find a durable solution in Libya," he said.

12.17pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/25/libya-middle-east-gaddafi-yemen-syria-bahrain-nato

[CJvR]

94. Useless...

...fucking pukes!

Are they going to negotiate how many opponents Gaddafi is allowed to torture and murder during the transit period? Half the normal rate perhaps?

[pinboy3niner]

31. US May Supply Gaddafi Rebels With Weapons

Source: Sky News

US May Supply Gaddafi Rebels With Weapons

Western diplomatic sources have confirmed to Sky News that the US is considering the legality of arming the Libyan rebels.


1:13pm UK, Friday March 25, 2011

Robert Nisbet, US correspondent


One of the unintended consequences of United Nations' Resolution 1970 was to starve the rebels of the weapons they would need to take on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

...


But Sky News now understands the US is looking at a legal framework to allow limited supplies of arms to the rebels, if they can prove they need them to defend themselves from attack.

Mark Kornblau, spokesman for US Ambassador Dr Susan Rice, confirmed it was a possibility.

"Resolutions 1970 and 1973, read together, neither specify nor preclude such an action," he said.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201009115959909

[defendandprotect]

112. How about "anti-Gaddafi rebels" .... ???

Wondering if there is any consideration of their returning to non-violence --

though imagine the weapons levels are still too high to begin thinking of that.

They've said they'd like to put Gaddafi on trial --

[pinboy3niner]

32. Gaddafi Still Outguns Rebels

Source: Sky News

Gaddafi Still Outguns Rebels

March 24, 2011 11:45 PM

By Sky News security editor Sam Kiley, in Al Zuweitina, Libya


...

The faces of the younger men shone with excitement. The older ones studied intently - they knew that in a few days they might have to fire a multiple rocket launcher or an anti-aircraft gun in a matter of life and death.

They numbered about 150. The were told they'd get two weeks training. No one believed it would last that long. But still they were in the 7 April barracks. It had been named after a date in 1976 when the colonel came to Benghazi, drank coffee in a local cafe and watched four men hang for the crime of criticising him.

Every year since then the people in this city were afraid because the secret police would search houses, arrest people, some were tortured, others would hang in that day. That is why we want to fight," Mr Bunkheila, a former pilot, said.

His colleague, Mustafa Elsagezli, a computer engineer, who is the deputy commander if the camp, added: "We're all civilians here. We would not be carrying weapons if Gadaffi had not started killing us.


http://blogs.news.sky.com/frontlineblog/Post:58583817-99fd-43d7-ae77-c53b2ca460e2

[pinboy3niner]

33. Reuters: Opposition fighters exchange artillery fire with Gaddafi forces at Ajdabiyah nt

[pinboy3niner]

34. RAF Tornado jets target Libyan tanks in Ajdabiya

Source: The Telegraph

RAF Tornado jets target Libyan tanks in Ajdabiya


RAF Tornado jets launched strikes on Libyan government forces overnight, firing guided missiles at armoured vehicles, including Russian-made T72 tanks.


By Nick Squires in Gioia del Colle 10:44AM GMT 25 Mar 2011



The aircraft flew from Gioia del Colle airbase in south-eastern Italy, destroying tanks and other vehicles that were threatening civilians in the eastern town of Ajdabiya.

...


Ajdabiya has been under siege for more than a week, with rebels trying to hold the city centre while being besieged by government troops.

...


William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said on Thursday that British aircraft have flown 59 missions over Libya in their efforts to enforce a no-fly zone and to protect civilians from Gaddafi's attacks.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8406161/RAF-Tornado-jets-target-Libyan-tanks-in-Ajdabiya.html

[pinboy3niner]

35. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 4 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 25

Time flies when you're having...a REVOLUTION!

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, GMT +2 hours

[pinboy3niner]

36. Libya: Gruesome slaughter in Ajdabiya as rebels and government forces dig in

Source: The Telegraph


Libya: Gruesome slaughter in Ajdabiya as rebels and government forces dig in


Five days after coalition air strikes helped rebels push back Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces from the outskirts of Benghazi, their advance has stalled at gates of the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya.


By Rob Crilly, Benghazi 7:45PM GMT 24 Mar 2011


...


Murad Ali was trying to collect the ash-like shadows in the back of a brunt-out pick up, the unrecognisable remains of what was once an entire family trapped in the crossfire, when anti-aircraft guns homed in on his little aid convoy.


...


Two other men trying to bury the dead were killed in the attack – one decapitated by a piece of shrapnel.

...


"Once I am cured I will go again," he said in Arabic. "There's still work to do."

Ahmad Kuafi, a 49-year-old businessman was also injured while trying to retrieve the dead or wounded. He decided he was too old to fight at the front but still wanted to help.

"People were burned, turned to charcoal," he said. "We didn't get very far – just far enough to see the bodies."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8405048/Libya-Gruesome-slaughter-in-Ajdabiya-as-rebels-and-government-forces-dig-in.html

[pinboy3niner]

37. " lots of people fleeing Ajdabiya today... rebels seem to have more...purpose today"

--Tweet from The Daily Telegraph's Rob Crilly, in Libya:

lots of people fleeing Ajdabiya today... rebels seem to have more of a sense of purpose today outside ajdabiya. controlled who can get to checkpoint, getting rocket launchers ready

12.10:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[tabatha]

38. Good morning

to the Cryer & Niner Info Central. Thanks again, for all the work. I am really busy today, so will only check now and then, not post.

[pinboy3niner]

39. Good morning, Tabatha!

I think Josh is off reserving our domain name now, lol.

About not posting--didn't you say the same thing yesterday? :)

:hug:

[tabatha]

42. Yes, but there was a bit of a slack later.

Don't know if that will happen today.

[pinboy3niner]

40. Nato will take command of Libyan operations on Sunday or Monday--Italian FM nt

[pinboy3niner]

44. Zawiyah: Disturbing accounts are emerging about brutality at the hands of Gaddafi's men

"Gaddafi's battalions have deployed checkpoints at every crossroad and street in the city," rebel spokesman Ibrahim said by telephone from Zawiyah, which fell to Gaddafi last week.

They kidnap young men, old men, anyone below the age of 50 or 60, whether an engineer or a simple construction worker, and they are taken to an unknown location.

Thousands have disappeared like that since they have taken the city. Shops are closed and the humanitarian situation is very bad. Residents are scared to leave their homes. Kidnappings and beatings are widespread.

I can't give you an exact number of how many people were kidnapped, tortured or killed. But they mainly carry out these attacks against civilians suspected of hiding weapons or supporting the rebels.

It's a ghost town. Gaddafi's men are still firmly in control but they are facing resistance from the rebels in some streets.

14.53:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[pinboy3niner]

45. Qatari warplanes have overflown Libya--first Arab state to carry out NFZ enforcement

Qatari warplanes have overflown Libya, becoming the first Arab state to take part in military operations to enforce a no-fly zone.

The Qatari air force said an undisclosed number of planes had "overflown sister Libya as part of the international coalition" to enforce the no-fly zone "to protect civilians."


15.17:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[pinboy3niner]

54. Qatar air force Mirage 2000-5 flew alongside a French Mirage 2000-5 fighter on patrol

A Qatar air force Mirage 2000-5 flew alongside a French Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet in a patrol Friday over Libyan airspace, the military said in a statement.

Qatar has deployed six Mirage fighters (rather than the two we mentioned earlier) and two C-17 transport jets to support the operation.


4.30pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/25/libya-middle-east-gaddafi-yemen-syria-bahrain-nato

[pinboy3niner]

47. BREAKING, SYRIA ~ Resident: troops open fire in Syrian city, Daraa

Source: AP

Resident: troops open fire in Syrian city, Daraa


By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Zeina Karam, Associated Press – 29 mins ago

DARAA, Syria – Syrian troops opened fire on protesters in the restive southern city of Daraa on Friday, shooting crowds that set fire to a bronze statue of the country's late president, a resident told The Associated Press.

The resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said heavy gunfire could be heard in the city center and witnesses had reported several casualties.

An activist in Damascus in touch with eyewitnesses in the village of Sanamein, near Daraa, said troops there opened fire on demonstrators trying to march to Daraa. He said there had been witness reports of fatalities, some claiming as many as 20 slain, but those could not be independently confirmed.

Tens of thousands of Syrians were taking to the streets across the country in the most widespread civil unrest in years, defying crowds of government backers and baton-wielding security forces to shout their support of the uprising in Daraa, according to witnesses, activists and footage posted online.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

[pinboy3niner]

48. Reuters: Syrian forces kill 20 people in Sanamein - witness nt

[pinboy3niner]

49. Jordan: More than 100 people have been injured in clashes, doctors are reporting nt

[pinboy3niner]

50. Fighting's effect on Libya civilians remains murky

Source: AP


Fighting's effect on Libya civilians remains murky


By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press Hadeel Al-shalchi, Associated Press – 1 hr 8 mins ago


...


The small farm where the bus finally stops was a wreck: The windows were smashed in, the television toppled over. Plaster was everywhere on the floor, but the painted walls were intact. It's the home of Rajab Mohammed, who said the bomb hit at the base of the palm just outside. Next to the palm was a pit, the size of a large beach ball.

"There were bullets everywhere," said Mohammed, struggling to explain the source of bullet holes on the outside of the house.

...


"I cannot be sure that there have been no civilian casualties. What I can be sure of is that we have been very, very precise and discriminate in our targeting," Army Gen. Carter Ham said late Thursday at a briefing at the Sigonella air base in Sicily.

"They don't talk about the thousands of Libyan citizens which they have killed, which we know it is very true. And I'm sorry if I'm a little emotional about this. The people who are killing civilians are the regime of this current government leader in Libya," Ham said.

...


The <intelligence> report Monday said that a senior Gadhafi aide was told to take bodies from a morgue and place them at the scene of the bomb damage, to be displayed for visiting journalists. A senior U.S. defense official revealed the contents of the intelligence report on condition of anonymity because it was classified secret.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110325/ap_on_re_af/af_libya

[pinboy3niner]

51. "We would expect a decision to take over all ops in the next few days"--Nato spokeswoman

Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu says:

Under Operation United Protector, Nato ships, submarines and jets are cutting the flow of arms and mercenaries to Gaddafi's forces. At the same time Nato is actively considering whether to take on a broader role under the UN Security Council resolution. Without prejudging the deliberations, we would expect a decision to take over all operations in the next few days.


15.53:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[pinboy3niner]

52. Gaddafi troops patrolling Ajdabiya at night in unmarked cars searching for opposition fighters

Residents have told Al Jazeera that Gaddafi troops are patrolling Ajdabiya at night in unmarked cars searching for opposition fighters.


6:00pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-25




Rebel fighters try to spot coalition planes along Benghazi-Ajdabiyah road near Ajdabiyah March 25, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic


http://live.reuters.com/Event/Middle_East_Protests

[pinboy3niner]

53. Libya Conference Opens With Call for Cease-Fire

Source: Voice of America News

Libya Conference Opens With Call for Cease-Fire


Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa March 25, 2011


African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping has opened an international conference on Libya with a call for an immediate end to hostilities and dialogue between the Gadhafi government and rebels. But a hoped-for appearance by a Libyan rebel representative failed to materialize.

...


United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was represented, as were as all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Libya’s North African neighbors, along with partners in the coalition imposing the no-fly zone. Moammar Gadhafi sent a five-member delegation led by the speaker of the People’s Congress.

The main disappointment was the absence of the anti-Gadhafi rebels. A senior African diplomat who could not be identified under briefing rules said a rebel representative had refused to take part in talks unless Gadhafi’s ouster was a pre-condition.

...


The African Union earlier appointed a panel comprising five heads of states and Chairman Ping to try to mediate between the Gadhafi government and the rebels. The panel had planned to visit Tripoli and Benghazi early in the week, but was denied permission after the no-fly zone was imposed and air strikes began.


http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Libya-Conference-Opens-With-Call-for-Cease-Fire-118647804.html

[bobbolink]

56. And now starts the debates about the size and shape of the table for the conference?

Yeah, I'm impatient... sigh...

[pinboy3niner]

57. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 7:20 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 25

Time flies when you're having...a REVOLUTION!

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, GMT +2 hours

[pinboy3niner]

58. Sarkozy: France, UK To Make Proposals For Diplomatic Solution In Libya

From nasdaq.com:


Sarkozy: France, UK To Make Proposals For Diplomatic Solution In Libya


Mar 25, 2011 | 1:30PM



BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- France and the U.K. are preparing joint proposals on a political solution to the conflict in Libya and plan to present them ahead of next week's international conference on the crisis in the North African country.

"There will no doubt be a Franco-British initiative to show the solution can't be military and will necessarily be political and diplomatic," French President Nicholas Sarkozy Friday said after a European Union summit in Brussels.

Earlier, he said France is open to involving all Libyans in the political solution, including those who have defected from Moammar Gadhafi's regime. "All those who want to abandon Gadhafi in his mad and murderous projects can participate in the construction of a new Libya."

...


Sarkozy has said the intervention in Libya has already saved thousands of lives and promised that the world will come down on the side of peaceful protestors threatened by armies.


-By William Horobin, Dow Jones Newswires


http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201103251224dowjonesdjonline000382&title=sarkozyfranceuk-to-make-proposals-for-diplomatic-solution-in-libya

[bobbolink]

59. I thought I read yesterday that Sarkozy was pretty much left out of this.

I'm terminally confused... :(

[pinboy3niner]

60. Libya: Nato to control no-fly zone after France gives way to Turkey

Source: The Guardian

Libya: Nato to control no-fly zone after France gives way to Turkey

• Climbdown by Sarkozy ends infighting among western allies
• Nato secretary-general contradicts western officials


Ian Traynor in Brussels and Nicholas Watt The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011


Western allies and Turkey have secured a deal to put the entire military campaign against Muammar Gaddafi under Nato command by next week, UK and French sources have told the Guardian.

The US, Britain, France and Turkey agreed to put the three-pronged offensive – a no-fly zone, an arms embargo, and air strikes – under a Nato command umbrella, in a climbdown by France that accommodates strong Turkish complaints about the scope and control of the campaign.

The deal appeared to end days of infighting among western allies, but needed to be blessed by all 28 Nato member states. At the end of a four-day meeting of Nato ambassadors in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general, said Nato had agreed to take command of the no-fly zone from the Americans. Disputes have raged at Nato HQ every day this week. Rasmussen contradicted leading western officials by announcing that Nato's authority was limited to commanding the no-fly zone, but he signalled there was more negotiation to come.

...


Under the scheme agreed, the transfer to Nato will take place by the latest in London on Tuesday, when the parties to the coalition against Gaddafi gather in London for a special "contact group" conference. French sources said the Benghazi-based Libyan rebel leadership would be in London to attend. The conference will consist of two meetings: a war council made up of the main governments taking part in the military action, as well as a broader assembly including Arab and African countries devoted to Libya's future.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/24/france-turkey-nato-libya

[bobbolink]

61. Thanks, that helps clear up the confusion.

There is so much going on! The behind-the-scenes finagling must be headache-producing!

Thanks, pinboy! :applause:

[Waiting For Everyman]

62. Serb Mercenaries Fighting on Behalf of Gaddafi.

W8ing4Everyman
Serb Mercenaries Fighting on Behalf of Gaddafi http://tinyurl.com/4has9jd #Libya #Serbs #GaddafiCrimes
2 hours ago

I can understand this Libyan's feeling:

FreeLibyanman
strong fighting ' #Misrata right now.. Freedom fighters captured one mercenary from #Chad, We are fighting against almost whole africa!!!!
2 hours ago

And Serbs too. What next, Asian gangs? The Mafia? Seems like any killer who can be bought is in Libya.

[bobbolink]

66. You left out Mexican drug lords.

Your bias is showing. :rofl:

[Waiting For Everyman]

68. (facepalm) You're right!

The drug traffickers will probably be showing up any time now, as soon as they can figure out what Libya's drug crop is/is going to be. I've got it!!! :think:

Hallucinogenic Nescafe! :donut:

[pinboy3niner]

70. Did somebody say hallucinogenic Nescafe?

It's good to the very last drop! :evilgrin:





:rofl:

[Waiting For Everyman]

Omg, that's good!

Can I steal that? I mean, save it.

So THAT's why South America is cool on the revolution - competition. Watch out, that's "religious extremist" hallucinogenic Nescafe. Drink it, and your head will go all Taliban. (Maybe that's how our RW got that way.)

:rofl:

[pinboy3niner]

74. I don't remember the source...

...except that it was posted on one of the open source news blogs. Somebody created it right after Gaddafi's Osama Nescafe speech, LOL!

[pinboy3niner]

63. Libya: rebel families flee Ajdabiya

Source: The Telegraph

Libya: rebel families flee Ajdabiya


There was a stream of pickups, cars and trucks with families fleeing the fighting in Ajdabiya on Friday following the night of bombing by RAF Tornado jets.


By Rob Crilly, near Ajdabiya 5:03PM GMT 25 Mar 2011


...


The drone of a jet high overhead was heard late in the afternoon, before the crump of an explosion on the far side of the city where a plume of smoke rose into the air. The sound brought cheers from rebel fighters who said they were expecting fresh bombing runs.

"There is fighting in town now – very rapid firing. That's why we are leaving," said one man who had fled Ajdabiya with his elderly wife and declined to give his name for fear that Gaddafi loyalists would find him.

Others painted a picture of brutal desolation inside Ajdabiya. Fathia Meftah Ayad, a woman who managed to escape into the desert in a car with members of her family, said Gaddafi's fighters were "killing anybody aged over 10" they saw in the street, and shooting at anybody trying to flee the city.

She said four of her relatives, including a young nephew who had run out in a desperate search for bread, had been shot dead last week. On Thursday, she said, nine neighbours were shot dead as they ran along one street.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407115/Libya-rebel-families-flee-Ajdabiya.html

[pinboy3niner]

64. Gaddafi promotes all members of his armed forces reports Libyan state TV nt

[pinboy3niner]

65. CNN: Canadian Lt. Gen. Charlie Bouchard to command NATO military campaign over Libya nt

[defendandprotect]

69. Checking in -- back later --

[pinboy3niner]

71. Who was that masked DUer?

Faster than a speeding bullet! :rofl:

:hi:

[defendandprotect]

111. Back in -- checking for some good news today -- I hope -- !!

[pinboy3niner]

113. Welcome back!

There's some good news about the opposition making inroads at Ajdabiyah, and access to humanitarian aid seems to be improving. Here's the new thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x742110

:hi:

[defendandprotect]

114. Oh, that is good news -- thank you !!

[pinboy3niner]

67. Libya says it's ready to implement a 'road map'

Source: AP

Libya says it's ready to implement a 'road map'


By LUC VAN KEMENADE, Associated Press Luc Van Kemenade, Associated Press – 18 mins ago


ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – A former Libyan prime minister said Friday that his country is ready to hold talks with opposition rebels and to accept political reforms, possibly including elections.

The announcement came only hours after a top African Union official called for a transition period in Libya that would lead to democratic elections. The AU met Friday with Libyan delegates in Ethiopia's capital.

Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a member of the delegation, said the current violence in Libya is being carried out by "extremists" and foreign intervention.

"We are ready to discuss what the Libyan people want," he said. "What kind of reform do they want? If it is elections we are willing to discuss about the details. We are willing to negotiate with anyone. These are our people. There is no division between the Libyan people; there is a division between extremists and the Libyan people."

...


"The position of the national council has been clear from the beginning — no negotiations," he said. "All he has to do is stop bombing and leave the country," Gheriani said, referring to Gadhafi.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110325/ap_on_re_af/libya_diplomacy

[pinboy3niner]

72. Some 'inside baseball' on the Turkey/NATO diplomatic intrigue over Libya:

From the BBC, a good background and explanation of what's going on...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12864742

[bobbolink]

76. Thanks.. that is a helpful article, and I am "marking" it...

"marking my territory" because I want to cogitate on this somemore.

Very good! That Nescafe must be helping! ^_^

[pinboy3niner]

73. Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from battle-scarred Ajdabiyah:

This is the first report from a journalist inside the town as the fighting continues...

The fight for Ajdabiya continues (2:19)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oabug0AKgak&feature=player_embedded

[pinboy3niner]

75. US hands command of Libya air strategy to senior female officer

Source: The Guardian

US hands command of Libya air strategy to senior female officer


Major General Margaret Woodward becomes first American woman to been given such a senior combat role


Ewen MacAskill in Washington guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 18.11 GMT



...


Woodward, who has been involved in wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and has clocked more than 3,800 hours as a pilot, is running the air operation from Germany, where the US Africa Command is based.

Her background is mainly in logistics and her specialism is refuelling, prompting a debate in military circles over whether she is the right choice for a combat role.

...


Women have been more prominent in the Libyan war than in either Iraq or Afghanistan. The push for intervention came from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, Susan Rice, the ambassador to the UN who is a long-time advocate of intervention in Darfur, and Samatha Power, a White House foreign affairs adviser who also favours liberal interventionism.

...


He said; " seems to be an expert in refuelling and mobility, which is probably why she was picked for Africa Command, whose planners likely expected the command mainly to be doing humanitarian relief missions. Instead she is overseeing airstrikes by B-2 bombers, F-15E fighter/bombers, and F-16 CJ jammers."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/libya-woman-heads-us-operation

[Waiting For Everyman]

78. That's true isn't it - (American) women have played pivotal roles in this.

And that's why this action will go better/differently from others in the past. No, I'm just kidding (the part about women being necessarily different) but I do have a good feeling that it will turn out well eventually for the people there, unlike some other actions.

[bobbolink]

79. I'm thinking (hoping) we are finally learning some important lessons from screwups of the past.

The possibility is there that somehow we have been played again, and if so, I will admit I was fooled, take a deep breath and reassess.

But I have a gut feeling this is a next step in some real evolution.

And that step is always a painful one... it comes only from that thing called ...(gasp) CHANGE.

[pinboy3niner]

77. Kickbacks between Libya and the west have helped Gaddafi cling to power

Source: The Guardian


Kickbacks between Libya and the west have helped Gaddafi cling to power


All Gaddafi's rapprochement with the west has achieved is to give him the resources to tighten his grip on the Libyan people


Alexander Chancellor The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011


Colonel Gaddafi is nothing if not a caring father. He does everything he can for his boys, arranging, for example, that they grow hugely rich from corrupt dealings with foreign companies. Extracts from leaked state department documents published in the New York Times provide the evidence for this. Emanating from WikiLeaks, they include one state department cable which in 2009 came to the pithy conclusion: "Libya is a kleptocracy in which the regime – either the al-Qadhafi family itself or its close political allies – has a direct stake in anything worth buying, selling or owning." (The cable used the department's spelling of Gaddafi.) Other cables revealed it sometimes demands billion-dollar "signing bonuses" for contracts with western oil companies. A Canadian company, Petro-Canada, was reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail not only to have paid one such bonus but also to have sponsored an exhibition of the dreadful paintings of Saif Gaddafi and to have been involved, through a middleman, in getting him to take part in a pheasant shoot on Princess Anne's Gloucestershire estate.

This bonanza of kickbacks and corrupt deals, in which western companies greedy for Libyan oil participated, got under way when the US reopened trade with Libya in 2004, the year Tony Blair paid his famous visit to the colonel in his desert retreat and kissed him on his hairy cheeks. Their embrace seems even more nauseating now, for it marked the beginning of a period in which the Gaddafi regime began to accumulate the wealth with which it may yet frustrate the purposes of the US, France and Britain.


...


The lifting of sanctions was Gaddafi's reward for promising not to support terrorism any longer, or to develop nuclear weapons. The hope was that this former "mad dog" of the Middle East would miraculously turn himself into a responsible international partner. It seems strange in retrospect that anybody could have thought this possible, and indeed it wasn't. All that his rapprochement with the west has achieved is to give Gaddafi the resources with which to tighten his tyrannical grip on the Libyan people and give him a chance of clinging on to power against the odds.

...


The sweet smell of success


"Success is a great deodorant," Elizabeth Taylor once said. "It takes away all your past smells." She may have made the point more gracefully, but it was a good one all the same. In the US, fame and wealth are so highly revered nobody cares to remember any unpleasantness that may have preceded them.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/25/gaddafi-libya-deals

[pinboy3niner]

80. "Zawya needs help guys.They kill any young man there...DON'T FORGET #ZAWYA #LIBYA #"

Mohamed Mesrati tweets: "Zawya needs help guys.They kill any young man there and people lives in bloody mess! DON'T FORGET #ZAWYA #LIBYA #feb17"

[Waiting For Everyman]

81. Thanks for the reminder about Zawya, Pinboy.

I'll retweet everything I can find out it. Found the tweeter above, and following now.

[pinboy3niner]

82. Gaddafi's forces target international journalists in Libya

Source: The Guardian


Gaddafi's forces target international journalists in Libya


New York Times, Getty Images and Agence France-Presse representatives undergo ordeals while reporting inside Libya


Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 20.08 GMT


Journalists from across the world have been targeted by Muammar Gaddafi's security forces while reporting a war in which the front lines have often been difficult to define.

Four New York Times journalists were handed over to the Turkish embassy in Tripoli on Monday, six days after being captured in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. The four, whose driver Mohamed Shaglouf is still missing, later described being sexually assaulted and threatened with decapitation by their captors. They were only released after the intervention of diplomats from Turkey, a country that has been eager to help western reporters in trouble in the desert nation.

...


"Libya was never a friendly neighbourhood for journalists, but we've now seen a paradigm shift where the government is not simply trying to co-opt the media but is directly targeting the media very frequently," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Middle East co-ordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "This stems from an authoritarian urge to restrict the flow of information. But it is categorically more vicious and intense and has much more severe consequences for journalists reporting on the ground in the Middle East."



However, while most western journalists have been allowed to walk free, reporters from the Arab media have not been so lucky. Mohammed al-Nabbous, the founder of online opposition broadcaster Libya Alhurra TV, was killed by sniper fire on Sunday while covering a battle near Benghazi.

Four al-Jazeera journalists – Ahmed Vall Ould Addin, Lotfi al-Messaoudi, Kamel Atalua and Ammar al-Hamdan – remain in state detention. It is not clear why they were detained, although the Qatari-owned broadcaster's coverage has been notable for its sympathy for the Libyan rebels. The whereabouts of six Libyan journalists detained shortly after writing about the escalating crisis is unknown.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/gaddafi-forces-target-international-journalists

[pinboy3niner]

83. Heads-up--Gen. Ham will be on with Wolf Blitzer on CNN in minutes nt

[bobbolink]

84. I hope you can post good soundbites.

I really liked hearing him yesterday (and thanks for that vid, btw!)

[pinboy3niner]

86. Weren't you looking for a link to the one in Post #85, too?

It's a good report by Nic Robertson on the staged "funerals" where the press saw an opened casket that was empty (it was quickly whisked away, lol!).

:hug:

[bobbolink]

104. Yes, I was. Was thinking of posting that. Silly me, I know...

But with that Keystone Kops flavor, I thought it might garner some attention.

:pals:

edited to say, if you come across good links for that, and have time to let me know, I would appreciate it. I might be gone a lot on Saturday, but I will try to keep up. ^_^

Thanks, pinboy! :yourock:

[pinboy3niner]

105. The link to the Nic Robertson story is in Post # 85

I'd seen the report more than once on CNN, but I had to keep looking to find a video link (I guess they didn't get it posted for a while).

Have a good weekend, bobbo...:hug:

[bobbolink]

108. I was hoping for print. Right now I have such a slow connection that video is tedious.

Plus, I am so tired that trying to write down what I am hearing isn't easy.

Added to that.... I was too late.... she already spread the crap... sigh.... straight from Gs sources. :puke:

Will you be posting this weekend? If not, I may go into withdrawal. :)

Thanks... my Saturday will probably be hectic... hope yours is good! :hug:

[pinboy3niner]

85. CNN's Nic Robertson reports on funerals of 'civilian casualties' staged for press in Tripoli (2:36)

(From the video menu at the link, click on "Libyan funerals send message")
http://edition.cnn.com/video/

[pinboy3niner]

87. AJE: " Libyan rebels enter Gaddafi-held city of Ajdabiya from the east" nt

[al bupp]

88. Concerns about a devolution into stalemate...

while perhaps understandable, are perhaps also overblown?

[pinboy3niner]

89. AFP reports heavy artillery shelling of Misrata Friday night; mother, 4 children killed

Gaddafi forces pounded the rebel-held city of Misurata with artillery on Friday night, killing a mother and her four children, a witness told AFP. "The artillery shelling has been going on since Thursday night," said the witness contacted by telephone. "They are firing on everything that moves."

"A mother and her four children were killed," he said, while blasts could be heard in the background.

According to the witness residents of Libya's third largest city, 214 kilometres (132 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, are cowering indoors, too afraid to go out.


21.07:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8390035/Libya-Live.html

[pinboy3niner]

90. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 11:45 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 25

Time flies when you're having...a REVOLUTION!

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, GMT +2 hours

[pinboy3niner]

91. Libya: allied military assets and main attack sites (new interactive map)

As allied missiles rain down on Libyan targets, we look at the military assets in the area, and some of the main targets hit on the ground:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/08/libya-nato-no-fly-zone-interactive-map

[pinboy3niner]

92. BBC: Gaddafi forces take some areas of Misrata, celebrate w/ fireworks for State TV

The BBC has been in touch with a resident in the western city of Misrata who says Gaddafi forces have taken control of new areas there, and have been launching fireworks to celebrate. "It appears they're celebrating and the local libyan TV is there to record that, to make it seem that Misrata is under control of Gaddafi again."


2137:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12776418

[pinboy3niner]

93. Rebel radio: Misrata under siege, mortar shells hitting homes, shops, mosques--BBC

Rebel radio has announced that Misrata is under siege, BBC Monitoring reports. A radio announcer said:

"We urge listeners to convey our voice to the international bodies. Misrata is besieged. There are no communications. It is hard to report what is happening in the town and we are using this medium to tell what is happening here. The town is being pounded by long and short-range artillery. Mortar shells are falling on homes, shops and mosques, but the population is determined and resisting the hordes of the tyrant".

2157:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12776418

[pinboy3niner]

95. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1:20 AM SATURDAY, MARCH 26

Time flies when you're having...a REVOLUTION!

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, GMT +2 hours

[pinboy3niner]

96. CBS News: Pres. Obama will address the nation on the Libya offensive on Mon. at 7:30 p.m nt

[pinboy3niner]

97. Journallist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad describes 2 weeks inside Gaddafi's brutal prison system

Source: The Guardian

Inside Gaddafi's brutal prison: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's Libyan ordeal


While reporting the war in western Libya, award-winning Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was seized by Gaddafi's militia. Here he describes two weeks inside the regime's brutal prison system


Ghaith Abdul-Ahad guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 22.00 GMT


...


We separated from our rebel escorts and took shelter in an empty half-built house, away from the militiamen roaming the streets. Later that night we saw four men approaching, dressed in dark tracksuits and carrying sticks except for one, who had a gun. When they surrounded the house there was no way to escape. They took our phones then frogmarched us, heads down, to an SUV, ranting as we went. "You sons of bitches! You Jews and Zionists! You Arab traitors! You want to topple Gaddafi? We will rape your mothers! Gaddafi will show you!"

...


Worse than the guards, the fear and the smell were the ravings from a prisoner down the corridor. This man's shouting, made incomprehensible by being delivered through his hands or a blanket, echoed around the jail day and night. Sometimes he would break off, a moment of silence would ensue and he would begin crying and squealing in apparent pain.

...


Later I heard the first of the voices coming through the wall. The cell was next to two interrogation rooms, where men were brought throughout the day. Each interrogation began and ended with the clinking sound of a man in shackles walking to or from the room. The madman was brought for interrogation at least twice.

I heard snatches of shouted questions or accusations from the interrogators – "Qaida", "attack Libya", "Muammar", "who are they?" – punctuated with smacks and thuds, like someone throwing sacks of rice at a wall, and the sound of prisoners pleading, screaming and weeping.

One interrogation on Wednesday evening went as follows:

"Stand up!"

Smack came the sound. Smack. Smack.

"I said stand up!"

Smack. Smack.

This cycle was repeated five times.

Somewhere down the hall a TV blasted pro-Gaddafi marching songs.

...


There was no information about what was happening outside or why I was being held, despite being told when I was first interrogated that I would be released the next day. When, I wondered, might they come and take me to the room where the beating took place?

...



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/inside-gaddafis-brutal-prison

[pinboy3niner]

98. NPR examines the "Next Steps For NATO In Libya" (transcript)

To understand what this change in leadership means, NPR spoke with Stephen Flanagan, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is a Washington-based think tank. Flanagan previously held senior positions both on the National Security Council and at the State Department.


Q&A: Next Steps For NATO In Libya
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134852484/q-a-next-steps-for-nato-in-libya?ft=1&f=1001

[pinboy3niner]

99. How Qaddafi bought friends and influence on the African continent, a photo essay:

PHOTO ESSAY: All the Colonel's Kings
How Qaddafi bought friends and influence on the African continent.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/25/all_the_colonels_kings?page=0,2&sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d8d1f7063ef6478,0

[bobbolink]

106. That picture turns my stomach.

My Eyes Are Bleeding!

[pinboy3niner]

100. Gaddafi to soldiers: Fight or die (video, 1:47)

Gaddafi to soldiers: Fight or die (1:47)
http://www.smh.com.au/world/in-libya-coffins-carry-a-mystery-20110325-1ca4s.html

[pinboy3niner]

101. In Libya, coffins carry a mystery

Source: New York Times


Elements of Theater on View in Libya

David Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim, Tripoli
Published: March 24, 2011



TRIPOLI, Libya--More than 30 coffins were carried to the Martyrs Cemetery on Thursday, escorted by hundreds of flag-waving supporters of Muammar Gaddafi chanting condemnation of what the state media said were civilian casualties of allied air strikes.

But after two hours of noisy cheers - and very little grief - for what state television called ''victims of the crusader-colonialist aggression'', most of the coffins were taken away. Only about a dozen burials took place, and two Western photographers said some smelt of corpses dead for days. There was no way to know who or what was in the others, or what was going through the minds of those who turned up to cheer.

Colonel Gaddafi's Libya is a country where even a coffin is sometimes a question mark. Four decades of ruthless penalties for dissent - and vast rewards for loyalty - long ago transformed public life into an elaborate theatre, with a heavy curtain between public expression and private opinion. And that curtain has made the conflict a shadowy affair in which it is often hard to tell who is playing what role - from the colonel's closest associates to the flag-waving crowds in the street.

...


On Monday, the government said it would bury 28 civilian casualties in the same cemetery. But none of the deaths could be confirmed and 24 graves were left empty. More than half were still empty at the end of Thursday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/world/africa/25turncoats.html?ref=africa

[bobbolink]

107. Ah, that is some of the ino I needed.. Thanks!

[joshcryer]

102. Day 37 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x742110