Libyan Revolution Week 30 part 3

[joshcryer]

[joshcryer]

1. Libyan Revolution Day 209 updates below, current time in Libya, 6:34pm Wednesday, September 14

[joshcryer]

2. Clay Claiborne: Libya's Freedom Fighters: How They Won

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/13/1016246/-Libyas-Freedom-Fighters:-How-They-Won">Libya's Freedom Fighters: How They Won
Now that Tripoli is more or less secure, more stories are coming out that help us understand how the Libyan freedom fighters were able to achieve such a rapid victory over Mummar Qaddafi in his capital of 42 years. I want to use today's diary to share with you some of the more enlightening material I have found.

...

France24 Reporter Mathieu Mabin went into Tripoli on August 20th with the Tripoli brigade and provides this excellent 35 minute report in two parts that gets you close up and personal in this fight as few others have done. In the interview at the end of part 2, he says that he saw no British SAS or other nation's special forces on the ground for the assault on Tripoli and he is certain that the Tripoli brigade wasn't being ordered about or trained by any. Of course, you are invited to watch his report, judge his creditability, and look for them yourselves.

Part 1 of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qec5Mq4iSbg

Part 2 of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R605xjoi2I4

[pinboy3niner]

3. Civilians flee pro-Gaddafi town ahead of assault

Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:13am GMT


• Residents of Bani Walid given two days to go

• NTC hands out fuel outside besieged town

• Three Gaddafi officials rounded up


By Maria Golovnina


NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Libyan fighters handed out free petrol to help hundreds of civilians flee a desert town held by Muammar Gaddafi's forces ahead of an onslaught aimed at capturing one of the ousted ruler's last bastions.

Complaining of hardship and intimidation, residents of Bani Walid headed to nearby towns or started the 180 km (112-mile) journey north towards Tripoli on Tuesday in cars packed with children and possessions.

...


NTC field commanders said people in Bani Walid had been told via broadcast radio messages they had two days to leave town before it came under full-blown attack.

"I think only 10 percent of the people are Gaddafi supporters. They are fanatics. And the rest are waiting to be liberated. We have given them two more days to leave the city," NTC fighter Abumuslim Abdu told Reuters.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KD41820110914?sp=true

The three officials in NTC custody are:

• Abdel Hafid Zlitni, a former Central Bank governor and finance minister

• Mohammed Zwei, parliament speaker and former ambassador to Britain

• Mustapha Kharroubi, senior military officer

[tabatha]

4. Constructive role in Libya

BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) – China and Liby hve turned the page to a new chapter in their friendly relations, as Beijing officially recognized the National Transition Council (NTC) as representative of the Libyan people on Monday night.

In Tripoli, the NTC welcomed China's decision. Mohammed Al Alagi, the official in charge of judicial affairs, said the decision "will certainly win a passionate response from the NTC, and this will bring a positive influence to bilateral relations".

China's announcement is based on its adherence to its diplomatic principals. From the onset of the political crisis, China insisted that Libya's national sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected, and that all related parties resolve the conflict by peaceful means. Beijing has also held firmly to the belief that a timely political resolution would stop the bloodshed and any further deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in Libya, and would be in the best interests of its people, as well as the best way to guarantee regional peace and stability.

To this end, Beijing established a diplomatic presence in Benghazi and recognized the NTC as a "major political force" and an "important dialogue partner" during NTC chairman Mahmoud Jibril's visit to China.

The turning point for Libya came when the opposition forces marched into Tripoli late last month, which marked the end of the 42-year Muammar Gadhafi regime. As the NTC has taken control of most of Libya, Gadhafi has clearly lost the political support of the people and legitimacy for his rule.

China respects the choice of the Libyan people.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-09/14/c_131137693.htm

"China respects the choice of the Libyan people." Listening, Gaddafi?

[tabatha]

5. A Teenager's Photo That Helped Inspire Libya's Revolutionaries

September 13, 2011
by ANDY CARVIN

Over the course of Libya's six-month revolution, activists took thousands of photos to document their struggle against the Gadhafi regime. At the very beginning, on the day activists planned to launch the revolution, there was one photo that stood out — and it captured the imagination of people around the world wishing for the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

The photo has no official name, but one word can easily summarize it: defiance. It depicts a young woman dressed in a black hijab, her head tilted downward. In her hands she holds a green banner covered in capital letters — a quotation from early 20th-century Libyan freedom fighter Omar Muhktar:

WE WILL NOT SURRENDER
WE WILL WIN OR WE WILL DIE
THIS IS NOT THE END!
YOU WILL FIGHT US + YOU
WILL FIGHT THE GENERATIONS
THAT FOLLOW US UNTIL
LIBYA IS FREE!

The green cloth she holds is no ordinary banner. She has defaced Muammar Gadhafi's official Libyan flag – an act of defiance that could get her killed if she had been in Libya at that time.



http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/09/13/140403572/a-teenagers-photo-that-helped-inspire-libyas-revolt

Aw shucks! Not a NATO production.

[tabatha]

6. Our recognition of NTC has ensured safety of Nigerians- Ashiru

On September 14, 2011 · In News
BY VICTORIA OJEME

ABUJA- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru Tuesday said that Nigerians in Libya are safe and were not being harassed in the ongoing crisis to remove the country’s strong man Moammar Gaddaffi.

The minister made the clarification following insinuations that Nigerians and other Africans were been killed and harassed in Libya.

While fielding questions from newsmen during his ministry’s presentation in commemoration of President Goodluck Jonathan’s 100 days in office, the minister stated that no Nigerian has lost his or her life in the country.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/libya-our-recognition-of-ntc-has-ensured-safety-of-nigerians-ashiru/

[tabatha]

7. Doctor's song of freedom inspires Libyans

We Will Stay Here, a ballad by Adel Al Mshiti, a 38-year-old doctor, has dominated the Libyan airwaves for the past six months. It's played at every demonstration, in every taxi and every shop in Libya's recently liberated capital.

"We will stay here," go the song's lyrics, "until the pain goes away."

"We will live here, the melody will sweeten," urging Libyans to stay in the country and endure the oppressive conditions under dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

It was the first song to come out of Libya when the revolution started. When camera crews rolled into Benghazi in the earliest days of the uprising, it was what the crowds were singing as they celebrated liberating their city.

But the story of its inspiration is joyless, as Al Mshiti told it recently in Tripoli.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-09-13/libyan-songwriter/50395394/1#.TnAemm3MIsU.twitter

Song on video:
http://youtu.be/YuKpV1FCEQM

[joshcryer]

8. Libya's new rulers to probe war crimes allegations

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/libyas-new-rulers-to-probe-war-crimes-allegations/story-e6frf7lf-1226137026310">Libya's new rulers to probe war crimes allegations
LIBYA's new rulers promised to investigate allegations of "serious abuses" including war crimes as their position was consolidated when the World Bank recognised them as the official government.

The National Transitional Council was responding to a report released Tuesday by London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International that accused the fighters who brought down the Kadhafi regime.

The NTC acknowledged "a small number of incidents involving those opposed to Gaddafi" and vowed to investigate Amnesty's allegations.

...

In a statement issued in its eastern bastion of Benghazi, the council's executive committee said it "strongly condemns any abuses perpetrated by either side". "The NTC is firmly committed to human rights and the rule of law, both international and local," it said.

Amnesty also acknowledged the alleged atrocities were of a "smaller scale" than those carried out by Gaddafi's regime, didn't add that to the post for 4 paragraph limit. Sorry I've been engaging the counter-revolutionaries, again, I highly doubt the thread will get out of negative rec territory. :(

[pinboy3niner]

10. Link to full Amnesty International report (112-pages, pdf)

THE BATTLE FOR LIBYA: Killings, Disappearances and Torture

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE19/025/2011/en/8f2e1c49-8f43-46d3-917d-383c17d36377/mde190252011en.pdf

[joshcryer]

11. Thanks for reposting that, deserves a lot of attention. 20 pages for rebels, 70 for Gaddafi forces.

It's clear which side Amnesty believes created more suffering. Much of the report covers detentions, too. Most of Gaddafi's side is wholesale torture and murder and disappearances. I read the whole thing which is partly why I was late posting (plus the debates with counter-revolutionaries, sorry about that, again).

[joshcryer]

9. Canada will benefit from intervention, Libyan official says

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Canada+will+benefit+from+intervention+Libyan+official+says/5398177/story.html">Canada will benefit from intervention, Libyan official says
Libya's top diplomat in Canada expects Canadian companies to benefit from the goodwill earned by this country's active military involvement in the effort to topple Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

"The Libyan people do see a country (Canada) that stood by them and helped them and answered their call when they needed them," Abubaker Karmos said Tuesday. "They see those countries as better partners probably than some of those other countries that didn't show as much interest."

Karmos was speaking hours after Foreign Minister John Baird announced Canada was reopening its embassy in Tripoli, with a particular focus on strengthening business ties between the two countries.

"Having now taken stock of the situation, we are starting the work of refurbishing and securing our embassy in Tripoli," Baird told reporters in the House of Commons foyer. "We have also brought in a team of staff members who will enable us to liaise directly with officials of the new government of Libya. The team will also prepare for a larger complement of diplomats that will allow us to resume commercial services to Canadians."

[joshcryer]

12. Tripoli's new normal - bickering politicians

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/libya-tripoli-idUSL5E7KE08720110914">Tripoli's new normal - bickering politicians
Less than a month after Muammar Gaddafi's fall, Tripoli is bustling. Shoppers throng markets. Banks are open. Electricity and water are back, most of the time. Out in the desert, some oil flows.

With parts of the giant OPEC member country still at war, the rapid spread of a semblance of normality is startling.

"We actually thought it was going to be far worse than this in our planning for Tripoli," said a security official, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

But for Tripoli, home to a third of Libya's 6 million population, it's a distinctly new kind of normal.

Tripoli, the http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1778354&mesg_id=1782439">bloodbath.

[joshcryer]

13. Misrata Hospital Copes with Libya's War Wounded

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/123365/misrata-hospital-copes-with-libya-39-s-war-wounded.html">Misrata Hospital Copes with Libya's War Wounded
In Libya, forces opposed to former leader Moammar Gadhafi now control most of the country. But Gadhafi continues to evade capture and fighting continues in several important cities. The central coastal city of Misrata endured intense combat. Yet, its medical workers continue to treat wounded from other areas.

It is early morning at the main hospital in Misrata. All staff have been summoned because an influx of patients is expected from the fighting at nearby Gadhafi strongholds.

Doctor Abdulmoneim Ahmed heads the trauma unit. His staff has treated thousands of wounded during the six months of fighting between forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi and those backing the opposition National Transitional Council.

"At beginning we were in a very bad situation. This place was not suitable for such a disaster, but with volunteers and with equipment coming from outside, we had to help ourselves and our people," said Ahmed

Misrata was besieged for 4 months.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Freedoms Flourish On Walls Across Tripoli

Source: NPR (Morning Edition)

Caricatures of the ousted Gadhafi have sprung up all over Tripoli. This image of Gadhafi in chains is on a wall
in the capital's Fashlum neighborhood. (Photo: Jason Beaubien/NPR)


by Jason Beaubien

September 14, 2011

What a lovely freedom breeze came from the 17 February revolution. It's a whole new feeling. I hope we can be better than before.

--Rihada Fujani, 18-year-old Tripoli resident

...


Under Moammar Gadhafi, the regime strictly controlled the images that were allowed in public. Storefronts had to be painted green. English was banned on signs. Anti-regime graffiti was quickly painted over and could be met with a harsh response.

Since the fall of Gadhafi, graffiti is appearing all over Tripoli, much of it denouncing the former regime and declaring Libya "free." New murals are also popping up across the capital, giving Libyans a chance to vent their pent-up rage toward Gadhafi.

...


On a recent evening in Tripoli's Fashlum neighborhood, 15-year-old Mohamed Mahmoud Fujani has just finished painting a picture of Gadhafi, clutching his Green Book as he is shot out of a canon. Libyan students were forced to study the Green Book — Gadhafi's political manifesto — in school.

Fujani says even a few weeks ago, before Gadhafi fell, it would have been impossible to make murals like this one.

"If you do something like this," Fujani says. "They will kill you."

...


Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/13/140432917/freedoms-flourish-on-walls-across-tripoli

[tabatha]

33. Amazing art.

[joshcryer]

15. Freed of Gadhafi, Libyans expect post-war boom

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/14/ap/business/main20105873.shtml">Freed of Gadhafi, Libyans expect post-war boom
TRIPOLI, Libya — Airlines are readying their return to Libya, ports largely shuttered during the fighting are receiving cargos and foreign oil companies that had fled the country's civil war are making tentative steps back.

And waiting eagerly on the doorstep are businessmen looking to get in on what they believe could be a bonanza for investment — an oil-rich nation with large tourism and construction potential that went largely untapped under an eccentric and often closed 42-year-long regime. Slowly, Libya is reopening its doors after seven months of fighting, even as former rebels still hunt for ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"Definitely, Libya is an El Dorado," said Husni Bey, one of Libya's biggest entrepreneurs. "It has great resources that really allow it to turn around in no time."

The optimism is tempered by the challenges the country faces in overcoming decades of underdevelopment and corruption that helped fuel the uprising against Gadhafi.

[joshcryer]

16. Qaddafi’s Son Transferred to Presidential Villa in Niger

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-14/qaddafi-s-son-transferred-to-presidential-villa-in-niger.html">Qaddafi’s Son Transferred to Presidential Villa in Niger
Muammar Qaddafi’s son, Saadi, was transferred to a house in the presidential villa in Niger’s capital, Niamey.

Qaddafi was flown from Agadez in northern Niger to Niamey yesterday and traveled in a five-car convoy from the airport to a house near the residence of Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufo, said Mohamed Moussa, a police officer who escorted the procession. Images of Qaddafi’s arrival on board a Niger army aircraft were shown on Tele Dounia, a closely held broadcaster.

“He arrived in Niamey and was taken to a villa,” Moussa said in a phone interview yesterday. Other former Libyan officials, including three generals, are also being housed in villas in the city, he said.

Saadi Qaddafi went to Niger several days after some of his father’s senior loyalists, including his intelligence chief, fled to Niamey. Muammar Qaddafi’s wife, Safia, daughter Aisha and two sons, Hannibal and Mohammed, with their wives and children, arrived at the end of August in Algeria, where they were granted exile.

Wonder how much gold he paid.

[Whats_Happening]

19. Are you sure that this is the kind of thing a Gaddafi son might pay for?

I'm suspecting (and hoping) that this sounds a lot more like a polite way to put someone under house arrest. I suspect Saadi will be tranferred to the Hague, or back to Libya, for trial.

[joshcryer]

17. Canadian diplomats open temporary embassy in Libya

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1263010.html">Canadian diplomats open temporary embassy in Libya
Canada is reopening its embassy in Libya’s capital, even as fighting continues in pockets of the country still held by loyalists of the hunted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

A diplomatic team led by Canada’s ambassador to Libya, Sandra McCardell, arrived in Tripoli on the weekend and have conducted a security assessment, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said today.

Canada will establish a temporary embassy while the old one is refurbished, Baird said.

"Gadhafi is almost universally isolated," Baird said. "He and those closest to him are on the run."

[pinboy3niner]

18. NATO airstrikes conducted Tuesday, September 13

Key Hits 13 SEPTEMBER:


In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 Command and Control Node, 1 Multiple Rocket Launcher, 2 Anti-Aircraft Guns, 1 Armed Vehicle, 4 Radar Systems.


In the vicinity of Waddan: 7 Anti-Aircraft Guns.


In the vicinity of Zillah: 1 Armed Vehicle.


...


International Humanitarian Assistance Movements as recorded by NATO


Total of Humanitarian Movements**: 1151 (air, ground, maritime)


Ships delivering Humanitarian Assistance 13 SEPTEMBER: 1


Aircrafts delivering Humanitarian Assistance 13 SEPTEMBER: 40


**Some humanitarian movements cover several days.


http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_09/20110914_110914-oup-update.pdf

[pinboy3niner]

20. Senior U.S. diplomat holds talks in Tripoli

Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:31am GMT


TRIPOLI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Libya's new interim leader met the most senior U.S. official to visit Tripoli since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, though details of Wednesday's talks were not immediately available.

Reuters journalists saw Jeffrey Feltman, a key figure in U.S. Middle East policy, meet Mustafa Abdel Jalil at a public building in the capital. It was not clear when Feltman, who is Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department, had arrived in Libya.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL5E7KE0Y120110914?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

21. Foreign Ministry Refutes 11 Ukrainians Allegedly Gunned Down In Libya

Source: Ukrainian News Agency

(12:25, Wednesday, September 14, 2011)


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine refutes the reports alleging 11 Ukrainians gunned down in Libya, reads a statement made by Foreign Affairs Ministry press secretary Oleksandr Dikusarov.

"Preliminary information, received from an informed circle in Libya citing military command of the town of Misurata, Libya, they have found out that the allegation of eleven gunned-down citizens of Ukraine is false," it said.

...


Information from the Ukrainian Embassy in Libya, health condition of the detained Ukrainians is satisfactory, they are provided with food, drinking water, and they are allowed to talk on the telephone with their relatives.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Transitional Council in Libya on August 21 detained 22 citizens of Ukraine on suspicion of collaborating with forces loyal to former Libyan leader Qadhafi.

...


http://un.ua/eng/article/349773.html

[pinboy3niner]

22. Gaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid prepare for last stand

Matthew Weaver posts at The Guardian's Live Blog:


Gaddafi loyalists in the town of Bani Walid are preparing for a possible last stand by firing grad rockets at Wadi Dinar and coating the main road with oil, AP reports.

In an article republished by the Washington Post it describes the town as a battle-field-in-waiting.

Residents describe leaving behind a virtual ghost town where food shops are nearly barren, electricity cuts are frequent and phone lines are down. Few people except for fighters dare to venture outside. The silence is broken by the exchange of fire from both sides and propaganda from a pro-Gadhafi radio station.

"The radio told us that NATO is out to get us and that the revolutionary forces want to steal our babies, kill us and rape us," said Ramadan Abdel-Rahman, who was fleeing with his wife and seven children, including a daughter less than two weeks old ...

Sniper nests dot the buildings and mortars and Grad rockets launchers are set up in the market.

Each foray by revolutionary fighters have met strong resistance, including the deadly aim of sharpshooters.

Residents told Reuters that Gaddafi loyalists are refusing to surrender.

"There is a lot of random shooting. It is much safer for my children to leave. Gaddafi militia men do not want to negotiate," Fathalla al-Hammali, 42, said, driving away from the town with his three young children.

Bani Walid resident Isa Amr, 35, said the town was running out of fuel, food and water, making it impossible for his family to stay any longer. "Rebels gave us some petrol, enough to drive to Tripoli. The rebels are really helping us," he said.

NTC field commanders said people in Bani Walid had been told in radio messages they had two days to leave town.

"I think only 10% of the people are Gaddafi supporters. They are fanatics. And the rest are waiting to be liberated. We have given them two more days to leave the city," NTC fighter Abumuslim Abdu said.

The country's new rulers have hesitated to employ heavy-handed tactics to seize Bani Walid, which is the traditional home of the Warfalla tribe, Libya's largest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/14/libya-middle-east-unrest-live-updates#block-5

[pinboy3niner]

23. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, readying forces-spokesman

"Over a crackling satellite phone line" Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters that the ousted dictator is still in Libya, the news agency reports.

"The fight is as far away from the end as the world can imagine. We are still very powerful, our army is still powerful ... we have huge areas of Libya under our control," he said. "We are gathering our forces."

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KE1HV20110914

Updated story:
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KE1JA20110914

[pinboy3niner]

24. ANALYSIS-Libya's war upsets the neighbours

Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:44am GMT


• Libya adds new sources of insecurity in desert regions

• Influx of arms could boost homegrown terrorists, rebellions

• Eventual Gaddafi removal seen positive for stability


By Mark John


NIAMEY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Long bedevilled by coups, rebellions and other home-grown troubles, Libya's African neighbours have been landed with a new set of woes imported fresh from someone else's war.

The arrival in Niger of 32 fleeing Muammar Gaddafi loyalists -- including one of the ousted Libyan leader's sons -- in recent days is already a diplomatic headache for the government.

...


More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger's.

Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi's side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.

While the numbers so far are small, Niamey's main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KD3U620110914?sp=true

[joshcryer]

25. NATO balks at Libya nation-building, policing

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/ap/september/311952/NATO-balks-at-Libya-nationbuilding-policing">NATO balks at Libya nation-building, policing
NATO, which has been bogged down for nearly 10 years in Afghanistan and more than 12 in Kosovo, is desperately seeking a mission it can end, quickly, cleanly and for good.

So at the top levels of the military alliance there is great eagerness to wrap up the Libyan air campaign as soon as possible, and great reluctance to get involved in nation-building or policing now that the country's former leader, Moammar Gadhafi, has fallen from power.

"We must end this Libyan business quickly," one senior military officer told The Associated Press. "We just cannot afford this proliferation of missions which just drag on and on. One needs to finally end."

Several other senior military officers expressed the same concern, saying NATO could not afford another longterm engagement at a time of deep cuts in defense budgets. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

[joshcryer]

26. Islamists emerge in force in new Libya

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/islamists-emerge-in-force-in-new-libya/2011/09/12/gIQAdU10QK_story.html">Islamists emerge in force in new Libya
For decades, bearded men in Libya were afraid to walk in the streets or go to the mosque, worried that to be seen as an Islamist would land them in prison, or worse.

...

“There are two kinds of people we in Libya will completely reject: extremist Islamists and extremist secularists,” Aradi said.

...

“We want this to be a good government that comes from Islam, that respects human rights and personal freedoms,” Ismail Sallabi said in an interview in Benghazi last week. “Doctor Ali will do his best to give Libya to trusted hands,” he said referring to Ali Sallabi.

...

“The Islamic way is not something dangerous or wrong. The West hears Islamic law, and they think we want to lock our women in boxes,” Shahaidi said. “The Islamic groups want a democratic country, and they want to go to the mosque without being arrested. They’re looking for freedom like everyone else.”

Fascinating article, and fodder for the counter-revolutionaries who can't read beyond a title.

[joshcryer]

27. Libyan oil production expected to ramp up faster

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PNIG880.htm">Libyan oil production expected to ramp up faster
Oil production in Libya should ramp up faster than previously forecast, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday, but the North African country still won't be at full capacity at the end of next year.

Fighting between rebels and supporters of strongman Moammar Gadhafi slowed production to a trickle in recent months. The rebels have now taken control of most of the country, but damage to refineries, ports and pipelines and a general lack of security has kept production low.

The IEA said Tuesday that it now expects Libya to start pumping 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.

The IEA has been more cautious than some others in its estimates of Libya's ability to bring its oil production back online, and it previously said the country wouldn't reach full capacity until at least 2013.

[pinboy3niner]

28. Defence Min. confirms South Africa sold sniper rifles to Gaddafi regime in lead-up to crackdown

In a news story in South Africa's Daily Star, Deon de Lange reports on the surprising admission from South Africa's Defense and Military Veterans Minister:

(State Security Minister Siyabonga) Cwele noted that the conflict in Libya “really only began in earnest early this year” and that, as far as he was aware, South Africa had not sold any weapons to Libya since fighting broke out, “unlike other countries in Europe who have been supplying arms and confessing that they were arming certain opponents of that government”.


He was backed up by fellow NCACC (National Conventional Arms Control Committee) member and Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who categorically denied that South Africa had ever approved the export of weapons “to countries that we have perceived to be on the brink of civil war”.


And in what appeared to have been a throwaway remark, the minister officially confirmed for the first time what others have long suspected – that South Africa did in fact approve the sale of sniper rifles to the Gaddafi regime in the months leading up to war.


“When we sold the sniper rifles to Libya, Libya was as secure to the extent that it was possible for us to determine,” she explained, noting further that a number of EU ministers and presidents had been in “discussions” with Gaddafi during roughly the same period.


“In some countries we are not able to predict that there might be unrest. And when there is unrest, we stop (exports) immediately. At no point have we been in breach (of the NCACC Act) to the extent that it was possible for us to determine,” said the minister.


http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/sa-concerned-about-weapon-influx-to-libya-1.1137325

The NCACC Act is a South African law that specifically prohibits the export of weapons “that may be used for purposes other than the legitimate defence and security needs of the government of the country of import” or to areas where the weapons could contribute to “internal repression, including the systematic violation or suppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

[pinboy3niner]

29. One relic of old regime likely to haunt many Libyans for years to come

From AJE Live Blog:

Tripoli – Muammar Gaddafi’s portrait may have all but disappeared from public view in Tripoli, there is one relic of the old regime that is likely to haunt many Libyans for years to come.

Part political rant, part ‘how-to screed' for dictators, Gaddafi's controversial and sometimes comical al-Kitab al-Akhdar, or The Green Book, has been taught in schools and touted in speeches since the first chapter was published in 1975. Two hours per week, starting at the age of eight, school children were ‘force fed’ Gaddafi’s ideas on a wide array of topics, ranging from his views on breastfeeding to why man and woman are both in fact ‘human beings’.

Many copies of the book were burned during the now six-month-long civil war in Libya, but some bookstores in Tripoli still have stacks of them, albeit not on display or for sale.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-14-2011-1432

[pinboy3niner]

30. Sky News Tracks Down 'Abducted' Girl In Tripoli

1:28pm UK, Wednesday September 14, 2011

Lisa Holland, foreign affairs correspondent


Sky News has tracked down a young woman who was taken from England by her Libyan father without her mother's consent 19 years ago.


Ayesha Shirif, 22, was born in England but lives with her father Khaled in Tripoli.


But when the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi began she saw an opportunity to try to escape in the chaos to be with her mother in England.


It was a desperate attempt that failed and she has not been allowed to communicate with her mother since.

...


(Khaled) has always said he wanted Ayesha to be raised a Muslim and to live in a Muslim country.


But he has always felt confident knowing under Colonel Gaddafi there was no law forcing him to do anything else.


Video (2:57) at link:
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16068975

[pinboy3niner]

31. US: weapons proliferation 'key concern' in Libya

AP – 7 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A senior U.S. official says the potential proliferation of both conventional and unconventional weapons in Libya is a "key concern" after six months of civil war.

Assistant Secretary of State Jeffery Feltman says the U.S. already has people working with Libya's new rulers about the possible proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles, as well as chemical weapons like mustard gas.

...

http://news.yahoo.com/us-weapons-proliferation-key-concern-libya-133423357.html

[Iterate]

32. HRW: Libya: Mass Grave Yields 34 Bodies (Qalaa)

Libya: Mass Grave Yields 34 Bodies
Gaddafi Loyalists Had Detained Men at Base
September 14, 2011

(Tripoli) – Thirty-four bodies exhumed from a mass grave near the town of al-Qawalish in western Libya seem to be those of men detained by pro-Gaddafi forces in early June 2011, Human Rights Watch said today.

The evidence strongly suggests the detainees were executed at that time, before the pro-Gaddafi forces fled from the area, in the Nafusa mountains. The bodies of another three who seem to have been executed by the same perpetrators have also been discovered nearby. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch the victims hadbeen detained from or near their homes or at a major checkpoint in the area, and included at least nine men aged over 60, including an 89-year-old man. The majority were from the nearby town of al-Qal’a.

“The mass grave at al-Qawalish contains further evidence strongly suggesting that Gaddafi loyalists carried out mass executions of detainees as they struggled to suppress the uprising,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “These victims included some very old men, some executed together with their sons.”

During a visit by Human Rights Watch to the region shortly after pro-Gaddafi forces had fled the area on July 6,the new authorities in towns near al-Qawalish furnished the names of 173 missing men, including 81 from al-Qal’a. Villagers and investigators from the ad hoc regional council for the Nafusa mountains said the fate of the missing was not established until rebels captured a Gaddafi loyalist whose mobile phone contained a video clip showing the bodies of men, bound and blindfolded, lying in a forest clearing. Relatives of many of the missing from al-Qal’a told Human Rights Watch they recognized some of the dead in the video, and recognized the location as a forest behind a Libyan Scouts base on the western edge of al-Qawalish.

The Libyan Red Crescent Society conducted the exhumation beginning on August 20, with the consent of the National Transitional Council (NTC), the de facto authority that controls most of Libya. An investigative team from the Nafusa mountains regional council was also present. Twenty-seven of the 34 bodies were subsequently identified.

The exhumed bodies were blindfolded with hands tied. The discovery of bullet casings at the site suggests the captors shot the men with automatic gunfire before burying them in a shallow common grave. Near the mass grave is a separate grave containing three more bodies that have not yet been exhumed, but have been tentatively identified based on footwear and other physical evidence.

Human Rights Watch has interviewed three men from al-Qal’a who were detained at the Scouts base, as well as five family members of others who were detained and later apparently executed, and who had witnessed their arrests. The accounts collected by Human Rights Watch describe widespread house raids and arrests by the pro-Gaddafi forces, often in apparent retaliation for losses suffered by the Gaddafi forces at the hands of those supporting the NTC, as well as brutal beatings and torture by the Gaddafi forces of those detained at the base.

Mohammed Ramadan al-Barghout, 34, a physics teacher, told Human Rights Watch on September 10 that he had been detained by Gaddafi loyalists at his house in Umm el-Jershan in early June and taken to the Scouts base. He said he had seen about half of those later found in the mass grave alive in detention when he arrived, and that he had witnessed the brutal beatings of two brothers, Emhammed Al-Shatour, 17, and El-Hasmi Al-Shatour:

Emhammed Al-Shatour was beaten until his leg was broken. They were beating him in front of his father to try and make the father confess, right after I arrived at the Scouts base. They just grabbed Emhammed and tied him up and started beating him with a stick on his leg, a heavy wooden stick. His brother El-Hasmi was being beaten at the same time in the next room. They brought the boys’ father to witness the beating so he would talk and give them information. Two or three soldiers were doing the beatings until they got tired, and then others came to take over. Their father was crying, saying he didn’t know anything about the rebels. The Gaddafi soldiers were calling them rats, saying “you rats brought NATO, you dogs.”

Both sons and the father were among the victims who were exhumed.

...

“The evidence of mass executions by Gaddafi forces keeps on mounting and Libyans deserve to know that the killers will be brought to justice,” Bouckaert said. “The new government should guarantee that evidence of such terrible crimes will prompt a full accounting and real justice for the victims.”

Bodies recovered from the exhumed mass grave:
Ahmed Mohammed al-Khamoushi, 33
Omar Gergab Ahmed Gergab, 69
Emhammed Mohammed Al-Shatour, 17
El-Hashmi Mohammed Al-Shatour, 38
Mohammed Emhammed Al-Shatour, 61 (father of Emhammed and El-Hasmi As-Shatour)
Ali Emhammed Al-Baden, 34
Mohammed Suleiman Al-Baden, 71 (father of Ali Al-Baden)
Talal el-Hadi Omar Areibi, 18
Suleiman Abdel Salaam Abu al-QassimAjal, 23
Mahmoud Mohammed el-Harari, 39
Mohammed Emhammed el-Harari, 28
Salim Suleiman Ali Suleiman, 30
Emhammed Abu al-QassimEmhammedAjal, 69
Abdel Salaam Abu al-QassimEmhammedAjal, 72 (brother of EmhammedAjal)
Rabiye Said Omar Al-Azabi, 21
Saleh Abdullah Ali Omar, 75
Abdel Hamid Gerada el-TaherAreibi, 27
Fuad Abdullah EmhammedGheida, 29
Mohammed Emhammed Ahmed Gheida, 46
Emhammed Ahmed Abdullah Gheida, 83 (father of Mohammed Gheida)
Areibi Ali Othman Ashur, 55
Saed Ali Othman Ashur, 58 (brother of AreibiAshur)
Ashraf Abu al-Qassim Saleh Ahmed al-Azabi, 19
Abu al-Qassim Saleh Ahmed al-Azabi, 47 (father of Ashraf al-Azabi)
SalimYunisSalimKreir, 89
HamedJadu al-Khalif (Syrian national), 51
Abdullah Emhammed Suleiman El-Darduri, 53
Unidentified male
Unidentified male
Unidentified male
Unidentified male
Unidentified male
Unidentified male
Unidentified male

Bodies identified at separate grave site but not yet exhumed:
Ramadan Mohammed al-Barghout, 77
Saleh Mohammed al-Khamoushi, 50
Miloud Mohammed al-Khamoushi, 53

more... http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/14/libya-mass-grave-yields-34-bodies

Video from the Gaddafi loyalist's mobile phone:
Al-Gala massacre, 34 men executed including one child
http://youtu.be/u8iLkPQiv4Y

[tabatha]

34. Red Cross: At least 13 mass graves found in Libya

GENEVA (AP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross says at least 13 mass graves have been found in Libya over the past three weeks.

The Geneva-based Red Cross says its staff assisted in the recovery of 125 bodies found at 12 different sites in and around Tripoli.
It says remains of 34 people were also recovered from a site in the Nafusa mountain village of Galaa in western Libya.

ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson said Wednesday that more mass graves are being found every week.

The aid group says it is helping ensure the remains are properly recovered so that the identities of the dead can be established and relatives informed.

It said it is not involved in collecting evidence that could be used in war crimes or other legal proceedings.

http://news.yahoo.com/red-cross-least-13-mass-graves-found-libya-165946500.html

[tabatha]

35. Libyan opposition Bantai 85 Serbian Army Pay & Residents

BELGRADE - Serbian media reported that the Libyan opposition forces that currently control the Libyan mercenaries reportedly killed 85, and 12 of whom are citizens of Libya in the City of Misrata.

Execution of the mercenaries occurred in an insurance office in the City Misrata, a Libyan captured by opposition forces. The foreign citizens who are members of a group of mercenaries, among others, nine residents Croatia, 11 from Ukraine, 10 citizens of Colombia and 12 citizens of Serbia.

The report issued by the Zagreb media that sent its correspondent to the Daily Misrata, Libya. Media stated, a lot of mercenaries who were killed, and some who were captured were executed. Similarly, as reported by AKI on Wednesday (14/09/2011).

The researchers from the Balkan states, they were not surprised by this report because the hundreds of veterans of the Balkan wars that have left his service in 1990 joining the middle past a military contractor for the money in Africa and Asia as well.

Amnesty International also reported that Libyan opposition forces commit human rights violations against prisoners of war who is a loyalist troops Moammar Gaddafi.

However, the opposition when his troops refused declared a war criminal. Libyan officials confirmed opposition, opposition forces Libya is not a military, they were civilians and any mistake can not be declared as a war crime.

http://international.okezone.com/read/2011/09/14/412/502380/oposisi-libya-bantai-85-tentara-bayaran-warga-serbia

Serbia: Serbian mercenaries in Libya get USD 5,000/month
14 September 2011 | 13:34 | FOCUS News Agency

Belgrade. Most mercenaries in Libya are Serbs and Croats, Abdelaziz Madini, a commander of the army of the Libyan rebels, told Serbian Press daily.

He confirmed that 85 foreign mercenaries, including 12 Serbs, had been killed in Misrata. Mercenaries were receiving USD 5,000 a month. The Serbs were working as snipers and pilots and some of them participated in the bombardment of Benghazi.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n259541

[al bupp]

38. Up thread the Ukrainian Government's reported as denying the allegation

The statement is w/ respect to Ukrainian citizens.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1935125&mesg_id=1935814

[Iterate]

39. This looks to be yet another variant of the same story.

Here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1923083&mesg_id=1930461

and here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1923083&mesg_id=1931106

This early version is from 25 Apr 2011:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Abdelaziz%2BMadini%2522%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbas%3D0%26biw%3D1309%26bih%3D657%26tbs%3Dcdr:1,cd_min:1/4/2011,cd_max:1/6/2011%26prmd%3Divnso&rurl=translate.google.de&sl=sr&u=http://www.rtvbostel.com/news/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D348:qmetak-u-elo-i-zbogom-zauvijekq-profesionalne-ubice-iz-hrvatske-bih-i-srbije-likvidirane-u-libiji%26catid%3D44:vijesti-iz-svijeta&usg=ALkJrhjxOuKHahalJhHiIwbfcIYtWYeqYg

The same basic story pops up every few weeks but with slightly different detail each time. It wasn't in the latest AI report.

[pinboy3niner]

42. I've been running into this phony story for months in my news searches

The details vary in some accounts, but the stories create the appearance of credibility by quoting "rebel sources" or a "rebel commander."

Some accounts quote a "rebel commander" by name--one "Misrata Abdelaziz Madini"--a name that turns up only in these stories and not in any other news reports out of Libya.

Serbia doesn't know anything about it, and now Ukraine, after having its embassy investigate on the ground in Libya, issued its statement refuting the report.

This looks like a propaganda effort by 'Gaddafi’s online mercenary army' (as we discussed yesterday). We know that Gaddafi has a lot of fans in Serbia.

(btw, your third link no longer works.)

[Iterate]

58. The site might be down temporarily.

I'll keep checking and will repost the original when it's available.

Some time back I tried to reconstruct anti-Libyan stories like this from the early days in Benghazi and Derna to see if I could tell what really happened.

It was a mess(some of which was sorted out by AI, BTW) with one story witnessed by seven people turned into seven different stories, or one story from one place that suddenly blossomed into several nearly identical ones from multiple locations, or detail added and varied out of the blue with repetition. There were single incidents that were abstracted into wholesale slander. I saw green flags suddenly pop up in the middle of videos as if done with a badly leaking felt marker.

The latest was that 'CIA recruits 1500 Afgans to fight in Tripoli' scam. I think it was even on DU for a while. Maybe I'll look tomorrow to see where it ended up.

If there was anything learned in that exercise, it was who not to trust, and that true stories have a natural progression of validation that the fakes can't match. The Qalaa massacre story is textbook in that regard.

[tabatha]

36. Gadhafi heartland digs in against revolution

By RAMI AL-SHAHEIBI, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

WADI AL-HAMMAR, Libya (AP) — The revolution's quest to unite Libya under its control has a formidable challenge standing in the way: A swath of territory where disciplined loyalists fighters stage precision attacks and withering shelling barrages to defend land that includes Moammar Gadhafi's hometown.

It's far too early to predict whether the pro-Gadhafi heartland — wedged between the former rebel hub of Benghazi and the capital Tripoli — could turn into a seat of resistance such as insurgent zones in Iraq or Afghanistan. But, for the moment, it carries the same interplay of firepower and zealotry, fueling attacks that have killed at least 80 anti-Gadhafi forces in recent days.
"Its cities are packed with weapons, missiles and ammunition depots," said Fadl-Allah Haroun, a commander of revolutionary units near Benghazi. "It is an unbelievable force."

Currently, former rebel fighters are assembling for an expected push into the well-defended loyalist stronghold of Bani Walid, on the western end of the 240-mile (400-kilometer) band of pro-Gadhafi territory. It includes the hunted leader's Mediterranean birthplace Sirte and stretches to near the oil port of Ras Lanouf — which came under back-to-back attacks by loyalist forces on Monday that killed 15 guards.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJiWbCF8UbJ0-d_Grd-4tmJCjiPw?docId=8b6a4f6004b54f25bcf704a94baa8906

[tabatha]

37. Burkina Faso and Niger Back Gaddafi's Victims

Elise Keppler14 September 2011

There is good news in the world of international justice: Burkina Faso and Niger have said unequivocally that they will not give safe haven to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - who may be seeking a new place to call home. The two governments cited the outstanding warrant issued for him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes committed against the Libyan people.

These two African countries should be commended for affirming their commitment to cooperate with the ICC in the arrest of suspects. Since the court is a decade old and more than 110 member states strong, one might expect such concrete expressions of support to be routine. But in Africa they have in recent years become more the exception than the rule.

African governments played a major role in the establishment of the ICC as a crucial court of last resort when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute grave crimes. They were active at the Rome diplomatic conference when the ICC's treaty was negotiated in 1998.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201109141319.html

[tabatha]

40. Envoy vows US will not meddle in post-Kadhafi Libya

Senior US State Department official Jeffrey Feltman said after talks in Tripoli on Wednesday that Washington respected the right of Libyans to decide their own future after the ouster of Moamer Kadhafi.

"The United States respects Libya's sovereignty," said Feltman, the highest ranking US official to visit the Libyan capital since its capture from Kadhafi's forces on August 23.

"A guideline of our partnership with the Libyan people will be always be respect for Libya's independence and sovereignty," he told a news conference.

"This is a victory by the Libyan people and Libya's destiny must be decided by Libyans alone."

Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was in Tripoli for a lightning one-day visit during which he held talks with the head of Libya's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

Feltman paid tribute to the work of NTC in overseeing the transition from Kadhafi's 42 years of iron-fisted rule.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/envoy-vows-us-not-meddle-post-kadhafi-libya-144900159.html

Oh my gosh, NATO you lost out. :sarcasm:

[tabatha]

41. Libya: Toubou rebels engage in battle against Gaddafi

A group of Toubous rebels, minority in the south, attacked the town of Morzuk Wednesday, in the desert region of Fezzan, the centerpiece in the device of Gaddafi and main logistics line linking Tripoli to southwest border.

Morzuk was Thursday under the control of the rebels, who claim to have seized military equipment, killed a dozen government soldiers and captured five officers.

This information has not been confirmed in an area cut off from the world, more than a thousand miles from Tripoli, away from the front lines on the shores of the Mediterranean.

But the action is important in a region - Fezzan - at the crossroads to Niger, Chad and Algeria. This vital communication node, organized around the regional capital Sabha, is a centrepiece of Gaddafi device, where his tribe - the Guedadfa - plays a key political and economic role.

Toubou group calls itself "Battalion, Desert Shield" and is directed by Barka Wardougou, according to one of its representatives in Benghazi (east).

Mid-June, its elements briefly took control of al-Qatroun further south they were evacuated shortly after the pressure of reinforcements from Sebah.

Present in northern Niger and especially the Tibesti of Chad, Libyan Toubou are located mainly around the oasis of al-Qatroun southwest, and southeast of Kufra.

http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/7088.html

In the 2011 Libyan civil war, Toubou tribespeople in Libya sided with the rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and participated in the Southern Libyan Desert campaign against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, briefly capturing the town of Al Qatrun<3> and claiming to capture Murzuk for the rebel movement a month later.<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toubou_people

[Cali_Democrat]

43. *****MASSACRE OF BLACKS IN LIBYA BY NATO-BACKED REBELS CONTINUES AS WORLD WATCHES*****

Massacre of Blacks in Libya By NATO-backed Rebels Continues As World Watches
By Milton Allimadi

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Black people have been emptied from the City of Tawergha in Libya, their homes razed, and that the words "slaves" and "negroes" are scribbled on their abandoned buildings in the now ghost town by the NATO-backed rebels.

The chilling account of ethnic-cleansing of Black people in Libya, occurring right before our eyes, appears under the headline "Revenge Feeds Instability in Libya."

These are the "liberators" that President Barack Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron helped install in Libya to replace Maummar al-Quathafi? They all rejected an African Union proposal that would have brought a ceasefire and the warring parties to a table to create a constitution and to hold elections.

Meanwhile, the so-called "prime minister" of the "rebels" Mahmoud Jibril, is quoted in the Journal, with respect to the fate of the Black citizens of Tawergha, saying: "Regarding Tawergha my own viewpoint is that nobody has the right to interfere in this matter except the people of Misurata," who are actually the ones doing the cleansing. Surely Jibril knows that he's inciting to further ethnic cleansing.

Read more: http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7623/2011-09-13.html

[tabatha]

45. *** Misratans are convinced that Tawerghans were responsible for some of the worst atrocities. ***

MISRATA, Libya—"Traitors keep out," reads graffiti at the entrance of a housing project in an impoverished neighborhood of Misrata, the rebel-held city grappling with the physical and emotional scars of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's siege since March.

A group of men sipping tea in the courtyard on a recent afternoon say the "traitors" are those who hail from Tawergha, a small town 25 miles to the south inhabited mostly by black Libyans, a legacy of its 19th-century origins as a transit town in the slave trade.

Many Misratans are convinced that Tawerghans were responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed during their city's siege, including allegedly raping women in front of their relatives and helping Gadhafi forces identify and kidnap rebel sympathizers and their families.

The feud between Misrata and Tawergha offers a stark example of the challenges Libya will face in reconciling communities that found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict when Col. Gadhafi leaves power.

Misrata, Libya's third-largest city and its commercial hub, has been viewed with suspicion by Col. Gadhafi, who sought to promote minority groups like the Tawerghans and some Bedouin tribes in the area to counterbalance the might of the tightly knit white merchant families here.

Before the siege, nearly four-fifths of residents of Misrata's Ghoushi neighborhood were Tawergha natives. Now they are gone or in hiding, fearing revenge attacks by Misratans, amid reports of bounties for their capture.

The rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi says it is working on a post-Gadhafi reconciliation plan. But details are fuzzy and rebel leaders often resort to platitudes when dismissing suggestions of discord, saying simply that "Libya is one tribe."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304887904576395143328336026.html

[CJvR]

47. Yes...

...it is clearly much better to distribute the persecutions and murdering more evenly.

[mark7sys]

55. Someone has a program to liberate mercenaries?

“These are the 'liberators' that President Barack Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron helped install in Libya to replace Maummar al-Quathafi?”

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the intention of the FF has been to liberate Libyans.

Even so, from accounts I've seen, some of the mercenaries are pretty happy to have been liberated as well.

Milton Allimadi cares about the fate of blacks in Libya: good for him. Does anyone happen to know Allimadi's opinion of the propriety of Sub-Saharan Africans suppressing Libyans on behalf of a gangster-government in the first place?

At any rate, Allimadi's “Black Star News” is an excellent resource for amazing facts. For example, a new BSN (insert your own quip here) Editorial reports:

“The anticipated deals, including France building a nuclear reactor for energy for Libya, never materialized: it's believed that's what provoked Sarkozy's hostility and determination to oust and kill al-Quathafi.”

http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7622/2011-09-13.html

Does this revelation come as news to anyone else?

[Cali_Democrat]

44. Empty village raises concerns about fate of black Libyans

Empty village raises concerns about fate of black Libyans
By DAVID ENDERS
McClatchy Newspapers

TAWERGHA, Libya -- This town was once home to thousands of mostly black non-Arab residents. Now, the only manmade sound is a generator that powers a small militia checkpoint, where rebels say the town is a "closed military area."

What happened to the residents of Tawergha appears to be another sign that despite the rebel leadership's pledges that it will exact no revenge on supporters of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's new rulers often are dealing harshly with the country's black residents.

According to Tawergha residents, rebel soldiers from Misrata forced them from their homes on Aug. 15 when they took control of the town. The residents were then apparently driven out of a pair of refugee camps in Tripoli over this past weekend.

"The Misrata people are still looking for black people," said Hassan, a Tawergha resident who is now sheltering in a third camp in Janzour, six miles east of Tripoli. "One of the men who came to this camp told me my brother was killed yesterday by the revolutionaries."

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/13/2405359/empty-village-raises-concerns.html

[al bupp]

51. Tawergha protest video from Benghazi

@LibyaSteadfast claims this video is of a protest about this, which happened in Benghazi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9Ljw5sW2M&feature=youtu.be

The tweet says they are protesting the evictions (not murder) of the residents of Tawergha. I think this may indeed be a sad case of collective punishment meted out by the rebels of Misrata. If so, it is a terrible thing, though not necessarily a war crime.

I would note that according to numerous reports many Grad rockets were fired into Misrata from Tarwergha, and the protesters do not appear to be being harassed in any way. Many tweets about this refer to it (and related reports of large-scale detentions) as a "genocide". This is almost certainly a gross exaggeration and hyperbole designed to inflame passions, much as the WSJ opinion piece appears to (just based on the excerpt.)

In any event, the NTC has to address this situation quickly.

[sudopod]

70. Turns out collective punishments are a war crime. Whew knew?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention#Collective_punishments

Collective punishments

Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. By collective punishment, the drafters of the Geneva Conventions had in mind the reprisal killings of World Wars I and World War II. In the First World War, Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity. In World War II, Nazis carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that took place there. Additional concern also addressed the United States' atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which, in turn, caused death and disease to millions of Japanese civilians as well as their decedents. The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to "intimidatory measures to terrorize the population" in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices "strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice."

Additional Protocol II of 1977 explicitly forbids collective punishment. But as fewer states have ratified this protocol than GCIV, GCIV Article 33 is the one more commonly quoted.

[tabatha]

78. Collective punishment is a war crime if meted out by troops.

Before there was a rebel "army", the citizens of Misrata retaliated against the citizens of Tawergha because some of them participated in the first atrocities by Gaddafi forces against the people of Misrata.

The action by Gaddafi forces WAS a war crime of collective punishment.

The citizens' retaliation is not a war crime because they were defending themselves as citizens. And if women and children are harmed, people get very angry and mad - and want to get rid of the people committing the abuses.

---------------
What would you call this - a war crime?

"In September 1998 a Mozambican and two Senegalese were thrown out of a train. The assault was carried out by a group returning from a rally that blamed foreigners for unemployment, crime and spreading AIDS.<12>

In 2000 seven foreigners were killed on the Cape Flats over a five week period in what police described as xenophobic murders possibly motivated by the fear that outsiders would claim property belonging to locals.<13>

In October 2001 residents of the Zandspruit informal settlement gave Zimbabweans 10 days to leave the area. When the foreigners failed to leave voluntarily they were forcefully evicted and their shacks were burned down and looted. Community members said they were angry that Zimbabweans were employed while locals remained jobless and blamed the foreigners for a number of crimes. No injuries were reported among the Zimbabweans.<14>"
---------------

So before people go throwing around accusations and tarring all rebels with the same brush, one has to look at each set of circumstances, as one does in a court of law. Evidence, facts. Some of the hysterical postings here, are taking the events at the beginning of the uprising when Tawergha were involved in atrocities and the people of Misrata retaliated, as characteristic of the whole rebellion. That is not true.

The only dominant, persistent factor in this uprising has been the ORDERED abuse and atrocities by the powers that be - Gaddafi, his family and henchmen.

[sudopod]

81. Is this some sort of contest? nt

[tabatha]

95. No, this is the search for the truth.

[sudopod]

96. Which is what? nt

[mark7sys]

56. Thanks for this link, CD: it explains a lot.

“There's no doubt that until last month, Tawergha was used by Gadhafi forces as a base from which to fire artillery into Misrata, which lies about 25 miles north. Misratans say, however, that Tawergha's involvement on Gadhafi's side went deeper: Many of the village's residents openly participated in an offensive against Misrata that left more than 1,000 dead and as many missing, they say.

"Look on YouTube and you will see hundreds of Tawerghi men saying, 'We're coming to get you, Misrata,'" said Ahmed Sawehli, a psychiatrist in Misrata. "They shot the videos themselves with their cellphones."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/13/2405359/empty-village-raises-concerns.html#ixzz1XxsqYN7y

Were I a member of such a troupe, I, too, would be pretty motivated to beat it out of town, and (preferably, if feasible) out of the country. The thing that would be surprising – the thing which would make it a story – would be if they DIDN'T mostly disappear.

[Cali_Democrat]

46. Libya: Rebels 'execute 85 mercenaries, including 12 Serbs

Libya: Rebels 'execute 85 mercenaries, including 12 Serbs
last update: September 13, 13:56

Belgrade, 13 Sept. (AKI) - Libyan rebels who control most of the country after defeating Muammar Gaddafi's military, have executed 85 foreign mercenaries, including 12 Serbs, in the city of Misrata alone, Serbian media reported on Tuesday.

Belgrade daily Press said the executions took place in the state insurance building in Misrata after it was taken by the forces loyal to rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC). Among the killed mercenaries, who fought on Gaddafi’s side, were also nine Croats, 11 Ukrainians and ten Colombians, the paper said.

The report was also confirmed by Zagreb daily Vecernji list whose correspondent in Misrata, Hasan Hajdar Dijab, said many mercenaries had been killed in fighting, but those arrested were shot in the head.

It quoted a rebel commander in Misrata Abdelaziz Madini as saying “those killed weren’t soldiers but executioners who came here to kill for money”. He said other mercenaries who surrender would have a fair trial.

Read more: http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Security/Libya-Rebels-execute-85-mercenaries-including-12-Serbs_312444604902.html

[tabatha]

48. If you read the thread, you will have found that Ukraine itself disputes this story

(12:25, Wednesday, September 14, 2011)


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine refutes the reports alleging 11 Ukrainians gunned down in Libya, reads a statement made by Foreign Affairs Ministry press secretary Oleksandr Dikusarov.

"Preliminary information, received from an informed circle in Libya citing military command of the town of Misurata, Libya, they have found out that the allegation of eleven gunned-down citizens of Ukraine is false," it said.

...


Information from the Ukrainian Embassy in Libya, health condition of the detained Ukrainians is satisfactory, they are provided with food, drinking water, and they are allowed to talk on the telephone with their relatives.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Transitional Council in Libya on August 21 detained 22 citizens of Ukraine on suspicion of collaborating with forces loyal to former Libyan leader Qadhafi.

http://un.ua/eng/article/349773.html

[tabatha]

49. You really need to get better sources.

BTW, the person in the picture you included looks like a Gaddafi loyalist - note the uniform and the green only head wear.

You may or may not have noticed that the rebels mostly wear t-shirts and jeans, or desert fatigues.

Please cite the source of the photo, with the name of the photographer and the caption.

[tabatha]

54. ********** UKRAINE MERCENARIES ALIVE IN LIBYA **********

http://youtu.be/ng0YkmTxBnM

[Cali_Democrat]

50. NATO member Italy moves to secure its share of the booty in Libya

Italy moves to secure its share of the booty in Libya
By Marianne Arens
14 September 2011

Italy is not prepared to yield its traditional influence in Libya to its rivals. Italian business and political circles take for granted their right to decide on the future of the oil and gas wealth of the country’s former colony.

“Italy will be the first partner of Libya, as it always has been,” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini declared September 3 at an economic forum in Cernobbio on Lake Como. “Italy will always maintain its first place.”

At the same economic forum, Frattini announced the release of the first tranche of €500 million in frozen Libyan assets. By mid-September, the assets held by Italy are to be handed over to the imperialist-backed National Transitional Council (NTC).

Just a week earlier, Paolo Scaroni, the CEO of Italian energy giant ENI, traveled to Benghazi and reached an agreement with representatives of the NTC for ENI to reassume control over a gas pipeline and oil production in the regions of Misla and Sarir in the east of the country. In return, ENI will provide the so-called “rebels” with gasoline as well as technical assistance for oil production.

Read more: http://wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/ital-s14.shtml

[tabatha]

53. wsws are a bunch of liars and not credible

Please note Clay Claiborne's article in which they claimed 3 strikes by NATO airplanes was "carpet bombing".

You may also not have noticed that the TNC have stated that all contracts signed by Gaddafi will be honored, and nothing will be changed until elections are held. And Libya will decide - no one else.

Italy has no power over who gets what in Libya.

The below is a blatant lie. Please keep up to date with what the TNC states about THEIR decisions.

"Italy is not prepared to yield its traditional influence in Libya to its rivals. Italian business and political circles take for granted their right to decide on the future of the oil and gas wealth of the country’s former colony."


Your sources are pure bullshit propaganda. Disappointing.

[mark7sys]

61. Who do the Italians think they are, anyway?

They're just going to have to get in line!

“Italy will be the first partner of Libya, as it always has been,” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini declared September 3 at an economic forum in Cernobbio on Lake Como. “Italy will always maintain its first place.”

Well, over 30% of Libyan oil exports do go to Italy; Italy is, admittedly, Libya's leading trade partner. Italy used to need oil and gas, and they still need oil and gas. Does this come as a shock to anyone?
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Why-a-Stable-Libya-is-So-Important-to-OPEC-and-World-Oil-Production.html

ENI will provide the so-called “rebels” with gasoline as well as technical assistance for oil production.

What, I wonder, does Marianne Arens call rebels when she isn't calling them “so-called 'rebels'”?
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/07/08/dont-call-us-rebels-0

[pinboy3niner]

52. Venezuela opposes rebels in Libya's UN seat

Associated Press, 09.14.11, 12:27 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS -- Venezuela and other countries in a left-leaning regional trade group are telling the new president of the General Assembly they oppose giving Libya's U.N. seat to the rebels who've effectively ousted Moammar Gadhafi's government.

Venezuelan Ambassador Jorge Valero says in a Wednesday letter to General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser that ALBA members consider the rebels' National Transitional Council an illegitmate authority imposed by foreign intervention.

...

Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, and Bolivia are also among members of the ALBA group.


http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/14/general-un-un-libya-membership_8678609.html

[tabatha]

57. ****** ALL LAWFUL CONTRACTS WILL BE HONOURED ******

As the need to launch reconstruction quickly in Libya becomes apparent, and the country's need to re-establish government revenue desperate, the TNC has vowed to respect oil contracts in Libya—including contracts with companies from countries such as China and Russia, who were not seen as supporting the TNC's struggle to gain power.

"The contracts in the oil fields are absolutely sacrosanct," Ahmed Jehani, the head of the TNC reconstruction effort, told Reuters on 23 August, adding that "all lawful contracts will be honoured...There's no question of revoking any contract".

http://www.ihs.com/products/global-insight/industry-economic-report.aspx?ID=1065930253

Sorry, Italy just lost out in moving "to secure its share of the booty in Libya".

[pinboy3niner]

59. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 210: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:10 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, UTC +1 hour, GMT +2 hours










Inside one of Gaddafi's torture cells
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030931/Libya-Inside-Gaddafis-torture-chamber-The-bloodstained-cells-inside-primary-school-used-brutalise-enemies.html

[pinboy3niner]

60. Cameron, Sarkozy, Erdogan to visit Libya on Thursday - NTC

Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:54pm GMT

By Emma Farge

BENGHAZI, Libya Sep 14 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Libya on Thursday, in what would be the first visits by foreign heads of state since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, the interim government said.

...

"They are coming tomorrow. First to Tripoli and then to Benghazi," NTC vice chairman and official spokesman, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told Reuters.

...

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KE51620110914

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

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

[tabatha]

63. Human Rights Watch has not found evidence of killings of Africans in Tripoli

Mass Arrests, Fear of Mercenaries
Over the past week security forces newly operating in neighborhoods around the capital, staffed mostly by armed young men, have conducted mass arrests of migrant workers from other African countries such as Chad, Sudan, Niger, and Mali, holding them in makeshift detention facilities, including a school and a soccer club. Human Rights Watch visited two such facilities and one prison, where the majority of African detainees interviewed claimed to be migrant workers detained simply because of their nationality and that they were not pro-Gaddafi mercenaries. Prior to the uprising, between 1 and 2 million African migrant workers were in Libya.

Human Rights Watch has not found evidence of killings of Africans in Tripoli or systematic abuse of detainees, but the widespread arbitrary arrests and frequent abuse have created a grave sense of fear among the city’s African population, Human Rights Watch said.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/04/libya-stop-arbitrary-arrests-black-africans

Libya's new leadership rejects Amnesty claim of abuses
LIBYA’s new leadership hit back yesterday at a report accusing it of permitting attacks against civilians accused of supporting Muammar Gadafy and black migrant workers.

Justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi said any crimes committed were not the work of rebel forces. “They are not the military they are only ordinary people.”

Libya’s authorities say that it is difficult to regulate a revolutionary movement that mostly remains outside National Transitional Council (NTC) control.

Amnesty International’s report blamed the majority of abuses in the Libyan conflict on forces loyal to Col Gadafy, listing abuses including murder, torture and bombardment of civilian areas.

Amnesty said that it had yet to get a full picture of abuses, with the war still raging in parts of Libya, but it called on the governing NTC, now installed in Tripoli, to take action.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0914/1224304081758.html

[pinboy3niner]

65. Amnesty reported the release of detained foreign nationals, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa

....Foreign nationals, the overwhelming majority from Sub-Saharan African countries, suspected of being “mercenaries” were also held but have since been released (see Chapter 6). In addition, scores of soldiers from al-Gaddafi forces captured at the front continue to be detained in Benghazi and Misratah. Amnesty International welcomes the access granted to the ICRC to facilities where such individuals are held.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE19/025/2011/en/8f2e1c49-8f43-46d3-917d-383c17d36377/mde190252011en.pdf

And many of those who left or were forced out of towns and villages likely escaped out of Libya.

More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger's.

Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi's side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.

While the numbers so far are small, Niamey's main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KD3U620110914?sp=true

[joshcryer]

71. You'll note how the sources are increasingly right wing.

I'm just waiting for the poster to mess up and post a full on right wing site like Distant Observer did (he's only engaged me once since he did that nonsense).

[al bupp]

72. Antiwar.com is a Libertarian Publication

They are published by the http://randolphbourne.org/">Randolph Bourne Institute, which has roots going back to 1st World War isolationism. The main editorial writer Justin Raimondo has worked (and, I think, published) w/ Pat Buchanan. It can be an interesting site, which aggregates a lot news pieces from around the world. A good place to go for a quick take on events in conflict hot-spots worldwide.

The over-arching editorial philosophy tends to a kind of radical libertarianism that can be a fascinating mixture of arch-conservatism along w/ a hip disdain for authority and government. They should get credit for opposing Bush administration policy in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It also has some opinion writers who sometimes heavy-handed diatribe. But then, who on the internet doesn't do that sometime?

(Edited to add the link for RBI.)

[joshcryer]

73. Yes, I know their background.

I spent a lot of internet years debating the market philosophy that they espouse. Their anti-war sentiment is good, but it doesn't come without baggage, I just know that antiwar.com posts have been wholesale deleted here because of their spin (there are ATA posts about people complaining about it).

[tabatha]

76. The true anti-war person is Clay Claiborne.

He has actually made anti-war films.

But he does not try to twist and exaggerate events to suit a philosophy or an agenda - as do wsws and antiwar.

He looks at available facts, and analyzes them without preconceived notions.

He derives his conclusions from a wide swath of reported events, while the others take a narrow set of facts and broad-brush them over the whole population.

For heaven's sake, there are rebels who cannot stand the sight of blood. There is a whole tribe of black nomads who fought with the rebels. There are rebels who cannot stand fighting and want it all to be over.

[al bupp]

79. We are in complete agreement there

It appears the moderators agree w/ you as well, since the offending post since last I looked has been removed.

[tabatha]

64. Libya: US joins hunt for Col Gaddafi's missing missiles

Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state and the most senior international visitor to arrive in Tripoli since the fall of Col Gaddafi, said Washington was concerned about the spread of both conventional and non-conventional weapons.

He said he had people working "quietly" with the National Transitional Council particularly on the hunt for surface-to-air missiles, of which more than 15,000 are said to be unaccounted for from Col Gaddafi's weapons dumps, and chemical weapon precursors.

"It's a potential risk not only to Libya but to the region," he said.

The rebel military official in charge of securing Tripoli International Airport told The Daily Telegraph yesterday his men were scouring an area of more than 30 kilometres for missing weapons.

The Libyan authorities and their western backers are nervous about allowing the airport to reopen to scheduled passenger flights until they can be sure there can be no threat from any SAMS still in the area. There is also the fear that they may be sold to terrorist groups who could use them to target civilian planes anywhere.

"The policy of Gaddafi was to scatter these missiles through civilian homes," the commander, Mukhtar al-Akdar, said. "We have great difficulty when we try to collect them as some of the local people are very pro-Gaddafi."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8763507/Libya-US-joins-hunt-for-Col-Gaddafis-missing-missiles.html

[tabatha]

66. Libya watching fools of Allah

REPORTAGE While they dismiss any potential recovery Islamist rebels keep an eye on the figures of resistance, as Abdelhakim Belhaj.

In his mosque Ben Achour, an upscale neighborhood of Tripoli, Sheikh El Alhadi Algmati seems relieved. The fall of the regime was rid of a bulky visitor: Saadi Gaddafi. No one apparently knows why, the third son of the deposed dictator was accustomed to come to this mosque. And this summer, when the rebels approached the gates of the Libyan capital, he had an idea: create a madrasa (religious school) Islamist Salafist of obedience. "It is incomprehensible, the regime had always fought against the radicals. I guess Qaddafi tried as a last resort to rally to repel the rebels, " says El Alhadi Algmati. The work of the madrasa have never been finally completed. "It's just fine. Our mosque is not an extremist, we have always practiced, as virtually all Libyans, a moderate Islam. "

Can we rule out a takeover by the Islamists in Libya? Undoubtedly meet the revolutionaries. "These are young people, civilians, who launched this movement with peaceful demonstrations. No one will steal your revolution. If the Islamists ever arrive at the head of the country, we get rid of it as we got rid of Qaddafi, " Abdul ensures Oubashit, a doctor of 29 years back to Tripoli after caring for five months, the rebels at the border Tunisia.

The thuwar, who launched the armed struggle against the Libyan army, also rejects collusion with Islamist movements. "All these stories about Al-Qaeda are tall tales told Gaddafi that worry the West. Our ranks are trained both students, engineers and traders that former soldiers of the forces of Gaddafi and, yes, some Islamists. But we are all fighting for the same reasons and goals, " explains the "Colonel" Yahya El Guti, who belongs to the katiba ("Brigade") in Benghazi, the former rebel capital located in the east.

http://www.liberation.fr/monde/01012359531-la-libye-guette-les-fous-d-allah

[tabatha]

67. Libyan veteran prepares assault on pro-Gaddafi bastion

Daw Saleheen, who leads regional forces battling for control of Bani Walid, said Gaddafi loyalists had positioned rockets and mortar launchers on civilian houses in the town, 180 km (110 miles) south of Tripoli.

Saleheen said his men would have to face about 1,200 pro-Gaddafi fighters, including 200 snipers perched on rooftops.

"We know all their positions. We have sent a message to all civilians that if they can, they must leave now," he told reporters on the northern outskirts of Bani Walid, his home town.

Hundreds of residents have poured out of the town in the past three days in cars crammed with children and possessions. A convoy of around 160 families left on Wednesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/us-libya-bastion-idUSTRE78D3PK20110914

[tabatha]

68. Surrender of weapons under the auspices of rebels Balosabah Alzentan

Surrender of weapons under the auspices of rebels Balosabah Alzentan

The video shows a FFs TOYOTA full of Ak 47 (tens of rifles).

FFs took the guns from the truck in a house which propably used as a storage

http://youtu.be/mWEQxymr5j8

[tabatha]

69. NATO balks at Libya nation-building, policing

Wednesday, September 14, 2011
BRUSSELS --
NATO, which has been bogged down for nearly 10 years in Afghanistan and more than 12 in Kosovo, is desperately seeking a mission it can end, quickly, cleanly and for good.

So at the top levels of the military alliance there is great eagerness to wrap up the Libyan air campaign as soon as possible, and great reluctance to get involved in nation-building or policing now that the country's former leader, Moammar Gadhafi, has fallen from power.

"We must end this Libyan business quickly," one senior military officer told The Associated Press. "We just cannot afford this proliferation of missions which just drag on and on. One needs to finally end."

Several other senior military officers expressed the same concern, saying NATO could not afford another longterm engagement at a time of deep cuts in defense budgets. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/ap/september/311952/NATO-balks-at-Libya-nationbuilding-policing

[pinboy3niner]

74. UN resolution would create UN mission in Libya

Last Modified: Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2011 - 3:54 pm

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press


UNITED NATIONS -- The Security Council is considering a new resolution that would establish a U.N. mission in Libya, unfreeze assets of two major oil companies and lift a ban on flights by Libyan aircraft, according to a copy obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Britain circulated the draft resolution to the 15-member council Tuesday night and Western diplomats said they are hoping for a vote by the end of the week. Diplomats said the U.S. and France were involved in the drafting, and veto-wielding Russia and China agreed to the draft.

The proposed resolution would modify the arms embargo imposed on Moammar Gadhafi's regime to allow the rebel movement now controlling the country to buy arms "intended solely for security or disarmament assistance." It would also allow small arms, light weapons and related materiel into the country to protect U.N., humanitarian and diplomatic personnel.

Under the proposed draft, the no fly zone imposed in March after Gadhafi launched his crackdown on regime opponents would remain in place but be kept under review.

The ban on all flights by aircraft registered in Libya, or owned or operated by Libyan companies or Libyan citizens, would be lifted.

...


http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/14/3910845/un-resolution-would-create-un.html

[pinboy3niner]

75. UK, French leaders visit Libya; peace still far off

Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:36am GMT


TRIPOLI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The French and British leaders will visit Libya on Thursday to congratulate the new rulers they helped install, but families fleeing besieged bastions of ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi are a reminder that peace is still far off.

The visit will be a victory lap for Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, who defied doubters at home to lead a NATO bombing campaign that succeeded in ushering in a victory by forces who swept away Gaddafi's 42-year rule last month.

Both leaders are hugely popular on the streets of Libya, where "Merci Sarkozy" and "Thank you Britain" are common grafitti slogans. Both may hope to earn political dividends back home from what now appears to have been a successful bet.

But on the eve of their visit, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council said heavy battles lie ahead against Gaddafi loyalists who have refused to surrender.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KE53P20110915?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

77. Libya after Gaddafi: Who's in charge?

13 September 2011 Last updated at 09:08 ET

By Aidan Lewis
BBC News


With remnants of the Gaddafi regime restricted to a few last outposts, Libya's transitional authorities now face the challenge of running a country emerging from war.

The National Transitional Council (NTC), formed in the eastern city of Benghazi to lead the uprising, is gradually establishing itself in the capital, Tripoli, with ambitious plans.

It wants to form a new interim government by the end of September, and hold elections for a 200-strong national congress within eight months. The congress will then draft a constitution, paving the way for multi-party polls.

But power structures within Libya remain fractured, creating the potential for conflict as a wide range of groups, interests and allegiances jostle for position.

...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14901175

[pinboy3niner]

80. Sky News Revisits Newly-Liberated Tripoli Suburb

4:01am UK, Thursday September 15, 2011

Lisa Holland, foreign affairs correspondent, in Tripoli


Souk al Juma is a Tripoli suburb which formed part of the backbone of the underground opposition - a place where Colonel Gaddafi tried to brutally suppress the uprising.

Two months ago when I was last in Souk al Juma, Gaddafi was still in power.

...


The group told us if they went and protested against Gaddafi they would be arrested and shot.

We also spoke at the time to an old man called Abdulmola Teani who bravely told us what he thought of Colonel Gaddafi - until the arrival of someone claiming to be a shopkeeper interested in what we were doing.

We suspected at the time, but we have now learned that this man was part of the hated secret police spying on the community for Gaddafi.

...


Story and video (2:51):
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16069820

[pinboy3niner]

82. The significance of the Cameron/Sarkozy visit to Libya

From AJE's Live Blog:


Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught has just been reporting live from Tripoli, ahead of a visit by British PM David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

We're expecting two very senior leaders of two very important delegations. ... This is all about building confidence. Of course France and Britain took leading roles in the intervention in Libya, but it's much more important now that in this post-Gaddafi period, even though Gaddafi of course has not entirely disappeared from the picture, that France and Britain be also seen to be leading the recovery.

This is a city many, many months ago when I was here back in March, as a place that looked like it had been hit by a neutron bomb: the buildings were standing but the people had disappeared. Britain and France need to engage to show the world that there is a post-conflict plan. There is security, there is stability, there is confidence. And they're coming here one would imagine to start that ball well and truly rolling.

One shouldn't only imagine it's about the oil. I don't think anyone in Libya is suspicious of big business contracts either, at least not at the moment. Look, there was enormous foreign business going on in Libya under Colonel Gaddafi. Every major American company had a presence here. We've seen Haliburton's signage all over the country as we've travelled through here. There were massive construction contracts going on with China, with Turkey. And one of the most crucial things that the NTC has said again and again is that we will honour existing contracts. Because in truth the pause button was hit: what Libya needs most of all right now is for those countries that had ongoing business here to pick up where they left off. Get their foreign workers back in and start making those very necessary public projects.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-15-2011-1039

[pinboy3niner]

83. Libya fighters issue deadline to civilians in Gadhafi stronghold

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Draft Security Council resolution expected to be voted on in a few days

• "Do not think that the battle is over," says man identified as Gadhafi spokesman

• Dirak air base taken by anti-Gadhafi fighters

• Gadhafi spokesman vows to fight on

By the CNN Wire Staff

September 14, 2011 10:07 p.m. EDT


Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libya's interim leadership gave residents in Bani Walid a 48-hour notice to leave the city as it sent reinforcements there and to the former regime's other remaining strongholds of Sirte and Sabha.

...


In response to the latest Amnesty International report alleging Gadhafi forces committed crimes against humanity, (Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim) said, "Most of those international organizations have no legitimacy and they have ... pro-imperialist and pro-colonization" agendas.

...


Fighting was continuing. NTC Cmdr. Ahamda Almagri said his column of some 500 anti-Gadhafi fighters captured the military air base at Dirak and arrested two Gadhafi loyalists; some 70 other loyalists fled the air base, which is the second-largest such facility in the south.


Earlier, anti-Gadhafi forces said one loyalist soldier was killed and three were wounded in clashes with the same column, which was moving in the direction of Sabha in the south.

...


The interim government was still struggling with the three Gadhafi strongholds that remained in loyalist hands. Abdulrahman Busin, an NTC spokesman, told CNN that the ultimatum for Bani Walid was issued late Tuesday and ends Thursday night. Previous deadlines were aimed at negotiating with the loyalists to give up the city. The new deadline warns civilians to evacuate before an offensive by the NTC forces.

...


http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/14/libya.war/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

[pinboy3niner]

84. Sarkozy and Cameron have arrived in Libya

From latestbreakingnews.com:

@AJELive

British PM David Cameron has arrived in Libya, UK government confirms. http://t.co/ocXPNoNW

8:39AM GMT Sep 15, 2011

@AlArabiya_Eng

French president’s plane arrives in Libya's Mua'aiteeqa airport #Alarabiya

8:42AM GMT Sep 15, 2011

[pinboy3niner]

85. Rebel convoy traverses Sahara to Gaddafi stronghold of Sabha for decisive battle

Added On September 15, 2011

CNN's Ben Wedeman travels the Sahara with anti-Gadhafi forces headed to a decisive battle (3:07):

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/09/15/wedeman-libya-sahara-convo.cnn

[pinboy3niner]

86. Cameron, Sarkozy on aid visit to Libya

By RYAN LUCAS - Associated Press | AP – 22 mins ago


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Tripoli on Thursday — the first heads of government to visit Libya since revolutionary forces seized the capital, a major endorsement for the North African nation's new rulers.

Cameron and Sarkozy planned to meet with the leaders of the National Transitional Council, the closest thing Libya's new rulers have to a functioning government, to discuss aid to help the transition to democracy after four decades of authoritarian rule by fugitive leader Moammar Gadhafi.

France's finance minister said the visit is not about landing economic deals but about showing support for the former rebels who ousted Gadhafi.

Francois Baroin, speaking on France-Info radio, said the visit "is a strong gesture, it is a historic moment to go today to Libya." Asked whether there were economic arguments for the visit, Baroin said, "we are not at that stage."

France's focus is not yet on reconstruction contracts but on supporting the interim leadership and pursuing "the last pro-Gadhafi pockets," he said.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/cameron-sarkozy-aid-visit-libya-085253176.html

[pinboy3niner]

87. Cameron, Sarkozy visit Libya; peace still far off

Matthew Weaver and Paul Owen post on The Guardian's Live Blog:


Reuters has more on Cameron and Sarkozy's trip to Libya, which it describes as their "victory lap".

Both leaders are hugely popular on the streets of Libya, where "Merci Sarkozy" and "Thank you Britain" are common graffiti slogans. Both may hope to earn political dividends back home from what now appears to have been a successful bet.

But on the eve of their visit, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council said heavy battles lie ahead against Gaddafi loyalists who have refused to surrender.

National Transitional Council vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghogo told Reuters the two leaders would visit both Tripoli and Benghazi, where the NTC rulers are still based even though Gaddafi opponents seized the capital more than three weeks ago.

Reuters also reports that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Libya on Friday with Egypt's foreign minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/15/libya-world-leaders-visit-tripoli#block-2

[pinboy3niner]

88. Libya, the anti-Iraq

A longtime tyrant has been sent packing, yet no foreign troops are on the ground. And it seems unlikely the U.S. will need to send in forces or the trunkloads of money it used to help rebuild Iraq.

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

September 14, 2011, 5:47 p.m.


Reporting from Tripoli, Libya— A top U.S. envoy arrived in Libya's capital Wednesday bearing best wishes but no promises of cash, no battalions of troops, no stocks of armored Humvees or blast barriers — and no blueprints for rebuilding a nation.


It is early yet, less than a month since Tripoli fell and Moammar Kadafi disappeared. He is still out there somewhere, urging allies who retain control of several cities to "turn Libya into true hell," as his spokesman said in a new audio message.

...


But in at least one key respect, Tripoli has become a kind of anti-Baghdad: a capital where the longtime tyrant has been sent packing, yet where no foreign troops are on the ground. Normality appears to be taking hold, and it is Libyans themselves who are calling the shots.

...


"I think if there were foreign troops here things would be much different," said Najwa Shalabi, who was taking her four children to a small seaside amusement park. "We trust the freedom fighters. They are Libyans all."

...


"From the beginning of the revolution, we felt safe here among our fellow Libyans who were willing to die so we could all be free," said Ramadan Dughri, 49, a customer service representative, who was also at the amusement park with his family. "It's good for the Americans too: They don't have to secure our country."


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-not-iraq-20110915,0,3407964.story

[pinboy3niner]

89. Syrian forces ‘storm towns near Turkey border’

Posted in LBN by pampango:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4995266

[pinboy3niner]

90. UK's Cameron urges Gadhafi, followers to 'give up'

By RYAN LUCAS - Associated Press | AP – 8 mins ago


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron has sent a strong message to Moammar Gadhafi and his followers still waging war in Libya to "give up" the fight, warning that NATO's mission will continue "as long as it is necessary" to protect Libyans.

Cameron spoke at a press conference alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday — the first world leaders to travel to Libya since revolutionary forces seized the capital and ousted Gadhafi. Both countries led international support for the rebellion.

To Gadhafi and his supporters, Cameron said "It is over, give up" and added: "Anyone who thinks Gadhafi has any role (in ruling the country) should forget it."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/uks-cameron-urges-gadhafi-followers-114213012.html

[joshcryer]

91. AJELive also live-tweeted the event:

http://twitter.com/#!/AJELive

Some choice bits include: Sarkozy on #Libya: There's no agreement made behind closed
doors concerning Libya's wealth. There is no preferential treatment for us.

Will post the full tweet in the new thread.

[pinboy3niner]

92. New thread already?

And I didn't even get to post the 'Jimmypic,' lol! ('Scuse me while I whip this out... :) .)

[pinboy3niner]

93. U.S. not concerned that extremists will dominate in Libya--Asst. Secretary of State

Posted on The Guardian's Live Blog:

Until now US assistant secretary of state Jeffrey Feltman has been the highest ranking western official to visit Libya. After his trip on Wednesday Feltman confirmed that US was monitoring the influence of Islamic groups in Libya. Speaking to the New York Times he said:

I think it's something that everybody is watching. First of all the Libyan people themselves are talking about this. Based on our discussions with Libyans so far, we aren't concerned that one group is going to be able to dominate the aftermath of what has been a shared struggle by the Libyan people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/15/libya-world-leaders-visit-tripoli#block-3

[joshcryer]

94. Week 30 part 4 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1943522