Libyan Revolution Day 41 part 2 (setbacks for the ragtag freedom fighters)

[joshcryer]

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30">AJE Live Blog March 30 (today) http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12776418">BBC Live Blog http://live.reuters.com/Event/Middle_East_Protests">Reuters Live Blog http://feb17.info/">feb17.info http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks">Libya Alhurra (live video webcast from Benghazi) http://www.libyafeb17.com/">libyafeb17.com

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

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

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x768720">Day 41 part 1 here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixwx_B38678">Marching On in Libya, for the revolutionaries!

Revolutionaries flee from ambush at Sirte

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/29/vision-democratic-libya-interim-national-council">Libyan Karzai? Chalabi? Forget it
Fortunately, the Council wasn't made-in-the-USA or manufactured by another foreign power. Rather it came into existence, a month ago, at Libyans' own initiative, soon after the winds of revolutionary change blew Libya's way, and after its people rose to the occasion with pride and courage.

Most of the 31 council members are unknown to the media. And the few with a mandate to attain Western and international recognition have used all contacts from their previous official roles or grabbed onto Western overtures through whatever channels possible, even unsavoury French connections, to get it.

Sources close to the council claim Western powers have opened channels of communications not in return for future Libyan concessions but rather out of concern that they would be left out of post-Gaddafi Libya and its economic opportunities.

And unlike some of the Libyan diplomats who jumped ship all too recently, and who shifted their position from loyalty to Gaddafi to passionate proponents of Western ground military intervention, the Transitional Council has insisted on a limited UN authorized intervention.

I wish I could post the full article. It's a must read. LIBYA HURRA!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/29/vision-democratic-libya-interim-national-council">A vision of a democratic Libya
The interim national council, formed by opposition groups in Libya, has said it will hold free and fair elections and draft a national constitution. Here is its eight-point plan in full.

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

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

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

Topic on the women of the revolution, dispels myths that they are treated poorly: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x594751

Videos to bring the Libyan Revolution into context:

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

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

BBC Panorama on Libya Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzwQvcx62s

Tea of Freedom Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD5tu5bJWKc

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

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

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

Canada: http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110317/cf-libya-canada/20110317/?hub=WinnipegHome">Canada to send six CF-18s for Libya 'no-fly' mission Norway: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFOSN00509220110318">Norway to join military intervention in Libya Belgium: http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/monde/2011-03-18/la-belgique-prete-a-une-operation-militaire-en-libye-828970.php">Belgium ready for a military operation in Libya Qatar and the UAE: http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/776/?SID=e80884adc09a37d26904578a9b5978cb">Run-up for Western world’s next military commitment ... with unusual support Denmark: http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/51229-denmark-ready-for-action-against-gaddafi.html">Denmark ready for action against Gaddafi France: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19libya.html?src=twrhp">Following U.N. Vote, France Vows Libya Action ‘Soon’ Italy: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72G2HE20110317">Italy to make bases available for Libya no-fly zone-source United Kingdom: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12770467">Libya: UK forces prepare after UN no-fly zone vote United States: http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/nations-draw-up-plans-for-no-fly-zone-over-libya-1.2765122">Nations draw up plans for no-fly zone over Libya Jordan: http://www.smh.com.au/world/military-strikes-on-libya-within-hours-20110318-1bzii.html?from=smh_sb">Military strikes on Libya 'within hours' Spain: http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/19/2801s627320.htm">Spain Expected to Join NATO No-fly Zone Enforcement over Libya

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

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

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

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/04/04/110404taco_talk_anderson#ixzz1HvS7iW22">Who Are the Rebels?
Three of the world’s great armies have suddenly conspired to support a group of people in the coastal cities and towns of Libya, known, vaguely, as “the rebels.” Last month, Muammar Qaddafi, who combines a phantasmagorical sense of reality with an unbounded capacity for terror, appeared on television to say that the rebels were nothing more than Al Qaeda extremists, addled by hallucinogens slipped into their milk and Nescafé. President Obama, who is torn between the imperatives of rescuing Libyan innocents from slaughter and not falling into yet another prolonged war, described the same rebels rather differently: “people who are seeking a better way of life.”

During weeks of reporting in Benghazi and along the chaotic, shifting front line, I’ve spent a great deal of time with these volunteers. The hard core of the fighters has been the shabab—the young people whose protests in mid-February sparked the uprising. They range from street toughs to university students (many in computer science, engineering, or medicine), and have been joined by unemployed hipsters and middle-aged mechanics, merchants, and storekeepers. There is a contingent of workers for foreign companies: oil and maritime engineers, construction supervisors, translators. There are former soldiers, their gunstocks painted red, green, and black—the suddenly ubiquitous colors of the pre-Qaddafi Libyan flag.

And there are a few bearded religious men, more disciplined than the others, who appear intent on fighting at the dangerous tip of the advancing lines. It seems unlikely, however, that they represent Al Qaeda. I saw prayers being held on the front line at Ras Lanuf, but most of the fighters did not attend. One zealous-looking fighter at Brega acknowledged that he was a jihadi—a veteran of the Iraq war—but said that he welcomed U.S. involvement in Libya, because Qaddafi was a kafir, an unbeliever.

Outside Ajdabiya, a man named Ibrahim, one of many émigrés who have returned, said, “Libyans have always been Muslims—good Muslims.” People here regard themselves as decent and observant; a bit old-fashioned and parochial, but not Islamist radicals. Ibrahim is fifty-seven. He lives in Chicago, and turned over his auto-body shop and car wash to a friend so that he could come and fight. He had made his life in the United States, he said, but it was his duty as a Libyan to help get rid of Qaddafi––“the monster.”

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

Military Installations



Oil Map



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[joshcryer]

1. Current time in Libya, 1:36pm Wednesday, March 30

[joshcryer]

2. Libya: Government Use of Landmines Confirmed

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/30/libya-government-use-landmines-confirmed">Libya: Government Use of Landmines Confirmed
(Benghazi) - Muammar Gaddafi's forces have laid both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines during the current conflict with armed opposition groups, Human Rights Watch confirmed today.

"Libya should immediately stop using antipersonnel mines, which most of the world banned years ago," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. "Gaddafi's forces should ensure that mines of every type that already have been laid are cleared as soon as possible to avoid civilian casualties."

The mines - two dozen antivehicle mines and roughly three dozen antipersonnel mines - were found on the eastern outskirts of Ajdabiya, a town of 100,000 residents that government forces held from March 17 until March 27, 2011.

Abdal Minam al-Shanti, electricity director for Eastern Libya, told Human Rights Watch that his employees discovered the mines around 11 a.m. on March 28, when their truck ran over and detonated two antipersonnel mines laid underneath power pylons about one kilometer from town. The mines destroyed one front tire and one back tire of the truck, but no one was wounded or killed, al-Shanti said.

Hearts and minds, Gaddafi. Hearts and minds.

[joshcryer]

3. it looks like a full withdrawal for rebels. My take? The letter of 1973 is beiing respected

@bungdan
Dan Murphy
So, it looks like a full withdrawal from ras lanuf #libya for rebels. My take? The letter of 1973 is being respected now.
3 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/bungdan/status/53021098765328384

Unsurprising, the airstrikes never actually gave the rebels a chance to move forward, it was the retreat that did that. One can say the retreat was because of the airstrikes, but in truth the retreat was probably more because the mercenaries aren't as loyal as armed militants.

[Turborama]

4. Uganda would offer Gaddafi asylum if asked: report

Posted in LBN: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4793322

Rec'd but it stayed at 0.

[joshcryer]

5. No worries, thanks for that report.

:hi:

GTG soon, going to post some editorials then I'm out.

[joshcryer]

6. UK takes steps to expel five Libyan diplomats

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12908241">UK takes steps to expel five Libyan diplomats
The UK has taken steps to expel five Libyan diplomats, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

Updating MPs on the crisis, he said they "could pose a threat" to national security.

Meanwhile, David Cameron said the UK was not ruling out providing arms to rebels in "certain circumstances" but no decision had yet been taken.

He said it might be allowed under the original UN resolution which authorised the allies' military action.

[defendandprotect]

41. LIBYA HURRA -- !!

[joshcryer]

7. Arming Libya rebels not allowed by UN resolutions, legal experts warn US

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/30/arming-libya-rebels-america-warned">Arming Libya rebels not allowed by UN resolutions, legal experts warn US
The US is likely to be in breach of the UN security council's arms embargo on Libya if it sends weapons to the rebels, experts in international law have warned.

After Hillary Clinton said it would be legal to send arms to support the uprising, lawyers analysing the terms of the UN's 26 February arms embargo said it would require a change in the terms for it not to breach international law.

"The embargo appears to cover everybody in the conflict which means you can't supply arms to rebels," said Philippe Sands QC, professor of international law at University College London.

His view was backed by other experts in international law who said they could not see how the US could legally justify sending arms into Libya under the current resolutions.

[joshcryer]

8. The myth of tribal Libya

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/30/libya-tribal-myth-national-dignity">The myth of tribal Libya
In the last few weeks, the word "tribalism" has been used extensively in the context of the Libyan democratic uprising – a spectre looming over the country, embodying the devil we don't know. This was first introduced into the public mind by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi during his address last month in which he threatened the bloodshed and destruction that his father's regime has let loose on the Libyan people.

Disappointingly, this image of Libya as a backward tribal society with no real national identity has been picked up and amplified by many western pundits and politicians – often as part of their reasoning why military and material support for the Libyan revolution is a bad idea.

The regime has two main aims for this repeated yet baseless claim. First, people in western Libya are largely cut off from outside media and so the assertion that the Gaddafi regime has the allegiance of regional leaders is intended to crush the confidence of those wishing to rise up in their own cities. Second, it aims to confuse outsiders into believing that the Gaddafi regime is all that's holding together a fractured and disunited people. Images of Iraq are the desired effect. Among some in the international press and anti-interventionist movements, Gaddafi's aims seem to have been met without much resistance.

So what is the reality and importance of tribes in modern Libya? For much of Libyan history, tribal groupings were indeed a prevalent social phenomenon. However, when we refer to tribes in today's Libya we are simply talking about a historical structuring of regional communities in a massive country. These are not the same as distinct sub-national groupings that supersede people's national identity as Libyans – an identity defended at great cost against fascist Italy and postwar attempts by the British to divide the country.

[joshcryer]

9. Yes, Nato's defence of Kosovo was long and costly, but it was certainly justified

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/30/kosovo-defence-nato-template-libya">Yes, Nato's defence of Kosovo was long and costly, but it was certainly justified
David N Gibbs suggests that Nato's 1999 aerial campaign in Serbia set an abysmal precedent for future humanitarian interventions, including the current intervention in Libya (A template for disaster, 22 March).

He focuses on common "myths" that have – in his view – distorted the popular understanding of Nato's defence of Kosovo. "The first is that, in Kosovo, war constituted a morally simple conflict, between aggressive Serbs and victimised Kosovan Albanians." Gibbs cites two comments – attributed to Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair, and former defence secretary George Robertson – which appear to show they both viewed the Kosovo Liberation Army as a threat equal to or greater than that of Serb forces. This is entirely misleading.

Under Milosevic's rule, fundamental rights were denied to Kosovo's Albanians in an effort to secure power for the region's Serbs. The KLA emerged after Kosovo's Albanians had endured forced unemployment and denial of the right to an education for nearly a decade. Its first public appearance came after Serbian police had killed a schoolteacher in 1997 because he taught Kosovo's ethnic Albanian youth in their native language. Nato entered the picture only after images of massacres of ethnic Albanian civilians surfaced and after numerous diplomatic endeavours had failed.

Contrary to Gibbs's contention that "after Nato forces in effect put the KLA in charge of Kosovo," administrative control of Kosovo was handed over to the United Nations. No former KLA members gained power in any real sense until democratic elections were introduced several years later.

[joshcryer]

10. Rebels concede Tripoli may be out of reach after 100-mile retreat

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rebels-concede-tripoli-may-be-out-of-reach-after-100mile-retreat-2256771.html">Rebels concede Tripoli may be out of reach after 100-mile retreat
After reaching so close to their goal – the city of Sirte, the birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi and a key staging post to Tripoli – the rebels of Libya retreated 100 miles yesterday. Some commanders, bitterly disappointed, were becoming resigned to accepting that victory may not be possible after all; and the time may have come to consider a ceasefire.

But one group of fighters, calling themselves the Mujahedin, were vocal in their condemnation of such pessimism. To cries of "Allah hu Akbar" they charged forward towards enemy fire, exhorting others to follow. The men from Darnah were once again in the lead, as they have been in so many of the recent battles.

Darnah, which has the reputation of being the most devoutly Muslim city in Libya, has been singled out by Gaddafi as playing a central part in the "al-Qa'ida-orchestrated plot against his rule". It is a place, the regime has repeatedly claimed, that has as its revolutionary leader someone who has met and praised Osama Bin Laden and trained in Afghan "terror camps".

The regime's attempt to exploit the fear in the US and Europe of Islamist terrorism has failed. But, as the London conference to map out the future of Libya opened yesterday, there was confusion about who exactly the West is supporting in this civil war. The commander of Nato forces told the Senate in Washington yesterday that while "hundreds of millions of dollars" have been spent by America alone on this mission, no detailed picture has emerged of the people who are supposed to be replacing Muammar Gaddafi.

Alive and well on DU unfortunately.

[pinboy3niner]

11. K&R

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

12. Coffee...goooood...working on getting up to speed

Please bear with me...

[Iterate]

13. Reuters: rebel sources said 18 civilians have been killed in Misurata on Tuesday

3:38pm Reuters citing rebel sources said 18 civilians have been killed in fighting in rebel-held Misurata on Tuesday.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[dipsydoodle]

33. The insurgents themselves are civilians.

Or at least dressed as civilians.

[Iterate]

14. AJE:...Gaddafi troops are on their way to Brega...

3:35pm Al Jazeera has learnt from sources on the ground that Gaddafi troops are on their way to Brega. Reuters is reporting that pro-Gaddafi forces are pressing further east with an artillery offensive against rebel fighters.

[pinboy3niner]

15. Beat me to it...

Still waking up here...Good morning! :hi:

[Iterate]

19. I think it's the first time

GM, I missed most of the gap, but not as much happening right now as people set themselves up for the next round of history. You're right though, sleep a bit and it's all changed enough that it takes an hour to catch up, let alone see what's new.
I've been having IP/DNS problems as well in the past few hours, so I think I need to break for a short, short time and go on a bug hunt. Coffee won't fix it that part, I've tried. Back soon.

[pinboy3niner]

20. Yeah, bugs...lost all my tabs...

...darn liveupdating sites...Gotta set everything up again for news and I'm only half-awake...what day is it, btw? I'll get there... :)

[Iterate]

16. AJE: United Kingdom has expelled five Libyan diplomats...

1:56pm The United Kingdom has expelled five Libyan diplomats, including the embassy's military attache, citing "grave concern" at the Gaddafi regime's behaviour, Reuters has reported.
"The government also judged that were those individuals to remain in Britain, they could post a threat to our security," Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[tabatha]

17. Surviving tanks, snipers and a broken economy, one Libyan family looks to the future

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110329/libya-benghazi-protests-gaddafi?page=0,1

Benghazi, Gaddafi’s long-time whipping post, became a caldron ready to blow.

Hanen showed us a home video of protesters chanting, “Call Al Jazeera, Gaddafi is sending arms to kill us!”

Eptisam, 25, who’s covered more traditionally than her younger sister, said she filmed most of the protests from their balcony before a sniper bullet came through the window, piercing both curtains.

She said she supported the revolution because she wanted the freedom to pursue her dreams.

“I graduated in 2004, and all I’ve done is cook in the house,” Eptisam said. “I’d like to cook in another city, to specialize in a restaurant.”

Hanen insisted she wouldn’t return to her studies at the nearby dental school until the curriculum was overhauled.

[pinboy3niner]

18. Libyan Rebels Retreat Further

Source: New York Times



Libyan Rebels Retreat Further


By C.J. CHIVERS and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK


Published: March 30, 2011


OUTSIDE BREGA, Libya — The momentum of ground combat appeared to tilt in favor of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Wednesday, as rebels seeking to oust him embarked on a large-scale withdrawal from the coastal oil town of Brega — the latest in a string of apparent setbacks.

Rebel forces also said Colonel Qaddafi’s troops had pushed them out of another oil town, Ras Lanuf, further west.

On the approaches to Brega, hundreds of cars and small trucks heading east clogged the highway as rebel forces pulled back toward Ajdabiya, recaptured from loyalist troops only days ago. Some rebels said Colonel Qaddafi’s forces, pushing eastward from Ras Lanuf, were within 10 miles of Brega. The retreating force seemed rudderless, a sea of vehicles and fighters armed with rudimentary weapons that have proved no match for Colonel Qaddafi’s better trained and better armed forces.

As rebels clustered at a gas station and small mosque between Brega and Ajdabiya, a single artillery shell or rocket exploded several hundred yards away, causing the rebels, who were chanting “God is great” and waving assault rifles, to jump into their vehicles and speed eastward.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31libya.html

[pinboy3niner]

21. France says Qatar is playing an "essential" role in Libya

France says Qatar is playing an "essential" role in UN-mandated coalition operations over Libya.

Speaking to French and Qatari pilots during a 90-minute visit to the Souda military base on the island of Crete on Wednesday, Gerard Longuet, the defence minister, said:

Qatar is essential at this time. This is the first time that there is such a level of understanding between Europe and the Arab world.


Souda-based French and Qatari Mirage fighters have jointly operated over Libya since March 24.

3:50pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[pinboy3niner]

22. Misrata: Terror and salvation

From our friends at The Guardian:


2.19pm: Our colleague Mona Mahmood has been in touch via Skype with people in Misrata, the only rebel-held town in western Libya. She talked first to Ahmed al-Missrati, 45, who has two girls and four boys. He and his family moved from a district called al-Jazeera to Qasser Ahmed because of the heavy shooting.

We came to Qasser Ahmed, which is a port in Misrata, to escape the heavy shooting. The children were scared and it was completely unsafe there. but it seems Qasser Ahmed is not that much better. Today the situation is quiet but yesterday evening there was heavy shooting. Coalition planes only come in the evening, not during the day to avoid shooting civilians. We do not sleep because we are so worried about snipers. They target anything that moves, men or women. Most of the victims are civilians. The hospital has sent most of the wounded to private clinics. No one can enter the hospital from the main door, we use the door at the rear of the hospital.

Muhammed, 46, has a 14-year-old son, Hassan, who lost his leg in a random shooting. Muhammed has been waiting for a Turkish medical ship to evacuate the wounded from Misrata, including his son.

The Turkish medical ship has just arrived in Misrata port. I am looking forward to sending my son for treatment to Turkey. My son's leg had to be amputated because there is no medical treatment and I'm worried the wound will get infected. The list for evacuation includes more than 160 wounded, most of them young men, a few are women and others are children and elderly who were wounded in random shooting. Some of the wounded are even from Benghazi and the eastern part of Libya. the national committee in Misrata was able to coordinate with some medical organisations and get this ship to take the wounded to Turkey. The ship has brought some medical supplies with it because Misrata badly need of medical supplies. We were told that another ship, from Medecins sand Frontieres, will arrive but till now, we did not see anything.

2.57pm: Reuters has this update on Misrata. (We covered some of this earlier in 2.19).

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi killed 18 civilians in the city of Misrata on Tuesday and the troops are still shelling and fighting skirmishes with rebels, a rebel spokesman said. But a blockade of Misrata's port by pro-Gaddafi forces has now ended, allowing two ships to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate people wounded in the fighting, the spokesman told Reuters by telephone.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen

[pinboy3niner]

23. Oil shipments from Libya remain at standstill

Oil shipments from Africa's third-largest producer have been blocked for weeks due to heavy fighting and international sanctions. Shipping sources say shipments remain at a standstill, with no one hiring oil tankers.

A shipping source told Reuters:

There has been no crude oil, no fuel oil and no clean products out of Libya for about 10 or 12 days. There is no Libya enquiry at the moment from anywhere.

Before the crisis Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, or almost two per cent of world output.

4:13pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[pinboy3niner]

24. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 5 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

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

[pinboy3niner]

25. NYT interactive map: Map of the Rebellion in Libya, Day by Day

Map of the Rebellion in Libya, Day by Day
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/25/world/middleeast/map-of-how-the-protests-unfolded-in-libya.html

[pinboy3niner]

26. A Libyan in Malta becomes a 'smuggler' to deliver humanitarian aid to Misrata

Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation


From the ABC program, "World News Today":


The full story...

Smuggler tries to relieve beseiged Misurata


ELEANOR HALL: While international leaders meet in the UK to discuss the international operation in Libya, Colonel Gaddafi's forces are stepping up their attack on Misurata, Libya's third largest city of more than 300,000 people.

An opposition spokesman is warning that the massacre that international strikes helped to avert in Benghazi may well be carried out in Misurata.

The town has been holding off a government assault for more than a month and one resident told us last week that water and electricity supplies were erratic and that there was only enough food left for 5 to 7 days.

But one Libyan living in Malta is managing to get some basic supplies into the besieged city.

Tarek Tarhouny told me that he is coordinating a humanitarian relief operation that involves smuggling supplies in by sea.

ELEANOR HALL: Tarek Tarhouny, how are you getting supplies into Misurata which has been besieged for weeks by government forces?

TAREK TARHOUNY: We just thought of trying to get these supplies to Misurata.

The only way possible at the moment is by sea as you know and we managed to charter a small vessel.

At the moment we're just carrying on this way.

ELEANOR HALL: So how risky is it?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Oh very risky. Closer to the Libyan waters - waters controlled by the regime in Libya.

So getting in and out, it's very, very difficult. In fact we failed in several attempts but we managed to sneak through.

ELEANOR HALL: How do you manage it?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Well it's… (laughs). We're just dodging the patrol boats. You have to be very patient and just make a dash for it.

ELEANOR HALL: And where do you dock?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Inside Misurata port. It's controlled by the opposition so that's safe enough.

But the problem is getting into the port. Getting out again is another problem.

ELEANOR HALL: And have you encountered any problems? Has anyone not actually managed to get in or get back?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Yes it was difficult getting in. In fact we failed, so we came back and made another attempt - managed to get in because the patrol boat are (inaudible).

Although there is a few of them - sometimes two, sometimes there are up to five.

...


ELEANOR HALL: So they would fire on you if they saw you?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Oh yes, yes. We make sure that we stay within their fighting distance.

Some of these patrol boats can be quite fast.

ELEANOR HALL: So how many boatloads have you managed to get in so far?

TAREK TARHOUNY: So far we made about three attempts, but we were successful in two and we're going again so, you know, we just have to keep trying.

We cannot stop. So we just have to keep trying.

At the moment I have to emphasise now the only supply line to Misurata is by sea because the city being under siege now for approximately 40 days now.

And you can imagine the humanitarian supplies - we're talking food, medicine - Misurata suffers now from no water, no electricity and no communication with the outside world.

So you can imagine the conditions there are very, very desperate.

...


ELEANOR HALL: What are people in Misurata telling you about the sorts of attacks that they're coming under from government forces?

TAREK TARHOUNY: It's a very sad situation, because this bombing that happens in Misurata which is based on artillery shelling - the civilian obviously always hit.

And you can see from reports in the media that there's a lot of homes, houses being destroyed by artillery shelling.

This shelling is not concentrated on any part. I mean the same, a few days ago the port was under shelling as well. The guys are saying that they're holding on.

But the problem we're worried about - we don't know how long they can hold on, because as you know this constant shelling and bombing - it just cannot go forever because these people have very limited resources and we are extremely worried about the situation.

It's a very, very dangerous situation.

ELEANOR HALL: What will happen to people there if the Gaddafi forces do manage to actually takeover from the rebels inside the town?

TAREK TARHOUNY: Well you can just take Zawiya as example and (inaudible) or the (inaudible) where the brigades really took revenge by punishing these areas severely, and you know, mercilessly.

Because if they do enter - the Gaddafi brigade - it's going to be - it's - it's just a massacre, you know, it's crazy.

Nobody even willing to attempt even to think about the consequences because it's a nightmare.

ELEANOR HALL: And that’s Tarek Tarhouny, a Libyan living in Malta, coordinating a relief operation into Misurata.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3177573.htm

[pinboy3niner]

27. Uganda would take Gaddafi?

Uganda says it would consider taking in Gaddafi, a Ugandan official tells Reuters after al Arabiya first reported on such a possibility. Uganda is a member of the African Union ad hoc committee trying to mediate a resolution of the Libyan conflict.

"Those are rumours. I have just been in a cabinet meeting with all the ministers and yes we discussed Libya but there was nothing on asylum that we discussed," Henry Okello Oryem, junior Minister for Foreign Affairs, told Reuters. "However, if Gaddafi does apply for asylum in Uganda, we'll consider his application like we do for all those who seek refuge in Uganda."

2.46pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen

[pinboy3niner]

28. REMEMBER EMAN AL-OBEIDI!

And wish for her safe deliverance...a brave, brave woman...a HERO...

[defendandprotect]

42. LIB YA HURRA -- !!

[pinboy3niner]

29. Libyan families are fleeing the eastern town of Ajdabiya

Libyan families are fleeing the eastern town of Ajdabiya towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Wednesday as counter-attacks by pro-Gaddafi forces prompt a panic retreat of rebel fighters.




4:40pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[pinboy3niner]

30. Britain expels Libya diplomats amid row over arming rebels

Britain expels Libya diplomats amid row over arming rebels


Mar 30, 2011, 14:21 GMT


London - Britain Wednesday expelled five Libyan diplomats loyal to Moamer Gaddafi and said it would not rule out the supply of arms to the rebels fighting his rule.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the diplomats, including the military attaché, had been asked to leave as they could pose a 'threat to national security.'

Officials described those affected by the move as 'strong Gaddafi supporters' who could be a threat to Libyan opposition figures and students living in Britain.

'To underline our grave concern at the (Gaddafi) regime's behaviour, I can announce ... that we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attaché,' said Hague.


http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/uk/news/article_1629695.php/Britain-expels-Libya-diplomats-amid-row-over-arming-rebels

[pinboy3niner]

31. Rebels in Libya under 'sustained attack'

Source: CNN

Rebels in Libya under 'sustained attack'


By the CNN Wire StaffMarch 30, 2011 -- Updated 1515 GMT (2315 HKT)


Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Opposition members in Libya said Wednesday their fighters are working to regain momentum in the face of punishing assaults by forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi.

After days of dramatic advances by rebels, government forces have cranked up their firepower, pushing from Bin Jawad to Ras Lanuf, a key eastern oil town that the opposition seized Sunday, and launching escalated strikes in the western town of Misrata.

Despite reports that Ras Lanuf had been retaken by government forces, an official from the opposition's Transitional National Council wouldn't confirm that rebels have lost the city.

"The front line is fluid right now," the official said.

...


"Misrata also came under heavy attack yesterday, with further loss of civilian life, including children, from mortars, sniper fire and attacks on all sides from regime tanks and personnel carriers," Hague said.


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/30/libya.war/index.html?hpt=T2

[pinboy3niner]

32. WHERE IS EMAN?

She should be home with her family. She should be planning her wedding...

[pinboy3niner]

34. Gaddafi's stand risks stalemate in the east

Source: Al Jazeera

Gaddafi's stand risks stalemate in the east


Without coalition air strikes, outgunned rebels fall back through Ras Lanuf and complain about lack of support.


Last Modified: 30 Mar 2011 09:37



Troops loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have capitalised on an apparent slowdown in the frequency of coalition air strikes in the east and have pushed back opposition rebels, taking the strategic oil town of Ras Lanuf.

Regime forces shelled rebel fighters with mortars and possibly Grad rockets on Wednesday, forcing them to retreat from Bin Jawad through Ras Lanuf, more than 200 kilometres east of Sirte, Gaddafi's well-defended hometown.

...


The rebels had advanced 20 kilometres beyond Bin Jawad on Monday, reaching the village of Nawfaliya before meeting stiff resistance. After shelling on Tuesday, they fell back to Ras Lanuf, a major coastal oil facility, and then appeared to lose the town entirely on Wednesday.

The sound of jet aircraft could be heard in the skies above the fighting, as well as explosions that seemed to indicate air strikes were taking place on the road between Ras Lanuf and Brega, the next strategic town on the road to Ajdabiya. But the possible air strikes didn't seem to help the rebels hold their defenses.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201133061249171629.html

[tabatha]

35. Malta engaged in discussions to bring injured Libyan civilians for medical aid

The Maltese government is reportedly engaged in discussions with a number of organisations to take a number of critically wounded civilians from the Libya conflict and grant them medical assistance in Malta.

Speaking to MaltaToday, a senior government source said that “although nothing so far has been concluded, negotiations are underway for injured civilians to be brought to Malta to be given medical assistance.”

Speaking in London yesterday during the Libya conference hosted by the British government, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg stressed on Malta’s humanitarian vocation, and also mentioned the country’s preparedness to host injured civilians.

MaltaToday is reliably informed that discussions are underway to receive a number of critically wounded civilians, mostly amputees from the beleaguered Misurata hospital.

The hospital is said to have run out of medical supplies, no anestesia or vital medicinals.



http://maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/malta-engaged-in-discussions-to-bring-injured-libyan-civilians-for-medical-aid

[pinboy3niner]

36. The legal basis for arming the rebels:

From The Guardian:

My colleague Paul Harris says he has just spoken to a Western diplomatic source in the United Nations who said that the key language that may be used to justify arming the Libyan rebels lies in Paragraph 4 of UN resolution 1973, which is the one that gave the go-ahead for intervention and a no-fly zone.

That paragraph authorises all necessary measures to protect civilians "...not withstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970".

Resolution 1970 is the one that referred Gaddafi to the international court and imposed sanctions. Paragraph 9 in that resolution specifically refers to an arms embargo. Therefore, it would appear, that the key words "not withstanding" give a legal basis to arming the rebels if you assume that such an action is protecting civilians.

"The key thing is the clause "not withstanding". We think that resolution 1973 does not preclude such an action (arming the rebels)," the source said. However, the source insists that there was as yet no timetable for any such moves. "It's something that is on the table. It's under discussion," the source said.

4.15pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen

[dipsydoodle]

39. That isn't the reason the word "notwithstanding" was included

It was inserted at Susan Rice's request to cover the event that help was sent in to recover a downed pilot for example and that if the recovery team were armed they would, in the absense of that word, be in breach of the arms embargo.

You were already aware of that. Odd that you didn't post it. :sarcasm:

[pinboy3niner]

40. The story on Rice's rationale was already posted in these threads before

This is a post from the Guardian. I neither added nor deleted anything. If you have a complaint, perhaps you should take it up with them. (And they're closer to home :) .)

[dipsydoodle]

48. I know that

was me who posted it from The Salon.

[defendandprotect]

45. Presume we are all in favor of arming the rebels?

Worrying and wondering ...

How long would this take -- and how much time does that give Gaddafi to

engage in more destructive actions -- making deals with Chad -- laying landmines?

Whatever!!

How much training involved even if they have the weapons/supplies?


Wondering how Gaddafi supplies are holding out and can Chad give him all he needs?

Looks like Gaddafi is concentrating on killing townspeople lest they may be thinking of

joining the rebels -- taking out cars, whatever they have which would enable this.

Destroying anything he can get to -- total destruction.


Is there no other way to get Gaddafi out? This is amazing!!

We thought Mubarak brutal -- !!

Looks to me like the Libyan people are voting Gaddafi out -- !!!

What is he using for money -- ? Who is honoring his credit -- ???

[pinboy3niner]

53. Probably not a good idea to presume

Our Libya threads are open to all, and those who come here may have differing views. Even those who support the intervention may disagree on how far it should go. Participation in the Libya threads isn't limited to one faction.

The only rules here are DU rules, and the only 'bosses' are the admins/mods.

[defendandprotect]

56. There is generally a steady group here -- and I'm asking whether

those here support it --

I do -- but still wondering how it would work --

do you support arming them?

Obviously, many here at DU don't even support the NFZ -- so certainly not

asking DU overall!!

[pinboy3niner]

37. The Guardian's summary of developments:

• David Cameron has told MPs that Britain agrees with the US that coalition forces could legally supply arms to rebel forces under UN security resolution 1973. The resolution allows "all necessary measures" to be taken to protect civilians in Libya. The Guardian's Paul Harris reported that the key phrase which allows the supply of arms appears to lie in paragraph 4 of UN resolution 1973.

• The Syrian president President Bashar al-Assad has made a speech on the country's state TV denouncing "satellite television stations" as being part of a conspiracy against Syria which began weeks ago. Residents in Deraa told the Guardian that the speech was met with fury: "The speech was nonsense and has given security forces the green light to continue its oppression on our people," said one man speaking by telephone from the city.

• Coalition aircraft attacked vessels which were preventing aid reaching Misrata yesterday, sinking four and beaching another. The attacks have allowed two ships to deliver humanitarian aid. However a rebel spokesman said that Gaddafi's forces killed 18 civilians in Misrata on Tuesday, and that troops are still shelling and fighting skirmishes with rebels.

• Britain has expelled five pro-Gaddafi Libyan diplomats from London, the foreign secretary, William Hague said. He added that a UK diplomat, Christopher Prentice, had met Libyan rebel leaders in Benghazi on Monday and Tuesday.

• Rebels have been forced to retreat from the oil town of Ras Lanuf after Gaddafi's forces attacked the city. Reports suggested Nato planes flew over the zone where the heaviest fighting was under way, with explosions heard, however the revolutionaries were still forced back in their 4x4s.


4.45pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen

[pinboy3niner]

38. Libya: Britain backs Clinton view that UN has sanctioned arming rebels

Source: The Guardian

Libya: Britain backs Clinton view that UN has sanctioned arming rebels


UK expels five Libyan diplomats, William Hague tells Commons,
as senior British official meets rebel leaders in Benghazi


Nicholas Watt , chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 March 2011 17.03 BST


Britain agrees with the United States that the UN has provided a legal basis to supply arms to rebel forces in Libya in limited circumstances, David Cameron and William Hague have told the House of Commonstoday.

But the prime minister and the foreign secretary indicated Britain was in no rush to ship arms to the rebels as they cautioned that ministers would act with "extreme care" before making any decision.

The government set out its thinking on arming the rebels as Britain announced two important developments in Libya. Hague said five diplomats from the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache, had been expelled on the grounds that they could pose a threat to Britain's security; and a British diplomatic mission, headed by the senior diplomat Christopher Prentice, visited the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Monday and Tuesday, where they met the interim transitional national council and its military council.

Hague and Cameron indicated that Britain believed there could be a legal basis for providing arms to the opposition in Libya as they were questioned separately about the declaration by Hillary Clinton on Tuesday that UN security council resolution 1973 – which authorised military action to protect civilians – had relaxed the arms embargo.

Cameron said the embargo applied to the whole of Libya. But he added: "UNSCR 1973 allows 'all necessary measures' to protect civilians and civilian populated areas. Our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances. We do not rule it out, but we have not taken the decision to do so."

But the prime minister said Britain would act with "extreme care" in deciding whether to arm the rebels. Cameron said that Sir Menzies Campbell was right to be "cautious and sceptical" after the former Liberal Democrat leader raised concerns about the reports.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/30/libyan-britain-clinton-un-rebels

[pinboy3niner]

43. Breaking: Gaddafi forces take Brega, advance on Ajdabiyah--The Guardian

Breaking news from Chris McGreal on the ground in Libya. Brega has fallen to pro-Gaddafi forces. He phones to say they are now advancing towards Ajdabiya and the rebels are retreating from there. That returns the situation to where it was on Saturday - before the rebels pushed forward with the help of coalition air strikes.

5.00pm:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen

[defendandprotect]

47. Gaddafi's violence will win unless another way is figured out -- !!

And the cricket world cup goes on!!

Gaddafi will seek out all protesters or any townspeople who he may think disloyal

and destroy them --

Gaddafi has to be taken out -- somehow?

[David__77]

50. US ground troops occupy Libya?

And perform de-Gaddadization?

[defendandprotect]

52. No -- but evidently protesters never had ...

intelligence anywhere near Gaddafi --

What about US or UK -- our intelligence never had anyone near him?

Interesting!

[David__77]

54. If they did, they defected.

I think there have been a number of mishaps so far.

[defendandprotect]

58. Gaddafi is quite a vicious opponent -- and highly successful at it -- !!

[tabatha]

44. Why more weapons wouldn't help Libya's rebels – at least not right away

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen dismissed the idea in a CNN interview yesterday, saying “we are not in Libya to arm people, but to protect people.”

He noted that UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which allows "all necessary measures" to be used in protecting Libyan civilians, authorizes the enforcement of an arms embargo. But the US has interpreted the resolution as also allowing the arming of rebels, if that step is deemed necessary.

.....

The lesson of the past week, however, is that the rebels don’t need arms so much as technical and tactical training in how to use them, the creation of some kind of communications network, and a command structure that might help them become a cohesive fighting force.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0330/Why-more-weapons-wouldn-t-help-Libya-s-rebels-at-least-not-right-away

[pinboy3niner]

46. Al Jazeera reporting airstrike near Ajdabiyah

Correspondent Alan Fisher also reports that Gaddafi troops are operating in smaller units that look like the opposition--and they're "harder to target, harder to hit."

[David__77]

49. Of course they are.

They'd be foolish to operate in large formation or use heavy equipment. This remote control war thing may or may not work.

[CJvR]

51. Bosnia again?

It seems noone remembered that embargo debacle, you dont embargo a geographic area - you embargo the asshole faction. Now people are sniveling about how illegal it would be to arm the rebs. Seriously why have the world stepped on this particular landmine twice?

[David__77]

55. If it's illegal, then you legalize it.

Bring a UN resolution lifting the previous embargo and rework it.

[tabatha]

57. Letter from Libya Circle of Fire by Andrew Solomon

Letter from Libya
Circle of Fire
by Andrew Solomon May 8, 2006

Here’s a story they tell in Libya. Three contestants are in a race to run five hundred metres carrying a bag of rats. The first sets off at a good pace, but after a hundred metres the rats have chewed through the bag and spill onto the course. The second contestant gets to a hundred and fifty metres, and the same thing happens. The third contestant shakes the bag so vigorously as he runs that the rats are constantly tumbling and cannot chew on anything, and he takes the prize. That third contestant is Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, the permanent revolutionary.

Libya is about the size of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, combined, but its population, just under six million, is roughly the same as Denmark’s. Oil revenues make Libya, per capita, one of the wealthiest countries in Africa, and yet malnutrition and anemia are among its most prevalent health problems. It is an Islamic country where alcohol is illegal and most married women wear the hijab; it is a secular country where women are legally allowed to wear bikinis and Qaddafi is protected by a phalanx of gun-toting female bodyguards. The version of socialism promulgated in the mid-nineteen-seventies by Qaddafi’s political manifesto, “The Green Book,” is honored; the country is in the throes of capitalist reform. The head of the Libyan Publishers’ League says that the books most often requested in his store are the Koran and Bill Clinton’s “My Life.” Then, of course, there’s the official line that the country is ruled by its citizens, through Basic People’s Congresses, and the practical reality that it is ruled by Qaddafi. Libyan officials must far outstrip the Red Queen in her habit of believing six impossible things before breakfast.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/08/060508fa_fact_solomon#ixzz1I6bZNBz2

[pinboy3niner]

59. Libyan government expels Reuters correspondent

Source: Reuters


Libyan government expels Reuters correspondent


LONDON | Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:33am EDT


(Reuters) - The Libyan government expelled a Reuters correspondent on Wednesday.


It gave no reason for ordering out Michael Georgy, who had been in Tripoli since February 28 among a small group of foreign journalists allowed in to report under government restrictions.

Georgy, an American currently based in Pakistan, was notified late on Tuesday that he must leave Libya. He arrived in neighboring Tunisia on Wednesday.

...


Georgy and a Reuters photographer were detained by Libyan security officials for several hours earlier this month after trying to reach the then rebel-held city of Misrata without the permission of government "minders" who have not let foreign journalists out of their hotel other than on escorted trips.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-reuters-idUSTRE72T3XH20110330

[pinboy3niner]

60. Rebel fighters welcome coalition airstrike near Ajdabiyah

The first coalition air strike in two days against Gaddafi's forces was carried out near the eastern city of Ajdabiya, where rebels have sought shelter after being pushed back from the frontlines.

The AFP said huge plumes of smoke rose into the sky amid cries of jubilation among the rebels, who had called for air support earlier.

Justifying their lack of fight, the rebels pointed out they were poorly armed with vintage or looted weapons, some of which jammed or had no more ammunition. They called it a fight of "the people" against an army.

A rebel fighter, Yunes Abdelghaim, 27, told AFP:

We want two things: that the planes drop bombs on Kadhafi's tanks and heavy artillery, and that they (the West) give us weapons so we can fight.

5:49pm:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-30

[Waiting For Everyman]

62. A reporter last week was with an insurgent who had a plastic toy gun.

Don't know if anyone remembers that. I'm surprised that the coalition didn't supply them with hand-held guns and some anti-vehichle weapons, food, and medical supplies from second one after the resolution was signed. Also I expected securing the ports as much as possible - at least those on the two edges of the country. And some attempt to get communication and utilities protected. All of that is "protecting civilians".

If there are to be no boots on the ground, how do inadequately armed civilians defend themselves? Gaddafi distributed all-new weapons to everybody he could give them to, at the same time as the news report of the insurgent with the plastic toy gun.

Maybe the diplomats were too busy checkmating themselves to watch the news.

[David__77]

63. Obviously the only way to enforce regime change is through ground invasion.

I think they are dickering around, hoping something happens to prevent having to either do that or essentially give up.

[David__77]

64. AP source: Libyan rebels seen at risk of failure

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer

A senior U.S. intelligence official says Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is mobilizing second-tier ground combat forces to press his counter-offensive against rebels in eastern Libya, and that he has adopted new, unconventional tactics to counter the effects of coalition airstrikes.

The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence on the condition and capabilities of regime and rebel forces.

Gadhafi's success in dealing fresh battlefield setbacks to the opposition forces seeking his ouster is hardening the U.S. view that the rebels probably are incapable of prevailing without more decisive Western intervention. One such option under consideration is arming the rebels by the U.S. and its European partners.

http://www.ksro.com/news/article.aspx?id=3038023

(Then they'll find that the weapons "aren't enough." What then?)

[tabatha]

68. Yep, they're between a rock and a hard place.

I hope that someone comes up with a brilliant solution.

Freezing his billions of assets won't be enough - he has hoards of gold in Libya.

(Just how did he accumulate so much wealth anyway?)

[BOG PERSON]

65. yeah

western countries could have avoided all this by sticking with Gaddafi. if these dopes -- excuse me, "ragtag freedom fighters" manage to seize power in Libya by some miracle, they'll be run out within a year, in the absence of an indefinite NATO occupation

[David__77]

67. I don't agree with "sticking with Gaddafi."

I don't think the US should actively bolster the existing Libyan government by any means. Indeed, if certain criteria are met, I think suspension of normal relations is a good thing.

[Waiting For Everyman]

69. As opposed to just giving them some basic supplies?

The insurgent cities/towns have ports - what's the problem? We need ground troops to unload crates now?

Or maybe we need to supply specialized "training" for that? :sarcasm:

[Waiting For Everyman]

74. I found the "insurgent with toy gun" video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jegu5Brn6b8

[Yosarian71]

77. Two days?

Did I read that right? What have they been doing?

There is no halfway solution here. There are two outcomes. Either the rebels win or they lose. If they lose, it will be devastating for US foreign policy and cripple Obama as President and guarantee a Republican takes office in January 2013. Whatever NATO needs to do to get the planes flying again, they should do. Otherwise the rebels will get slaughtered, Benghazi will get wiped off the map, and all the world will know is that the massacre is on Obama's watch and he did nothing to stop it. He will look weak to the world and domestically he will be finished politically.

[tabatha]

82. I heard Wesley Clark say that it was because of the weather.

Or it may have been something different:

RT @iyad_elbaghdadi: Second version of events: Revolutionaries lured Gaddafi armor out of urban centers to allow coalition air strikes. #Libya
Twitter - seconds ago

[tabatha]

61. "The People Have Gone Through the Ultimate Dismissal of Fear by Offering Their Lives"

When Libyan poet Khaled Mattawa was 13 years old, Muammar Qaddafi's regime conducted public hangings of alleged traitors in Mattawa's home city of Benghazi. And he saw his independent-minded father, overcome by terror, plaster a giant picture of Qaddafi onto the side of the family car.

Thirty-four years later, Mattawa, 46, feels "complete and utter pride" as the residents of Benghazi have finally risen up—and launched the rebellions that are now sweeping across Libya. "This is the moment we've been waiting for," Mattawa said in a Monday phone interview. "Everything good about Benghazi that I know has appeared in the last few days."

But little in Mattawa's life story could have offered much hope for a scene like this week's.

.....

"Of course, we're very worried about ," he says with a heavy sigh. "But what I keep telling myself is that it's not really about any one person. It's not even about the country, really. It's become something deeply human.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/interview-libya-poet-protester

Old article - don't know if it was posted.

[Waiting For Everyman]

76. Wow, good article... "It's become something deeply human".

Thanks, tabatha. I hadn't seen it before.

[MedleyMisty]

113. That struck me too

It has. I think it has for all of us who are closely following it, but to actually be Libyan, especially for the ones who are actually there....

I think it has changed them and their society forever. That's why I'm not worried about them being cowed by outside interests, although I am very worried about outside interests trying to cow them - I think they have found a strength and a sense of common humanity that is very rare on this planet.

[tabatha]

66. In Libyan Capital, Reporters Encounter The Surreal

Foreign journalists covering events in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, are facing increased government pressure. State television regularly denounces Western media coverage of the conflict, and there are billboards around the city condemning news organizations by name. The situation for the media in the Libyan capital has become ever more sinister and weird.

Events are never scheduled in advance. The only warning journalists normally get is a trilling over the speaker system in the Tripoli hotel where almost all of the Western media are based.

Sometimes it's a magical mystery bus tour that can take you to something as simple as a gas station or as frightening as a town five hours away that may be under aerial bombardment — as happened to journalists who went to Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte this week.

.....

"I sometimes feel we are living in a kind of Graham Greene novel here, you know. There is a sense both of menace and fantasy that is pretty disorienting, frankly." - Journalist Don Macintyre

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134968914/in-libyan-capital-reporters-encounter-the-surreal

Reminds me of the shaken rat story.

[Turborama]

73. Interesting insight, thanks. n/t

[Waiting For Everyman]

70. Two lighter-note posts from the very end of the last thread, possibly missed...

Sometimes it's good to see something not-so-dire for a minute.


A "Charlie Chaplin + uprising footage" video, "United We Rise". The link was tweeted by a Libyan along with a quote from it, “Do not despair, the misery that is upon us is nothing but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress...”, a morale-lifting thought (and video) at this moment. (Interesting note - the vid has only been posted for two weeks and already has 200K views.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x568074



Another Libyan tweeter, a photographer, has started a site for his photos which have rather amusing captions based around the theme of #EpicLibyanMan. Tongue-in-cheek of course, but also a morale-booster.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=768720&mesg_id=771895

[tabatha]

72. Thanks for those. I needed them.

The emotion in the video is almost cathartic.

[Waiting For Everyman]

75. It affected me that way too.

I keep being struck by the creativity of the protesters, in Libya and in Egypt.

[bobbolink]

71. Violence in Libya/ TIKKUN

Obviously I don't agree with all in this opinion piece, but he is reasoned and it is a good example of someone who can hear and reason in reply. (MODS... the rabbi wants this to be shared around, so I am posting a lot of it)

This is my last contribution to these threads, so bye everyone.
************************************************************************************
Violence in Libya
by Michael Lerner
March 29, 2011

Protesters outside the White House urge Obama to help Libya. February 19, 2011.
Like every ethical person on the planet, I would love to see Muammar Qaddafi removed from power, his apparatus of violence and repression destroyed, and the current dictatorship replaced by a democratic movement. I believe that these are the motivations that have led President Obama to engage the United States in military action in Libya. So, yes, I’m glad he has helped create an international force to protect some of Libya’s people from the threats of murder that Qaddafi was starting to implement weeks ago.

But I have many doubts about this path. I don’t believe in violence as the way to achieve our reasonable and ethically justified goals.

I’ve watched too many times as the United States has stated reasonable goals to justify a military intervention that then became a slippery slope to indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. I’ve watched as even President Obama, somebody whose fundamental decency I continue to believe in, uses violence when it seems to fit with his vision of what is politically smart for him, and in a way that is inconsistent with the values he stated in his talk to the nation on March 28, 2011, explaining the Libyan war.

If the president wants to save lives, he might immediately stop our war in Afghanistan and remove our troops. If the president wants to save lives, he might demand the end of repression in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, and Palestine, and talk about what economic sanctions he would use to accomplish those goals. The most remarkable feature of the current Arab uprisings is how determinedly nonviolent they have been. People say nonviolence doesn’t work as well as violence for bringing down brutal dictators, but it’s actually the other way around. It’s not just that violent uprisings put the power from the start in the hands of the military, compromising the chances that the successor regime will be democratic. It’s that violent protest prompts a dictator’s army to fight, while nonviolent protest often undermines that willingness. As Tikkun Contributing Editor Stephen Zunes wrote recently:

From the Philippines to East Germany, autocratic rulers facing nonviolent civil insurrections have ordered their troops to fire on unarmed crowds, only to have them refuse, forcing the dictatorships to fall. On January 14, Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali declared a state of emergency and banned gatherings of more than three people, threatening that “arms will be used if orders of security forces are not heeded.” In response, hundreds of thousands of Tunisians defied the regime, bravely marching upon the dreaded Interior Ministry and a general strike effectively shut down the country. When the head of the armed forces informed the president he would refuse to orders to attack nonviolent protesters, Ben Ali and his family then fled the country.

… In Libya, the protests were almost exclusively nonviolent during the first week of the uprising. It was during this period that the pro-democracy movement made the most gains, taking over most of the cities in the eastern part of the country. It was also during this period when most of the resignations of cabinet members and other important aides of Qaddafi, Libyan ambassadors in foreign capitals and top military officers took place. Pilots deliberately crashed their planes, flew into exile and otherwise refused orders to bomb and strafe protesters. Thousands of soldiers defected or refused to fire on crowds, despite threats of execution.

It was when the rebellion took a more violent turn, however, that the revolution’s progress stalled and was soon reversed, which in turn led to the United States and its allies attacking Libya.

The world may legitimately wonder why the United States has given its most visible and dramatic support to a protest that turns violent, while neglecting to give equally strong but nonviolent support to the nonviolent protest movements. The Egyptian protesters especially needed that help early on; later, when the movement was clearly winning, the Obama administration did get off the fence, but Obama never called for Mubarak to go — not until he was gone. Failing to learn the lesson from that, the administration is being lukewarm in its support of nonviolent protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and is giving Israel a free pass on Palestine (as evidenced in the recent U.S. veto of a mildly worded United Nations Security Council resolution supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and reiterating the illegality of Israeli settlements in occupied territories).

I hear the critics’ response: “But right now, right at this moment, the president was faced with an emergency and he had to act, else too many people would have been killed.”

Yes, I think that is probably true, and that is why I don’t condemn Obama or suspect his motives. I believe he is a fundamentally decent person!

More at the link:
http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/violence-in-libya

[MedleyMisty]

84. Why is this your last contribution?

And I like the ideas. I agree with you that I don't agree with everything in it - I don't blame the Libyans for taking up arms. I don't advocate violent revolution in general and I am a huge fan of Gandhi and King and I'm a big proponent of civil disobedience. But I won't judge them for taking up arms, not with what I know about the force they were met with.

Also - one thing I've noticed is that the people who blame the Libyans for taking up arms NEVER mention the mercenaries. Never. I would like someone to explain how civil disobedience causes defections in people who have been trained as killers and paid to kill civilians.

http://af.reuters.com/article/drcNews/idAFLDE71N11N20110224?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the loyalty of his armed forces proving decidedly unreliable, appears to have turned to mercenaries from elsewhere in Africa to support his bloody crackdown.

But I really love the idea of the Global Marshall Plan.

[Turborama]

78. Libya's Foreign Minister And Gaddafi Right Hand Man 'Defects To UK' - Is In London Now

In LBN: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4794031

I've been following this since he went to Tunisia and was waiting to see what he was up to. Glad to see it was what I was hoping for.

[tabatha]

79. There are rumors that he is organizing the defection of others.

This is the best way for it to end.

This will also put pressure on Gaddafi - he would have all the goods on Gaddafi.

[David__77]

81. I suspect there will be many more civilian defections/desertions.

There has a large coterie of relative liberals in the Libyan government. Factions within the government has been agitated for economic neoliberalism and some political changes for a decade. They have no reason to stick around. The question is whether or not this appreciably changes the wartime state. A sober analysis is called for.

[tabatha]

83. Tweets - don't know how reliable.

@ksnavarra: #Libya chief of intelligence, Speaker of the House reported to have crossed into #Tunisia and in cintact with EU govts
Twitter - seconds ago

Edited:

@SultanAlQassemi: Abdul Rahman Shalgam to Al Arabiya "All the generals, ministers & members of the people's committees want to leave this regime" #Libya

@SultanAlQassemi: Abdul Rahman Shalgam to Al Arabiya "Musa Kusa is the spinal cord of Gaddafi's regime, he is the key of keys & the code of codes" #Libya

[Waiting For Everyman]

101. @ksnavarra is the reporter who wrote the Malta News article on it.

The other source is as reliable as anyone can be, given the situation - it's clear that he's trusted by all the major news sources (who should know by now, being the ones tasked with verifying such info all the time).

I have no idea if the man being quoted is reliable (Abdul Rahman Shalgam), but probably so, or SAQ wouldn't be posting it, as a straight statement, without qualification.

My 2 cents.

[tabatha]

102. Thanks - it seems as though it was reliable,

[pinboy3niner]

94. "It's the Nescafe, stupid!1!!" :)

Thanks for posting the link here! :fistbump:

[tabatha]

80. U.S. Journalist in Libya Finds Audience Via Kickstarter

What if independent journalists were funded directly by their readers and viewers? Rachel Anderson, a 26-year-old journalist from North Dakota, is using Kickstarter to find out. Anderson is asking the site to help fund her stay in Libya, where is she releasing weekly videos on the lives and struggles of Libyan rebels, revolutionaries and artists.

It’s a task made possible through social media and the generosity of her Libyan friends. The Kickstarter campaign, “Libyan Youth in Revolution,” aims to raise $30,000 in one month. That money will go to Anderson’s bare necessities like food, shelter and protection as she ventures into more dangerous areas of the country.

A multimedia journalist with a degree from the University of Nebraska, Anderson is documenting the revolution through a series of weekly broadcasts to be shared with her donors.

Anderson was in Cairo during the Egyptian revolution and then shipped to Libya. But once the U.S. withdrew its ground support, Rotary International also withdrew its scholars and, with it, funding for Anderson’s trip. She negotiated the right to stay as a separate, self-funded entity, receiving support from One Day On Earth to go back to Libya for eight weeks to continue her documentary work.



http://mashable.com/2011/03/30/libya-kickstarter-journalist/

[tabatha]

85. The UK Foreign Office has released this official statement:

BREAKING: Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Koussa defects and arrives in London
Posted on March 30, 2011 by admin

Mousa Koussa, Libya’s Foreign Minister and close aide to Mu’ammar Gaddafi has defected and fled to the UK seeking refuge.

The UK Foreign Office has released this official statement:

“We can confirm that Moussa Koussa arrived at Farnborough Airport from Tunisia. He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course. Moussa Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi’s government and his role was to represent the regime internationally – something that he is no longer willing to do. We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people”.



http://www.libyafeb17.com/

EDIT

00:43 Almanara Media reports that 32 Libyan Diplomatic cars have crossed the Libyan-Tunisian border into Tunisia. There is news that the following Libyan diplomats are in Tunisia making plans to defect and leave to Europe:

1. Abu Zaid Dorda – Chief of Intelligence
2. Shukri Ghanem – Oil Minister
3. AbulGasem AzZwai – General Secretary of the People’s Committee
4. AbdulAati Abedi – Libyan Ambassador to Tunisia

[Cognitive_Resonance]

86. He knows the end is near for the Qadaffi regime. nt

[tabatha]

87. Boy, do I hope so.

I don't think I could take much more of the fighting and bloodshed.

:scared:

[Turborama]

112. Wow, where does that edit come from?

Could you add it here, please? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4794031

[pinboy3niner]

88. CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1:15 AM THURSDAY, MARCH 31

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

[tabatha]

89. You're back

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

90. Yes--nice work, everybody!

:hi:

Nice to know I'm completely superfluous... :rofl:

[tabatha]

91. Yep, so much so that I noticed you were gone.

:toast:

Thankfully, I had a lot of recompilations, and I get bored waiting.

[defendandprotect]

114. LIBYA HURRA -- !!

[pinboy3niner]

92. Terrorists in Libya

Posted in GD by MedleyMisty:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x776799

[pinboy3niner]

93. Libya Live Blog - March 31 is up at AJE now:

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-31

[pinboy3niner]

95. Moussa Koussa not alone--other senior officials "waiting to fly to European capitals" to defect

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught tells us that Koussa was not alone, and that there are several senior Libyan government figures waiting to fly to European capitals.

She said they include the current head of intelligence, the oil mininster, the secretary of the general peoples' congress and a deputy foreign minister. She tells us:

It seems the government of Gaddafi is collapsing around him tonight, and they're running for the hills.

But its all about Cololnel Gaddafi here. The people are loyal to him, not to his ministers, so how this will be taken by the Libyan people is another matter - that's if they know what's going on. Today, state TV said that Moussa Koussa was going on holiday. We'll see if they say the same for these others.

1:11am:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-31

[pinboy3niner]

96. SecDef: In last 24 hours coalition conducted 188 sorties, launched 2 Tomahawks

Ahead of a NATO press conference expected tomorrow, where the 28-member military alliance will outline its operations, the office of the US secretary of defence has said:

In the last 24 hours:
- the Coalition and US have conducted a total of 188 sorties
-- 102 of these were "strike" sorties (61 by Coalition; 41 by U.S.)
- the US launched 2 TLAMs

Total Sorties:
- Coalition = 784 (489 "strike")
- U.S. = 1206 (463 "strike")

Total TLAM:
- Coalition = 7
- U.S. = 216

12:55am

[tabatha]

97. The 22nd MEU will relieve the 26th MEU

Thousands of Marines from Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point and New River are preparing to head to waters off Libya.

Nearly 2,200 Marines and sailors with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are preparing the ships they will be deploying with during their mission to the Mediterranean Sea. The USS Bataan is currently docked at the Morehead City State Port.

The 22nd MEU will relieve the 26th MEU

which has been involved with Libyan air strikes and with the rescue mission of a downed Air Force pilot last week.

Colonel Eric Steidl, commander of the 22nd MEU, would not say if they will have any missions in Libya but the colonel says the 22nd MEU has the ability to perform a wide variety of missions.

The 22nd MEU is deploying three months earlier than originally scheduled because the 26th MEU left North Carolina waters early to help with flood relief efforts in Pakistan.

http://www.witn.com/news/headlines/Marines_Headed_Off_Libyan_Coast_118851704.html?ref=704

[pinboy3niner]

98. The Guardian interactive map ~ Libya: allied military assets and main attack sites

Libya: allied military assets and main attack sites
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/08/libya-nato-no-fly-zone-interactive-map

[Alamuti Lotus]

99. Rebels may be bolstered by private armies, report says

Rebels may be bolstered by private armies, report says

PRIVATE contractors could be sent by the US to Libya to help rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi under plans being considered in the event of a stalemate in the conflict.

The move comes as Gaddafi forces recaptured a strategic oil town and closed in on another major eastern city.

Rebels have pleaded for ground support after they lost nearly all the territory gained since international air strikes began.

US President Barack Obama has not ruled out shipments of arms to the opponents of the dictator, although critics fear that such a move might lead to the deployment of ground troops to offer training and support to the disparate rebel groups.

A senior former Pentagon official has told The Times that one option to be discussed was the use of contractors instead of troops.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/rebels-may-be-bolstered-by-private-armies-report-says/story-e6frg6so-1226031194555

Good find David__77, see here for current discussion in LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4794311

[The Magistrate]

107. This Is How Training Missions Are handled Nowadays, Sir

This is probably going on already, in fact.

[David__77]

110. It is also how Fallujah was occupied by the US in Iraq.

American mercenaries being deployed into a civil war on the taxpayers' dime.

[pinboy3niner]

100. Reuters: Obama signed order authorising covert aid to rebels

The President reportedly signed the secret order within the past 2 or 3 weeks.

[tabatha]

103. I saw another article in which this was denied.

Need to find.

[pinboy3niner]

104. C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels

Source: New York Times

C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels

By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT


Published: March 30, 2011


WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and contact rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials.

While President Obama has insisted that no American military ground troops participate in the Libyan campaign, small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help bleed Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said.

In addition to the C.I.A. presence, composed of an unknown number of Americans who had worked at the spy agency’s station in Tripoli and others who arrived more recently, current and former British officials said that dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are working inside Libya. The British operatives have been directing airstrikes from British jets and gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of Libyan government tank columns, artillery pieces and missile installations, the officials said.

...


In addition, the American spies are meeting with rebels to try to fill in gaps in understanding who their leaders are and the allegiances of the groups opposed to Colonel Qaddafi, according to United States government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the activities. American officials cautioned, though, that the Western operatives are not directing the actions of rebel forces.A C.I.A. spokesman declined to comment.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html

[pinboy3niner]

105. Congress Scrambles To React As Libya Events Unfold

Source: NPR

Congress Scrambles To React As Libya Events Unfold

by Liz Halloran


March 30, 2011 The rapidly evolving debate over U.S. intervention in Libya moves to Capitol Hill Thursday, where four congressional committees plan to hear testimony from military and State Department officials about the purpose and scope of the nation's latest armed engagement.

The hearings were expected to be dominated by questions about President Obama's decision to begin military action in Libya without congressional approval, and his apparent lack of a clear exit strategy.

But a new flash point has emerged: whether the U.S. should arm Libyan rebels, who on Wednesday were beating a chaotic retreat from Col. Moammer Gadhafi's forces in at least two cities.

...


But with rising alarm on Capitol Hill and within the White House over the prospect and the troubled historic precedent of arming an amorphous rebel force — and one that this time could include members of al-Qaida — Obama has been circumspect.

...

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134989946/congress-scrambles-to-react-as-libya-events-unfold

[pinboy3niner]

106. Who leaked covert ops story? "Smart money" on Pentagon officials, says AlJaz reporter

So who let the cat out of the bag about the previously covert operations in Libya? Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from Washington DC, tells us that "the smart money is on Pentagon officials" concerned about mission creep in libya, while also having troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2:10am:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-31

[David__77]

111. The Pentagon is a hotbed of peace activists these days lol...

Starting with Gates and the highest officers.

[pinboy3niner]

108. Gaddafi regime ordered to appear before Africa's highest court

Source: The Guardian

Gaddafi regime ordered to appear before Africa's highest court


African court on human and peoples' rights accuses regime of killing peaceful demonstrators


Owen Bowcott and Maya Wolfe-Robinson guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 30 March 2011 21.44 BST


Gaddafi's regime has been ordered to appear before Africa's highest court to face charges of "massive violations of human rights" for killing peaceful demonstrators in the early days of the uprising.

...


The "order for provisional measures" issued by the court unanimously declares that the "government of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" must immediately refrain from any action that would result in loss of life or breach human rights. It also summons the Tripoli regime to appear before the court within 15 days to explain what measures have been taken to implement the order.

The African court on human and peoples' rights is the continent's equivalent of the European court of human rights. The legal action has been initiated by another continental body, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Court documents state that the commission has received "successive complaints against Libya". Peaceful demonstrations in the Libyan cities of Benghazi, al-Baida, Ajdabiya, Zawiya and Derna were "violently suppressed by security forces" who "opened fire at random" on 19 February, the commission alleges.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/30/gaddafi-regime-africa-court

[joshcryer]

109. Day 42 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x777524