Democratic Underground - Libyan Revolution Day 80

Photograph: Bryan Denton for The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/world/middleeast/08libya.html?_r=2">Libya Strikes Fuel Supply in City Held by Rebels
MISURATA, Libya — Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi struck the fuel terminal of this rebel-controlled city early Saturday with ground-to-ground rockets, igniting a fire that threatened the city’s fuel supply.

The barrage struck shortly after midnight, when rockets began landing and exploding in several areas of the terminal, officials there said.

At least one rocket hit a set of three mammoth tanks, which ruptured and burst into a fireball. The fire settled into a leaping blaze that towered overheard, visible for miles. Its glow illuminated the eastern section of the city throughout the night. Residents woke to a thick, drifting cloud of black smoke.

The attack on the terminal was another escalation against the besieged city, and the second pinpoint attack by Colonel Qaddafi’s forces in two nights.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog#update-34686">Libya's ambassador to Rome says that he is now on the side of the opposition.
"I am with the people, with the rebels and against Gaddafi's regime," Abdulhafed Gaddur, who has been a Libyan diplomat in Italy since 1990, told the Corriere della Sera daily in an interview.

Gaddur says he will continue to serve in his position "until a new Libya and its new government make their choices".

Gaddur had earlier signed a document drafted by other diplomats who had abandoned Gaddafi's government, but had not publically signaled his exact position on the issue.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136036361/rebel-art-libyan-youth-find-outlet-in-sketches-song">Rebel Art: Libyan Youth Find Outlet In Sketches, Song
Young people are heavily involved in the uprising now underway in Libya: They are members of the rebel military; they are working to help form a new government. They are also producing revolutionary artwork, publications and music.

On any given day you can find at least a few of Benghazi's young and restless in a large empty cement lot off one of the city's main thoroughfares.

In the late afternoon, young men gather to see just how much tire rubber they can burn. Fishtailing Toyotas leave a smear of swirling, smoking, sticky blackness on the pavement. From a hotel room high above, the streaks appear like some kind of postmodern design.

About a mile away, just off Revolution Square, more substantive creations are taking shape. This is the Media Center for the 17th of February Revolution — a dingy, dog-eared building bustling day and night with frenetic 20- and 30-somethings trying to process what's going on in Libya.

Heck of a find by tabatha, thank you! What a wonderful article!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/07/946332/-Berber-RebellionGaddafi?showAll=yes">Berber Rebellion & Gaddafi
In the forgotten mountains of western Libya a terrible struggle is going on. Berber rebels and their Arab allies are fighting a loosing war against better armed Gaddafi military and militia. No Nato aid has arrived and the Gaddafi forces are taking no quarter and firing on the old, the infirm and women and children. Ignored by the world the Berbers are fighting for their existence. Protected in part by the rugged territory of the Nafusa Mountains, they have been able to hold off Gaddafi forces until the last three weeks when a new offensive has broken rebel lines. The Berbers need no foreign troops to help, they need arms and ammunition. Nato air cover would be effective but even if Nato bombed roads and bridges the effect would be to slow Gaddafi forces and allow the Berbers to regroup. Nato planes have been seen in the sky but little has been done. Now is the time for Nato and the US to act. A Berber presence or victory over the Gaddafi forces threatens vital supply lines to Gaddafi from the resource-rich Ghadames basin to the south. Should rebels in the Nafusa succeed and link with rebel tribes in the Kufra area, Gaddafi is finished. A minor investment by Nato now will make all the difference.

Thanks to Iterate who appears to be the resident opinion piece discoverer! Such good pieces, I'm sorry for being so late posting today, these are great.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/2011428134937111186.html">Sovereign Libya: A letter to Vladimir Putin
"Look at the map of this region, there are monarchies all around," you said. "What do you think they are - Danish-style democracies? No. There are monarchies everywhere, and this basically corresponds with the mentality of the people, as well as long-standing practice." How right you are to affirm our "long-standing practice" of despotic rule. And how convenient that you chose to disregard the "mentality" of millions of people throughout the Arab world who have demonstrated for democracy, human rights, dignity - and for an end to these "monarchies". To say nothing of the thousands who have paid for these calls with their lives speaks volumes.

...

"I do not like it," you said of the intervention. In that case, please accept our sincerest apologies. Perhaps the Libyan people and the international community should have considered your feelings when deciding how to react to the gunning down of protesters from Tripoli to Benghazi; and to the massacre at Az Zawiya, the bombardment of Misurata, and the positioning of Gaddafi's tanks on Benghazi's doorstep.

Thanks to pampango & Iterate for this piece. Iterate also has his own commentary http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1057709">here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1055678&mesg_id=1056442">Sons of the Revolution
On the morning of March 12th, Osama ben Sadik, a volunteer ambulance driver, arrived for duty at the Red Crescent clinic in Brega, an oil-refinery town in eastern Libya. The uprising against Muammar Qaddafi had turned from a protest movement into a shooting war, and casualties were expected. But no one in Brega had a clear idea of what was happening on the battlefield, not even the few fighters fidgeting by a new barricade outside the refinery’s front gate. Six days earlier, Qaddafi’s armored columns had halted the rebels on their ill-planned, euphoric advance westward toward Tripoli. Bloodied and outgunned, the rebels, a leaderless rabble of university students, mechanics, shopkeepers, and Army reservists, had been falling back ever since. After a standoff on the coastal road that ran past Ras Lanuf, another oil-refinery town, eighty miles to the west, the rebels had buckled under heavy fire and made a panicked retreat. It seemed obvious that the small desert town of Brega would be the next target of Qaddafi’s forces.

At the clinic, most of the medical staff had evacuated after an ambulance was hit by a shell, killing one of their doctors and several nurses. A lone doctor remained, along with Osama, who was friendly, and spoke extraordinarily good English. A rangy man of forty-eight with warm brown eyes and an aquiline face that resembled a beardless Abraham Lincoln’s, he showed off his ambulance. To aid the war effort, he and some friends had adapted a Toyota Land Cruiser pickup into a mobile emergency-treatment center. The vehicle, painted white with a red crescent, was parked at the clinic entrance, where Osama was busily cleaning it.

This last piece is a must read.

"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://english.libya.tv/2011/04/25/eastern-libyans-believe-in-national-unity-distrust-au-and-turkish-mediation-survey-reveals/">The first free public opinion poll ever conducted in Libya reveals clues to Eastern Libyan sentiments
* 98 percent of the respondents do not support the division of Libya as a part of the political solution for the current conflict with the Gaddafi regime. Around 95 percent also don’t see any role for Gaddafi or his sons in a transitional period, and think it is impossible to implement any political reform in Libya if Gaddafi or one of his sons stays in power

* Around 96 percent of those polled, believe that the 17th of February revolution can consolidate the national unity of Libya and support the model of a democratic Libya based on a constitution which respects human rights

* Al-Qaeda has not played any role in the 17th of February revolution, say 94 percent of the Eastern Libyans, and 91 percent thinks it’s impossible for Al-Qaeda to play any political role in the new Libya

* The National Transitional Council is seen by 92 percent of those surveyed as “expressing the views and wishes of Libyans for change”

This is equivalent to 17% the entire population of Libya, doing the numbers very conservatively.

http://jenkinsear.com/2011/03/19/a-legal-war-the-united-nations-participation-act-and-libya/">A Legal War: The United Nations Participation Act and Libya
The above link is to an overview of why Obama's implementation of the NFZ and R2P is perfectly legal under the law. I will not post it entirely here, however, all objections come down to the misinformed position that Obama, by using forces in Libya, was invoking Article 43 of the United Nations. This is wrong. Obama invoked Article 42, which does not require congressional approval to implement. Proof of this is that Article 43 has http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/actions.shtml#rel5">never been used.

It goes like this: The US law (Title 22, Chap. 7, Subchap. XIV § 287d) grants the President the right to invoke UN Article 42 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode22/usc_sec_22_00000287---d000-.html">without authorization, the War Powers Act (Title 50, Chap. 33 § 1541) grants the President permission to act without authorization under http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/1541–1548.html">"specific statutory authorization" which, by definition, is what 287d does. § 1543 of the War Powers Act requires the President to report to Congress, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/obama_explains_libya_mission_to_congress/2011/03/03/ABU9377_blog.html">which he did. One can argue all day and night about the legality of the War Powers Act, doesn't change the fact that under the law as it is written, the President acted within the law.

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://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2011/03/2011328194855872276.html">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.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/31/getting_libyas_rebels_wrong">Getting Libya's Rebels Wrong
Don't buy Qaddafi's line: The rebels aren't al Qaeda.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/04/04/110404taco_talk_anderson#ixzz1HvS7iW22">Who Are the Rebels?
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.

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.

http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2011/04/20/left-slipping-towards-qaddafi">The left: slipping towards Qaddafi?
When the revolt against Qaddafi started in Libya, hardly anyone on the left — however broadly defined — could say anything in defence of Qaddafi.

With the start of the "no-fly zone", many on the left started to sideline the issues within Libya and focus their efforts on denouncing NATO.

Now the denunciation of NATO, in turn, is acting as a lever to introduce defence of Qaddafi and denunciation of the rebels into broad-left discourse.

...

Everything is done by insinuation and sarcasm, just as old-style Stalinists used to deflect criticism of the USSR by studied wondering whether the regime was quite as bad as extreme Western right-wingers used to say, or whether the right-wingers' motives for criticism might be suspect.

http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/is-qaddafi-an-anti-racist/">Is Qaddafi an anti-racist?

...

One of the signs that you are dealing with a cruder form of propaganda is if the author does not bother to address evidence that contradicts his or her own. To be taken seriously on the question of Qaddafi’s commitment to pan-African values, you have to take a close look at his overall record, something that does not interest Forte who is so anxious to tilt the scales in favor of Qaddafi that he does not bother to conceal the fact that his hand rests upon the scale.

...

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.

Libyan Revolution Day 80 [View All]