Reply #3: Rebels becoming self-sufficient, Gaddafi prepared to go, Obama Libya policy diff. from Bush torture

[joshcryer]

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Libya-rebels-becoming-self-sufficient-20110705">Libya rebels becoming self sufficient
Benghazi - Libya's rebels, increasingly confident on the ground, no longer need weapons drops from France, Paris said on Tuesday as a Russian official reported Muammar Gaddafi is conditionally ready to step down.

Meanwhile, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would like to see to see the United Nations assume the leading role in Libya's transition to democracy in the event Gaddafi leaves power.

"There is emerging a political order distinct from that of Tripoli," French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said. "The (rebel) territories are organising their autonomy... That is why the parachute drops are no longer necessary."

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2011/07/05/gaddafi-prepared-to-go">Gaddafi prepared to go
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: "Information about negotiations about Gaddafi stepping down or seeking a refuge inside or outside the country is simply untrue."

Despite the talk of a deal, fighting between government forces and rebels continues. A reporter in Misrata, 200km east of Tripoli, said rebel positions in the Dafniya district on the city's western outskirts came under heavy artillery fire yesterday.

Some analysts say Gaddafi is starting to contemplate an exit plan as shortages of cash and fuel, the Nato bombing campaign and rebel military pressure shorten the odds on him being able to hold on to power.

But Western diplomats caution that it is in Gaddafi's interests to send out conflicting signals about possible deals, in the hope that it will sow confusion among the rebels and the fragile Western alliance trying to push him out.

http://www.slate.com/id/2298436/pagenum/all/#p2">The difference between Obama's Libya policy and Bush's torture policy
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The outcry against the torture memos, from Republicans and Democrats alike, centered on these very broad claims of absolute executive power and right to secrecy even in disregarding statutory commands. The Obama administration has raised no such threat to the fundamental constitutional balance of powers, and indeed has disavowed the Bush approach.

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