Democratic Underground - Libyan Revolution Day 47 (Brega turnover for a 3rd time)

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-5">AJE Live Blog April 5 (today) http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/libya">The Guardian http://uk.reuters.com/places/libya">Reuters 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=439x804896">Day 46 here.

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

Rebels took cover during fighting with troops loyal to Gaddafi outside of the oil town of Brega in Eastern Libya (April 4)

Photograph: Youssef Boudlal / Reuters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/misrata-libya-residents-sniper-terror">Libyans in Misrata describe terror inflicted by Gaddafi's snipers
There has been much to terrorise the people of Misrata over the past weeks of bloody siege. Tank shells and mortars have fallen at random in the heart of the rebel-held Libyan city, with little warning bar the final whistle of the explosive flying through the air. Muammar Gaddafi's planes have periodically bombed the revolutionary enclave in the west of the country.

But residents say there has been nothing like the snipers.

"We are afraid even to step into the street any time. You can just be shot. I've seen children shot. They come in here with arms and legs destroyed. The snipers know who they are shooting. It's terror," said a doctor reached at one of the town's hospitals who said he wanted to give his name only as Ali because he feared for the safety of his family elsewhere in Libya.

"Before you could go out when they weren't shelling and bombing. But now you never know. Some of the snipers are not even wearing uniforms."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/uk-libya-misrata-deaths-idUKTRE73356020110404">Shelling in Misrata targets shelter, five dead
(Reuters) - At least five people were killed when forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled a residential area in the besieged city of Misrata late on Monday, a doctor said, warning the death toll was likely to keep rising.

"The reception in the hospital is full. Five people were confirmed killed in the last two hours and five more are in critical condition," the doctor, who gave his name as Ramadan, told Reuters by phone from the city.

A second medic said the latest artillery assault on Libya's third biggest city had left many wounded but medical teams were unable to reach them because of sporadic shelling.

One day this conflict will be called the Siege of Misrata. :(

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

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/iman-al-obeidi-released-libyan-detention">Iman al-Obeidi 'released' from Libyan detention
Iman al-Obeidi, the woman bundled out of a hotel in Tripoli after claiming she had been repeatedly raped by government militia, has been released from detention, according to one report.

A week ago the 29-year-old lawyer burst into the Rixos hotel where most of the foreign media are staying, saying she had been held for two days by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and was raped by 15 men. Despite efforts by journalists to intervene, the visibly-distressed Obeidi was dragged out of the hotel by security staff.

Her whereabouts since is unclear. However, Channel 4 News reported on Monday that she had been released, citing government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim: "She was released several days ago."

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=597474&vId=">Gaddafi troops 'attack oil fields'
Libya rebels say Muammar Gaddafi's troops have attacked oilfields in the remote south that the insurgents hope to use to fund their month-old revolt against his regime.

'Regime militias have attacked Mislah oilfield and are heading towards Sarir oilfield farther south,' Citizens for a Democratic Libya, a rebel-linked advocacy group, said in a statement.

'Nafourah oilfield, very near to Mislah, will soon be attacked, too. All these supply oil to Tobruk,' it said, urging both NATO and the United Nations to act to prevent the attack.

The allegations could not be independently verified.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/uk-libya-qaeda-algeria-idUKTRE73337J20110404">Al Qaeda gets arms in Libya - Algerian official
(Reuters) - Al Qaeda is exploiting the conflict in Libya to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali, a senior security official in neighbouring Algeria told Reuters.

"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://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.

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 47 (Brega turnover for a 3rd time) [View All]