Misrata rebel leader pleads for help to topple Gaddafi

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

The leader of the rebellion in Misrata has made an urgent plea to the international community for weapons that would allow his fighters not just to defend the besieged city, but to topple the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Khalifa al-Zwawi, an appeal court judge who heads Misrata's transitional council, said that after weeks of fierce fighting, rebel forces would eject the last of Gaddafi's troops from the city "very soon".

"Once we have done that our target is to eliminate the Gaddafi regime," he told the Guardian in an interview. "We want to go to Tripoli and set it free, and Libya free. We want to move from defence to attack."

Until now, the rebels in Misrata have relied solely on small arms and weapons captured from loyalist troops, or sent by sea from Benghazi, the rebel capital in the east. But Zwawi said help was required if his forces were to go on the offensive.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/29/misrata-rebel-leader-pleads-help

[randr]

1. Has anyone read anythig about the Spanish Civil War?

The times were sure different back then.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War

[Amonester]

2. I did. What does that have to do with the subject of the OP?

Makes no sense (to me).

[Tiggeroshii]

7. I feel like this event parrallels more the spanish american war than anything else.

Especially in regards to how we "liberated" the Philippines.

[dipsydoodle]

3. The leader of the rebellion blah blah

perhaps someone should tell him that Libya is subject to an arms embargo : period.

[Amonester]

4. Yep. Once Gaddafi's serfs will run out of bullets and grenades....

They'll have nothing else than knives and stones to fight them with.

Something tells me they are toast.

[dipsydoodle]

5. They are as capable

of getting hold of Gadaffi's weapons etc. as Fidel Castro and The Boys were at getting hold of Batista's gear.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. They might be toast, but not because of rebels

If they're toasted, it'll be the heat of NATO bombs and rockets. I don't think the hapless rebels have a part, except to celebrate their well-covered advances by shooting precious ammo into the air.

So now they want more bullets. And we'll provide them. And they'll shoot them into the air.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Tell the Qararis as well

The sheer cynicism of the whole thing is staggering.