Libyan Revolution Day 60 - Democratic Underground

joshcryer

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Sun Apr-17-11 07:51 PM
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Libyan Revolution Day 60

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-18">AJE Live Blog April 18 (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://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/">Telegraph 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=439x906939">Day 59 here.

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

A rebel makes a victory sign

Photograph: AFP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZB-N1PLi_Q">Libya's growing humanitarian crisis - video
The western Libyan city of Misurata continues to be under siege by Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

Its only lifelines are the sea routes to Benghazi, Tunis, and Malta, from where a steady stream of supplies has been trickling in over the past few weeks. However, supplies such as food and medicine are running short in Misurata, Libya's third largest city.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull and cameraman Craig Pennington, boarded a trawler carrying humanitarian supplies, for a 24-hour voyage to the city.

Warning: This exclusive package contains images that may disturb or offend some viewers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/17/libya-attacks-ajdabiya-misrata-brega">Libyan families flee Gaddafi forces in Ajdabiya as civilian death toll rises
Muammar Gaddafi's forces mounted a heavy assault on Libyan rebels holding the key town of Ajdabiya on Sunday in a sign that the regime is stepping up efforts to regain territory in the east of the country.

Explosions were heard for several hours in the morning, forcing some of the few remaining families to flee to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 90 miles away.

Dozens of vehicles, some of them rebel trucks with heavy machine guns mounted in the back, were seen leaving Ajdabiya for Benghazi. Rebels were also seen laying anti-tank mines at the eastern gate of the city, highlighting their fears that Gaddafi's forces could retake the town.

In the besieged town of Misrata in the west, rebels said that six civilians were killed and dozens injured on Sunday in attacks by Gaddafi's forces.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/17/libya-chaos-theory-autocrats-arabs">Libya's false chaos theory
Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister, has said that the country risks turning into another Somalia in the wake of the collapse of an African Union mediation effort. The AU's proposal for a ceasefire was, predictably, rejected by the opposition as it would have kept Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in power.

The future of Libya is highly uncertain, and it is not at all clear what a post-Gaddafi state would look like after four decades under a dictator who has deliberately weakened or banned all political alternatives or independent civil society.

However, Koussa's remarks should be treated with some scepticism. They are remarkably similar to comments previously made by Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, who said in a televised speech in February that the continuation of the uprising would lead to a bloody civil war – and eventually the country's disintegration. This was not so much political analysis as a threat, backed up by state violence.

It is a common strategy for authoritarian rulers to destroy and deny alternatives to their own rule. This allows the leader to argue that change – especially a popular uprising or democratisation – will lead to chaos, while the status quo promises stability. It's a powerful argument: in Britain, a similar case was made during the English civil war by political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who argued that an absolute monarch was necessary to prevent man's natural state of war.

Powerful editorial for those saying if the rebels lay down arms there will be 'peace.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8457320/Libya-rebels-say-they-are-being-armed-by-friendly-countries.html">Libya: rebels say they are being armed by 'friendly countries'
Gen Abdul Fattah Younis, the former Gaddafi interior minister who now leads the rebel army, did not specify who was supplying him with weapons or give details of the armaments involved.

But Qatar, host of the meeting last week of countries opposed to Col Gaddafi's rule, had said as recently as last Thursday that it was ready to send supplies.

Separately, Britain has pledged to send 1,000 sets of body armour.

"Our situation is very good, thank God," Gen Younis said to the Dubai-based television station, Al-Arabiya, in confirming the weapons supplies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8457019/David-Cameron-There-is-no-question-of-an-international-invasion-of-Libya.html">David Cameron: There is 'no question' of an international invasion of Libya
There is still "no question" of an international invasion of Libya, David Cameron has said, despite admitting the constraints on ground forces were making the mission more difficult.

Six civilians were reported killed and dozens more injured in the besieged rebel-held town of Misrata as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi kept up a barrage of rockets and other fire.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the Nato-led air strikes on regime military targets had helped prevent massacres and the taking of Misrata but opposition forces have called for a stronger intervention.

While the United Nations Security Council authorised "all necessary measures" to protect civilians - it specifically ruled out the presence of any occupying force on the ground.

This is the Libyan's fight, and therefore I agree with this. Yes, it sucks, but it takes time for engineers and school teachers and hair dressers to become fighters. And a bit of natural selection.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/17/gadaffi-torturers-kindness-sirte">Saved from Gaddafi's torturers – by a simple gesture of kindness
When Ali Mufta draped his blanket around the shoulders of a pair of terrified teenage brothers, he thought of it as little more than a touch of kindness in the midst of a situation he describes as "a horror movie". But it was a gesture that saved him from the fate of other prisoners crammed into an underground cell in Sirte, the birthplace of the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

The petrol tanker driver watched horrified as his fellow captives were called out in ones and twos by Gaddafi's soldiers. He listened to their screams and pleas, and saw them return with broken hands and feet, and faces disfigured.

"They removed each person from the room in turn and they beat him and kicked him. They broke fingers and toes. They destroyed the faces. They came back completely covered in blood," he said. "I saw them kick a wounded rebel soldier until he bled to death. I saw a man who was crawling around on all fours as they kicked and beat him, and still he kept crawling. There wasn't a point of his body that wasn't beaten."

Mufta had no reason to believe his fate would be any different. A month ago, the 33-year-old had volunteered to take food to Ras Lanuf, a rebel-held town under attack from Gaddafi's forces. The aid convoy of food trucks and three ambulances from Benghazi arrived only to discover the Libyan dictator's army was already there.

"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.