Is Libya's gov't about to be toppled? (or DIE QADDAFI, DIE!!!)

[backscatter712]

We've now got reports of military units defecting and fighting with the protesters, a couple fighter jets flying to Malta when their pilots refused orders to bomb protesters, multiple government officials resigning.

Here's hoping Libya gets the freedom it deserves.

I don't have enough good information, so I suppose it could go either way. I remember earlier today rumors that Gaddafi already fled the country, though I haven't heard anything to confirm that. Certainly Gaddafi's desperate if he's resorting to using warplanes to bomb protesters...

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. The next 48 hours

I think we will have the fall... we are well beyond tipping point. He is now relying on mercs and elite units.. per whatever scraps the media has been getting out from their listening post in Cairo. There is no press o the ground. So your info, is almost as good as the media.

[killbotfactory]

2. If Gaddafi and his son go down they are taking as many people as possible with them

He's using foreign mercenaries to massacre civilians. If the army turns on him en masse there is hope he won't get away with it.

[kenny blankenship]

3. Now, now, we mustn't wish violence upon anyone!

[backscatter712]

5. Why not?

[kenny blankenship]

6. I don't know. We just mustn't.

It's a rule or something.

[backscatter712]

8. I generally save my sympathy and mercy for actual human beings...

such as the ones being bombed in Tripoli, Benghazi & elsewhere.

Gaddafi doesn't qualify as human.

[kenny blankenship]

11. But haven't you ever had a nagging sense that the removal of Hitler was illegitimate?

Since we did not rely on non-violent resistance to defeat him? We prevailed on the battlefield of course, but morally we were the vanquished. Or rather, we defeated ourselves.

[backscatter712]

23. Germany did a lot better for itself after Hitler was gone. n/t

[Mr Generic Other]

28. and supposedly, hitler killed himself.

so removing him from a leadership roll in germany may have been the allies doing but removing him from earth was his own.

[fascisthunter]

9. lol

yeah, well.... rules are only applicable when both parties follow them.

[bobbolink]

17. well, poop, then.

When it comes to mass murderers like Q, I'm afraid my sense of humor is lacking.

[RedCloud]

30. But didn't our universe begin this way? By violence?

[kenny blankenship]

31. On the contrary: the Big Bang was entirely consensual

despite getting a bit ballslappingly frenetic there at the end.

[WilliamPitt]

4. Libya's UN delegation defected

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22nations.html?hp

[suffragette]

18. That's a major defection

K&R

[PufPuf23]

20. Maybe they should have spoken up years ago?

From the NYT link:

"“We are sure that what is going on now in Libya is crimes against humanity and crimes of war,” the deputy permanent representative, Ibrahim O. Dabbashi, told reporters in the ground-floor lobby of the Libyan mission on Manhattan’s East Side, adorned by a large portrait of Colonel Qaddafi in tribal dress atop a white horse.

About a dozen of Mr. Dabbashi’s colleagues stood behind him as he spoke, looking tense and nervous."

[Hosnon]

7. AJA is reporting that he will make a speech tonight. nt.

[KansDem]

10. I don't think you can burn your own soldiers to death with a flame-thrower...

...and expect to retain power.

It's all over YouTube...

[mrfrapp]

12. He will be toppled

Gaddafi will be toppled. If this evening's reports are true that outcome is inevitable. I hope he isn't killed however.

What I want is for Gaddafi to be arrested and tried in a court of law -- if only for the atrocities of this last week. I also want his sympathisers & enablers (Tony Blair) and his suppliers of weapons (Tony Blair) to be in court with him and to suffer the same consequences.

[Raksha]

16. I've always been opposed to death penalty on principle,

but I think I have to make an exception for Gaddafi, just like I did for Adolf Eichmann back in the day. Mass murderers deserve to have their karma hit them HARD when it finally catches up with them.

[roamer65]

24. He needs to be captured alive and sent to the Hague for war crimes AND...

...then ship Bu$h over to be his cellmate.

[Raksha]

25. I'd be more than happy to settle for the Hague--for Gaddafi, Bush,

and one or two or a dozen others I can think of.

[roamer65]

26. Bu$h, Gaddafi, Mugabe...

who else should go?

[Desertrose]

13. I hope WHEN Libya gets its freedom, there are some Libyans left alive.

Qaddafi is batshitcrazy. What kind of being bombs, shoots, burns and maims his own people...men women and children?

[walldude]

19. The same kind of people who do it to other countries

under false or fear mongering pretenses.

[bobbolink]

21. Its so much better to IGNORE people until they die. Men, women and children.

[Dragonfli]

22. Very true, but death by starvation and freezing is equally atrocious, should we not fight that

here with the same enthusiasm?
I expect Republicans to cut from the poor thereby killing many people, this current Democratic budget proposal is also threatening to cut the poor which will kill many of them.
You know me DR, did you know that I am now living without heat and will soon be be the streets?
Did you know that all I have had to eat all month are oats and they are almost gone?
Did you know I have it good compared to what millions will face with the proposed cuts to fund the wealthy?

How can we not fight the genocide at home and why do our so called allies in Washington fight against us with many of us supporting them.

BTW I hope you are doing well you are a talented artist and a kind person. It is my hope that you will be one of the few that can hear me now that I am poor.
Most attack me as a Palin lover (as if)

[Desertrose]

27. Oh Dragonfli.....I do know you...I am sorry to hear this...and I agree...

I agree with your entire post......it is past time to fight...action is the only thing they understand...action where it hits them.

Palin lover? WTF??

damn.

[Alamuti Lotus]

29. Yeah! he should bomb, shoot, burn, and maim people in *other* countries, like we do

Then he'd be an acceptable and respected member of the international community.


Not really going anywhere with this pithy remark, just providing some perspective; and that's not to be taken as a statement in support of the Colonel (well Captain, actually;--"self-styled Colonel").

[femrap]

14. I read that it looks like

he has had it. Will they end up in Saudi? Where's Mubarak?

This is just so amazing. I am so very happy for the oppressed people in the Middle East. I am so glad they are rising up and assuming their power. It just gives me goosebumps.

I'm so very proud of them and I wish them great success at becoming a free and democratic society where all are treated w/ respect and equality.

Viva la revolution!!

[14thColony]

15. Hope somebody's playing hackey-sack with his nuts by Friday

Or better, a nice game of Mussolini football.

[David__77]

32. Who knows?

The Libyan government has eroded much of it support through abandoning anti-imperialist principles these last two decades, and through privatization and austerity programs. If a revolution occurs, it will be because of the "pro-Western" course they have adopted.