Libyan Revolution Day 57 - Democratic Underground

joshcryer

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-14-11 07:04 PM
Original message

Libyan Revolution Day 57

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-15">AJE Live Blog April 15 (today) http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/libya">The Guardian 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=439x886971">Day 56 here.

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

A rebel fighter manned an anti-aircraft gun in the desert outside Ajdabiya, Libya

Photograph: Ben Curtis / Associated Press

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/opinion/15iht-edlibya15.html#">Libya's Pathway to Peace
Together with our NATO allies and coalition partners, the United States, France and Britain have been united from the start in responding to the crisis in Libya, and we are united on what needs to happen in order to end it.

Even as we continue our military operations today to protect civilians in Libya, we are determined to look to the future. We are convinced that better times lie ahead for the people of Libya, and a pathway can be forged to achieve just that.

We must never forget the reasons why the international community was obliged to act in the first place. As Libya descended into chaos with Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi attacking his own people, the Arab League called for action. The Libyan opposition called for help. And the people of Libya looked to the world in their hour of need. In an historic resolution, the United Nations Security Council authorized all necessary measures to protect the people of Libya from the attacks upon them. By responding immediately, our countries, together with an international coalition, halted the advance of Qaddafi’s forces and prevented the bloodbath that he had promised to inflict upon the citizens of the besieged city of Benghazi.

Tens of thousands of lives have been protected. But the people of Libya are still suffering terrible horrors at Qaddafi’s hands each and every day. His rockets and shells rained down on defenseless civilians in Ajdabiya. The city of Misurata is enduring a medieval siege, as Qaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission. The evidence of disappearances and abuses grows daily.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201141494016905479.html">Rebels warn of 'massacre' in Misurata
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Benghazi, said that "Gaddafi's forces are still using their fire power" in "quite significant" ways.

"They did pound the city of Misurata," said Abdel-Hamid. "According to an opposition spokesman, they were actually queuing up at a bakery this morning when they came under attack by Grad missiles," said Abdel-Hamid.

She added that Misurata's port, the entry point for any humanitarian aid, had also come under attack.

"We have seen some pictures and some very graphic videos of wounds and casualties in Misurata - stuff we really can't broadcast because they're so graphic - but they do tell you about how bad the situation is in that city."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/africa/15libya.html?_r=1#">Libyan Port City, Under Siege, Brimming With Migrants Desperate to Exit
MISURATA, Libya — A passenger vessel chartered by an international aid organization entered the port of this beleaguered city Thursday afternoon, pressing on in spite of heavy artillery or rocket barrages earlier in the day with the mission of rescuing migrant workers stranded by the Libya war.

...

Unconfirmed estimates claim as many as 1,000 people of have been killed. Medical officials said at least 23 people were killed and many more wounded early Thursday, when a barrage of 80 or more rockets landed beside the port where the Ionian Spirit docked. As two journalists from The New York Times left the harbor in the evening, the smoldering remains of damaged shipping containers could be seen. Smoke rose in places in the city, which at the moment was quiet.

The vessel’s mission was urgent, said Jeremy R. A. Haslam, head of the crisis response team on board, as the Ionian Spirit, a brightly painted vessel that usually plies the Greek, Italian and Albanian coasts, steamed on the nearly 19-hour passage from Benghazi, the rebel capital in eastern Libya.

Apparently if it weren't for NATO's "intervention" the rebels would've been quieted already in Misrata, and Misrata would be at peace. Or so I'm told... :puke:

http://livewire.amnesty.org/2011/04/14/tales-from-a-besieged-city-in-libya/">Tales from a besieged city in Libya
One man we met a few days ago was an 87-year-old. We found him lying in a hospital bed in Sfax receiving treatment for an injury to his stomach that he sustained about a month ago. On the day in question, he told Amnesty International, Colonel al-Gaddafi’s forces were approaching the outskirts of Misratah. He was in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck heading from his home towards his fields about seven kilometres south of Misratah when the vehicle was struck by two rounds fired from what appears to have been a 14.5mm calibre weapon – he thought it might have been an anti-aircraft machine gun – near the area of Gherian.

The driver escaped injury but the elderly man was wounded and required an operation and three days of treatment at the Mu’gama’ al-‘Iyadat hospital. He then returned to his home a few kilometres west of Misratah expecting to have a happy reunion with his relatives.

But when he got there, he found members of Colonel al-Gaddafi’s forces present. They entered his home and took away his son-in-law and his 26-year-old grandson. Since, then, he has had no news of them and he does not know their whereabouts.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/14/135414611/rebel-leader-finds-hope-in-courageous-misrata">Rebel Leader Finds Hope In 'Courageous' Misrata
Ali Tarhouni shocked his University of Washington students when he abruptly left his faculty job to try to help wrest Libya from leader Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year grip on power.

Then, Tarhouni, who became the opposition's finance and oil minister, startled even his rebel colleagues by getting on a fishing boat last week and sneaking into Misrata — a western city under siege by Gadhafi's forces.

It wasn't the usual workday for a de facto Cabinet minister, even in these extraordinary times. Tarhouni spoke to NPR on Thursday about his daring clandestine trip to bring money and moral support to the place he calls Libya's "small Leningrad."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8451467/Female-Colombian-snipers-fighting-to-defend-Col-Gaddafi-in-Libya.html">Female Colombian snipers 'fighting to defend Col Gaddafi in Libya'
Prisoners loyal to Col Gaddafi and eyewitnesses in Misurata, the largest city in western Libya partially under rebel control, have given accounts of highly-trained women snipers from the South American country operating in the area.

...

None of the Colombians have yet been captured or killed but according to rebels they are part of a wider force of snipers basing themselves on high buildings in Misurata.

The female fighters are likely to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has been fighting Colombia's government since the 1960s.

Information found on computers belonging to Raul Reyes, a FARC commander killed by Colombian soldiers in 2008, indicated that the guerilla group has long-standing links to Libya.

"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.