Libyan Revolution Day 59 - Democratic Underground

joshcryer

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Apr-16-11 05:34 PM
Original message

Libyan Revolution Day 59

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-17">AJE Live Blog April 17 (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=439x901896">Day 58 here.

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

A rebel holds a gun as a tattered liberated Libya flag flies in the foreground

Photograph: AFP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8455994/Misurata-doctor-counting-the-cost-of-Gaddafis-cluster-bombs.html">Misurata doctor counting the cost of Gaddafi's cluster bombs
Drained after another marathon surgery session, Dr Ramadan Atewah shook his head at the callousness of the shelling carried by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

"Now they are using cluster bombs on us," he said. "The only aim of this is to terrify and kill civilians. Children especially are vulnerable because they think the bomblets are toys."

Dr Atewah, a 55-year-old Libyan who normally works as an NHS surgeon in Britain, was speaking to The Sunday Telegraph from the rebel-held city of Misurata, where Gaddafi's forces have kept a relentless siege over the past month.

Not content with deploying tanks, rockets, and snipers, the Libyan dictator has now taken to using cluster bombs - a weapon banned in most countries because of the risk they pose of indiscriminate injury.

Ramadan Atewah is a hero, please read the rest of the article, as it covers just what Gaddafi's war is like. Gaddafi has no stragetic reason to attack Misrata. He only does so because he percieves it as the weakest link, dividing east from west. It is clear now to me that he wants to split Libya.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/libya-video/8455768/Burning-wreckage-in-Misurata.html">Burning wreckage in Misurata - video
The rebel held town has been under renewed attack from forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi for the last few days.

Earlier footage had shown explosions in the city and this video shows what appears to be the remnants of a Libyan government tank with a rebel soldier smiling and posing in front of it.

The redoubling of Gaddafi's efforts to control Misurata comes amidst rebel complaints that Nato is not doing enough to stop him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/gaddafi-forces-intensify-attacks-misrata">Gaddafi forces intensify bombardment on residents of Misrata
Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have continued their heavy bombardment of residential areas of Misrata amid mounting concern that the army has fired cluster bombs into the besieged rebel stronghold.

At least 100 Soviet-designed Grad rocket rockets were fired into the eastern city today, a rebel spokesman said. "They fired Grads at an industrial area this morning, at least one hundred rockets were fired. No casualties are reported," Abdelbasset Abu Mzereiq told Reuters.

...

The intensifying bombardment came as Human Rights Watch reported that four cluster bombs exploded in the city yesterday and on Thursday, and two Libyan residents of Misrata told the Guardian that they suspected the munitions, banned in most countries, were being used. Cluster bombs explode in midair, indiscriminately throwing out dozens of high-explosive bomblets which cause damage and injuries over a large area. The submunitions often fail to explode on impact but detonate when stepped on or picked up.

...

The use of cluster bombs had further weakened Gaddafi's position, Dannatt added. "If we thought that Gaddafi had lost the moral right to rule this country a month ago, he has lost it in the last 24 hours, that's for sure."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114168572393746.html">Rebel-held Libyan city pounded
...

Meanwhile, a Red Cross team arrived in Misurata on Saturday to assess the situation.

Aid groups have described an increasingly desperate situation for many trapped civilians in the city, with few areas safe from the daily bombardment by government forces and growing needs of food and medical supplies.

...

Rockets were fired into Misurata on Friday as well, killing at least eight people, a local doctor told Al Jazeera.

He said seven other civilians, including children and older people, were wounded in that attack. Residents of Misurata told Al Jazeera around 120 rockets pounded the city.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/libya-muammar-gaddafi">Nato must send in troops to save Misrata, say rebels
The city that has become the epicentre of a desperate battle by Libyan rebels against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi came under renewed pounding today amid mounting evidence of the use of cluster bombs against the besieged civilian population and calls for Nato to send in ground troops.

More than 100 rockets had been fired on opposition-held areas of Misrata by mid-morning and there were "raging battles" in two strategically key streets, according to rebels. The assault added pressure on the city's beleaguered hospitals, which are already overwhelmed with appalling injuries and a rising death toll. Most of the casualties are civilians, and they include many women and children, say doctors.

TV pictures showed scenes of devastation and desperation from inside the city – Libya's third largest, home to around 300,000 people – which has been under intense attack for seven weeks.

"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.