Thread: The Libyan Crisis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...g-Gaddafi.html

Libya: US accuses Britain of legitimising Gaddafi

The US government has accused Britain of legitimising the Gaddafi regime after the massacre of hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in Libya.


Tony Blair meets Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Sirte Photo: EPA


By John Bingham
7:15PM GMT 20 Feb 2011

Louis Susman, the US ambassador to London, suggested moves to repair relations with the Libyan dictator had only served to give him "greater stature" on the world stage while campaigners condemned the rapprochement as a failure.

Up to 300 demonstrators are thought to have been killed after forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi attacked them with sniper fire, knives and heavy artillery.

The eastern city of Benghazi was said to be in a state of “civil mutiny” after forces, believed to be African mercenaries, attacked crowds attending mass burials of the dead from earlier violence.

The unrest, which follows the overthrow of the rulers of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt and protests in Bahrain, was reported to have spread to several other Libyan cities last night.

Downing Street said David Cameron was “gravely concerned by reports of escalating violence and large numbers of civilian deaths”. “We condemn any use of force by the Libyan authorities against peaceful protesters. Such repression is unacceptable, counterproductive and wrong,” said a statement. “The Libyan government must listen to the views of its people and respond to them.”

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, voiced his concerns in a telephone call to Gaddafi’s British-educated son, Saif.

“The world should not hesitate to condemn those actions,” he said.

“What Col Gaddafi should be doing is respecting basic human rights, and there is no sign of that in the dreadful response, the horrifying response, of the Libyan authorities to these protests.”

The Libyan ambassador is expected to be summoned to the Foreign Office as early as today to explain the violent reaction to dissent, while British expatriates in the country are being urged to leave unless they have a “pressing” need to stay.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Libyan embassy in London calling for the overthrow of the regime.

Guma el-Gamaty, a Libyan writer and political activist, said he feared a massacre “unprecedented in North Africa” unless Western leaders including Mr Cameron applied acute pressure on the Gaddafi regime. “Believe me, Gaddafi is going down but he won’t go without killing as many people as possible,” he said.

Despite the criticism of the violence, both Mr Hague and Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, defended new multi-million-pound trade links with Libya, opened following Tony Blair’s “deal in the desert” in 2007. Mr Clarke told the BBC: “I don’t think we’ve made a mistake in having investment there.”

Mr Susman said: “I would suggest that to deal with him, to give him greater stature, greater ability on the world front to look like he is a good citizen is a mistake.”

Mona Rishmawi, legal adviser for the UN High Commission on Human Rights, said there was a “real question mark” over arms sales to the regime.

“We are very concerned about any possibility of complicity in human rights violations,” she said. Last week Britain announced it was revoking more than 50 arms export licences for Bahrain and Libya, including items such as tear gas.

Daniel Kawczynski, Tory chair of the Commons all-party committee on Libya, said the public would find it “totally abhorrent” to be doing business with the Libyan regime.

Last night Libya said it would stop co-operating with efforts to stem illegal immigration into Europe if the EU encouraged the protests.

^ Rather amusing, so what about America's support of Mubarak? And then there's Bahrain...Yemen....etc etc etc

BreakingNews Breaking News

Central gov't building in Libyan capital is on fire - Reuters reporter

Get ready for the globalists solution, or order out of chaos as many have quoted!

Full text of Saif Gadaffi's speech, as Transcribed and tweeted live by [at]SultanAlQassemi with screenshots from AlJazeera.



I saw that I had to speak to you. Many Libyans asked me to speak. I don't have a paper or a document to read from.I will not speak in classical Arabic, I will speak in Libyan, I don't have any papers, this is a talk from the heart & mind. We all know that the region is passing through an earthquake, a hurricane or change.

If this change does not come from the govts it will come from the people, we have seen this in other Arab countries. Today I will tell you only truth only. We know that there are opposition figures living abroad who have support in Libya. There people try to use Facebook for a revolution to copy Egypt. These people want to bring Libya to what happened in Egypt & Tunisia. We saw this on facebook and on emails. The country did a pre-emptive move by arresting some people before the protests, shots were fired, people died. The anger was directed at the police in Benghazi.

People wanted to storm the police stations, people died, funerals occurred. This is a summary of what happened in Bengazi, now there is a major Fitna and a threat to the unity of Libya. Of course there were many deaths, which angered many people in Benghazi, but why were there people killed?

The army was under stress, it is not used to crowd control so they shot, but I called them. The army said that some protesters were drunk, others were on hallucinogens or drugs. The army has to defend its weapons. And the people were angry. So there were deaths, but in the end Libyans were killed.

There are thee parts behind this

1- Political Activists whom we agree with,

2- What happened in Bayda are Islamic elements. Bayda is my town, my mother is from there. People called me. They stole weapons and killed soldiers. They want to establish an Islamic Emirate in Bayda. Some people took drugs & were used by these protesters.

3. The third part are these children who took the drugs and were used.

These are facts like it or not.

We have arrested tens of Arabs and Africans, poor people, millions were spent on them to use them by millionaire businessmen. There are people who want to establish a countries in parts of Libya to rule, Like the Islamic Emirate. One person said he is the Emir of Islamic Emirate of Darna. The Arabic Media is manipulating these events. This Arabic media is owned by Arabs who are distorting the facts but also our media failed to cover the events.



Then there are the Baltagiya who destroyed public property, they fled jails. There are our brothers who sit and drink coffee and watch TV and laugh at us when they see us burn our country.

t is no lie that the protesters are in control of the streets now. Libya is not Tunis or Egypt. Libya is different, if there was disturbance it will split to several states. It was three states before 60 years. Libya are Tribes not like Egypt. There are no political parties, it is made of tribes. Everyone knows each other. We will have a civil war like in 1936. American Oil Companies played a big part in unifying Libya. Who will manage this oil? How will we divide this oil amongst us? Who will spend on our hospitals? All this oil will be burnt by the Baltagiya (Thugs) they will burn it. There are no people there. 3/4s of our people live in the East in Benghazi, there is no oil there, who will spend on them? Your children will not go to schools or universities. There will be chaos, we will have to leave Libya if we can't share oil. Everyone wants to become a Sheikh and an Emir, we are not Egypt or Tunisia so we are in front of a major challenge.

We all now have arms. At this time drunks are driving tanks in central Benghazi. So we all now have weapons. The powers who want to destroy Libya have weapons. There will be a war & no future. All the firms will leave, we have 500 housing units being built, they won't be completed. Remember my words. 200 billion dollars of projects are now underway, they won't be finished.

You can say we want democracy & rights, we can talk about it, we should have talked about it before. It's this or war. Instead of crying over 200 deaths we will cry over 100,000s of deaths. You will all leave Libya, there will be nothing here. There will be no bread in Libya, it will be more expensive than gold.

Before we let weapons come between us, from tomorrow, in 48 hours, we will call or a new conference for new laws. We will call for new media laws, civil rights, lift the stupid punishments, we will have a constitution. Even the LEader Gaddafi said he wants a constitution. We can even have autonomous rule, with limited central govt powers. Brothers there are 200 billion dollars of projects at stake now. We will agree to all these issues immediately. We will then be able to keep our country, unlike our neighbors. We will do that without the problems of Egypt & Tunisia who are now suffering. There is no tourism there. We will have a new Libya, new flag, new anthem. Or else, be ready to start a civil war and chaos and forget oil and petrol.



What is happening in Bayda and Benghazi is very sad. How do you who live in Benghazi, will you visit Tripoli with a visa? The country will be divided like North and South Korea we will see each other through a fence. You will wait in line for months for a visa. If we don't do the first scenario be ready for the second scenario:

The British FM called me. Be ready for a new colonial period from American and Britain. ou think they will accept an Islamic Emirate here, 30 minutes from Crete? The West will come and occupy you. Europe & the West will not agree to chaos in Libya, to export chaos and drugs so they will occupy us.

In any case, I have spoken to you, we uncovered cells from Egypt and Tunisia and Arabs. The Libyans who live in Europe and USA, their children go to school and they want you to fight. They are comfortable. They then want to come and rule us and Libya. They want us to kill each other then come, like in Iraq. The Tunisians and Egyptians who are here also have weapons, they want to divide Libya and take over the country.

We are in front of two choices, we can reform now, this is an historic moment, without it there will be nothing for decades. You will see worse than Yugoslavia if we don't choose the first option. Gaddafi is not Mubarak or Ben Ali, a classical ruler, he is a leader of a people. 10,000s of Libyans are coming to defend him. Over coastline Libyans are coming to support Gaddafi. The army is also there, it will play a big part whatever the cost.

The army will play a big role, it is not the army of Tunisia or Egypt. It will support Gaddafi to the last minute. Now in the Green Square people shoot so that they show the world that the army is shooting. We must be awake.

Now comes the role of the National Guard and the Army, we will not lose one inch of this land. 60 years ago they defended Libya from the colonialists, now they will defend it from drug addicts. Most of he Libyans are intelligent, they are not Baltagiya (thugs) Benghazi is a million and a half not the few thousands who are in the streets. We will flight to the last man and woman and bullet. We will not lose Libya. We will not let Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and BBC trick us.

We will live in Libya and die in Libya. (Ends)

exiledsurfer: "Full text of Saif ..." « Deck.ly

Libyan protesters have raided and torched offices of the country's state TV in the capital Tripoli, as major crackdowns have been carried out in the Arab country.

Protesters captured Libya state TV HQ

BBC News - Libya unrest: Violence against protesters backfires

21 February 2011 Last updated at 10:20 GMT

Libya unrest: Violence against protesters backfires

By Shashank Joshi
Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute


Despite the difficulty obtaining information about what is going on in Libya, images and testimony are leaking out, especially via social media

It would be ironic if Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were to become the third head claimed by this Arab Spring.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan famously dubbed him the "mad dog of the Middle East" and launched air strikes against the country, killing Mr Gaddafi's daughter.

But two decades later, the Bush administration announced that it was restoring full diplomatic relations and by 2008, US state department officials were speaking of their erstwhile adversary as "a person of personality and experience".

Both of those qualities seem unlikely to save his 42-year rule.

In the 1990s, with Libya's economy facing strangulation by sanction, Mr Gaddafi made a series of concessions over his role in the Lockerbie bombing, paying compensation to victims' families and making conciliatory statements that indicated a break with his radical past.

The real breakthrough came at the end of 2003. Mr Gaddafi's son Saif - who made a delusional and meandering speech on Sunday as the regime began to crumble at the edges - finally hammered out a deal in which Libya agreed to end its nuclear weapons programme and dismantle its ballistic missiles.

This rapprochement is not without consequence for those protesting and dying in large numbers on the streets of first Benghazi, and now Tripoli.

Bloody struggle

In May 2008, the US firm General Dynamics inked a $165m (£165m) contract to arm the Libyan army's elite second brigade.

This force, led by Mr Gaddafi's son Khamis, was deployed to the streets of al-Bayda - a city east of Benghazi and near the border with Egypt - where it has unleashed live ammunition on protesters.

Export licences for British arms to Libya in the first nine months of 2010 were valued at over £200m, spanning military cameras and sniper rifles. Libya's final death toll, already over 300, will outstrip that of Egypt's comparatively peaceful struggle for democracy.

The level of bloodshed should not come as a surprise. In 1996, to give but one example, a prisoners' uprising at Abu Salim was crushed by the killing of more than 1,200 prisoners.

It was the regime's pre-emptive arrest of families of victims of that incident that instigated the first protests outside the courthouse of Benghazi.

As with protests in Bahrain, its demonstrations were fuelled by a vicious cycle of protest, killings, funerals, and further killings.

More broadly, Libya is amongst the most repressive countries in the region. Freedom House rates its political and civil liberties at the worst possible score, and freedoms of expression, assembly and belief are given short shrift.

So neither the blaze of discontent that swept into Tripoli nor the state's ruthless counterpunch were particularly puzzling.

But the pattern differs from that seen in Egypt and Tunisia. In both of those countries, the military judged that it would swing against the regime when the alternative - shooting at fellow citizens - appeared so unpalatable as to threaten the militaries' status in their respective societies and risk a disintegration of military command.

Police defecting

In Bahrain, though the quasi-mercenary security forces (many of them Sunni Muslims shipped in from places like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to check predominantly Shia protesters) used brutal violence early on, they were pulled back by a regime that could see the galvanizing effect the violence was having on popular sentiment.


Saif Gaddafi's rambling television speech indicated the last stand of a regime bereft of alternatives to brutality

Yet in Libya, the regime's violence has been massive and indiscriminate, and mitigated by the most cursory of references to a national dialogue.

In part, this rests on the regime's assumption of loyalty from the security forces, bound tighter to the regime than their Egyptian counterparts and lacking the same prestige amongst their people that served as a check on the young officers in Tahrir Square.

Even so, reports indicate that the Libyan regime has been compelled to rely on special forces units and foreign mercenaries.

Police and army units in Benghazi have been defecting, and the military is likely fractured along tribal and other lines.

Early on, it looked as though the regime's efforts to restrict reporting would be successful, denying protesters the oxygen of publicity on which those in Cairo so depended for succour.

But it is now plain that at a critical mass of violence, imagery and testimony will leak out and be pumped through the channels of the international media.

This suggests we revisit our early inferences about revolution.

Rambling speech

It was argued that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's mistake was to offer a half-hearted mixture of fragmented concessions and sporadic repression, without settling on a co-ordinated strategy of either one, thus steadily blowing air into a focused and articulate opposition.

Bahrain, it was thought, had therefore opted for the Tiananmen model, so to speak. But its royal family have shrunk back from this, allowing a re-occupation of Manama's Pearl Square.
More importantly, outright massacres have not stemmed the tide of protest in Libya.

Saif Gaddafi's rambling television speech, including a dark invocation of a colonial threat from Europe, indicated the last stand of a regime bereft of alternatives to brutality.

The apparent failure of the mailed fist, and the over-confidence by the regime on which it was premised, will impact on calculations being made in the corridors of power in Morocco, Yemen, Algeria, and the Gulf, pushing leaders towards the model of early and substantial concessions of the sort proffered by King Abdullah in Jordan, rather than the virtual civil war let loose in Libya.

There is an observation circulating in the Arab world that if Mubarak survived five American presidents, then it is all the more remarkable that Mr Gaddafi has outlasted three Egyptian ones.

But as the departures of Mr Ben Ali and Mr Mubarak have already demonstrated, longevity is not resilience: What Libya will now reveal is the stark limits to the utility of violence.

Shashank Joshi is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a defence think-tank, and a doctoral student of international relations at Harvard University.

Mid-East unrest: Libya

• Col Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969
• Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km
• Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%
• Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)

• Country profile: Libya
• Unrest country by country
• Gaddafi's son warns of civil war

Live Blog - Libya

By Al Jazeera Staff in

• Middle East

Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libya's leader, warned of 'civil war' in a speech on Sunday night.

As protests in Libya enter their eighth day, following a "day of rage" on Thursday, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
(All times are local in Libya)

February 21

7:56pm: Al Jazeera Arabic is speaking to a political activist in Tripoli, who tells us there are airstrikes "all over Tripoli".

There is death, fear - and women are crying everywhere. The strikes are concentrated against areas that sent large number of protestors to the streets and there are cars full of foreign fighters firing on people.

He says at least 250 people were killed in the past 24 hours alone and is calling for international help. He tells us Tripoli is "under siege by foreign fighters" - that water and electricity have been cut and there is a shortage of food and medical supplies. "It is a genocide," he says.

7:45pm: The defected pilots reportedly tell Maltese officials they were based in Tripoli and ordered to attack protesters on the ground in Benghazi. After seeing their fellow pilots begin the airstrikes, they diverted course toward Malta. If substantiated, this would appear to confirm the use of airstrikes against civilian protesters in cities around the country.



7:39pm: Karl Stagno-Novarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Malta, reports the pilots of the jet fighters that landed there are "senior colonels", who were ordered to bomb protesters. They refused and have defected to Malta, he said.

7:19pm: The EU Council of Foreign Ministers issues the following statement:

The Council condemns the ongoing repression against demonstrators in Libya and deplores the violence and death of civilians. The Council calls for an immediate end to the use of force against protesters and for all parties to show restraint. Freedom of expression and the right to assemble peacefully are human rights and fundamental freedoms of every human being which must be respected and protected.

7:16pm: The US Department of State warns citizens of the potential for "ongoing unrest" in Libya. They say:

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces continue throughout Libya, including in Tripoli. Spontaneous demonstrations, violence, and looting are possible throughout the next several days.

7:12pm: A Libyan contact in Zuwarah tells us, via Skype:

I ask Libyans abroad to move and put pressure on the regime. I want each Libyan abroad to talk to each other and to take action. All mobiles are cut and all communications are shut down and we fear that at the time of Maghreb [sunset] that the situation will be getting worse - as we don't have weapons. We must be united, have faith, and we pray that tonight will pass safely.

7:09pm: Dutch ISP provider XS4ALL has set up an internet dial-up service for Libya.

Use your modem to dial +31205350535
username: xs4all
password: xs4all

7:05pm: The Libyan ambassador to Indonesia has also resigned, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

6:52pm: The Libyan ambassador to the United Kingdom has resigned, alongside other embassy staff. They have joined demonstrators, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

6:46pm: Al Jazeera, alonside specialist technical investigators, have pinpointed the source of its signal blockage to a Libyan intelligence agency building, south of the capital Tripoli. The network's website has also been blocked in the country, with Libyan users getting the message: "File does not exist" when they try to access it.

A spokesman for Al Jazeera said:

The media should be able to operate freely, so all interference with our work and our broadcast signal should cease forthwith.

6:42pm: Senior diplomatic sources tell Al Jazeera - on condition of confidentiality - that phones are being monitored and text messages jammed. Nearly all embassies are evacuating non-essential staff, and all have been ordered by Libya's foreign ministry to close immediately - and to remain closed until Sunday.

6:38pm: Venezuelan officials deny Gaddafi is on his way there.

6:34pm: Reuters reports British foreign secretary William Hague says Gaddafi "may be on his way to Venezuela". On the sidelines of the EU crisis talks, he reportedly said:

You asked me earlier about whether Colonel Gaddafi is in Venezuela - I have no information that says he is, but I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there at the moment.

6:30pm: Planes of the Libyan Air Force reportedly opening fire on protesters in central Tripoli. No way to confirm this currently - but we are getting many reports of chaos on the streets of the capital.

6:26pm: Further reports of live ammunition being used on protesters in Tripoli, with lots of tweets saying security forces are again driving cars around the city, shooting at everyone and everything.

Ahmed Elgazir, a human rights researcher, told Al Jazeera that Libya News Centre, an organisation based in Geneva, had received a call for help from a woman "witnessing the massacre" in progress, who called on a satellite phone after landlines were cut.

6:14pm: Our TV news channel shows scenes of jubilant protesters in Benghazi. Don't forget, you can tune in by clicking here.

Some recent Tweets.... very upsetting stuff coming out of Libya.

Al Jazeera: Eyewitness (hysterical): We have no weapons. Is all this for a chair? Where is the world? We are being massacred. #Libya

2 fighter jets landed on Malta after refuse to bomb protesters Yfrog Photo : yfrog.com/h7c88dj - Shared by thaitvnews

[at]SultanAlQassemi: Al Manar Breaking: Political Activists: Three senior generals in the Libyan army have joined the protesters.

BBCWorld BBC Global News
Libyan warplanes bombing many locations in Tripoli, a resident tells Al Jazeera TV - Reuters

washingtonpost The Washington Post
Gaddafi's regime shows more signs of crumbling Dozens killed in Libyan capital as Arab leaders struggle to calm unrest #Libya

Reuters Reuters Top News
Latest from Libya: Gaddafi under threat as revolt hits Tripoli reut.rs/fIXD5W

AJA: Eyewitness in Tripoli: Houses are being burned, and snipers are targeting people in the streets. #Libya

Al Jazeera Reports: Fighter jets bomb Libyan protesters killing more than 200 #Libya

Aljazeera got a call from a protester confirming that there are Cherokee helicopters firing live rounds on the crowds #Libya

LATimesworld LA Times World News
LIBYA: U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon tells Moammar Kadafi he 'must stop immediately' LIBYA: U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon tells Moammar Kadafi he 'must stop immediately' | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times

Stalin-like brutality: Al Jazeera now showing injured children with blood coming out from their heads in #Libya.

Activist in #Tripoli: Airstrikes on protesters; electricity, water cut. "It's genocide"

LIBYA: Colonels defected to Malta rather than bomb protesters

February 21, 2011 | 10:27 am



The pilots of two Libyan military jets that landed in Malta on Monday are "senior colonels" who were ordered to bomb protesters, Al Jazeera satellite network reports.

The colonels say they refused to bomb protesters demonstrating against Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and instead defected to Malta, according to Al Jazeera reporter Karl Stagno-Novarra in Malta.

The pilots reportedly told Maltese officials they were based in Tripoli and ordered to attack protesters in Benghazi. After seeing fellow pilots begin bombing, the colonels changed course and headed for Malta, according to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera has been relaying eyewitness reports of airstrikes Monday, but cautioned that the bombings could not be verified.

Clashes in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Monday left 160 dead, Al Arabiya network quoted eyewitnesses as saying Monday.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110221/...medium=twitter

Libya warplanes bombing Tripoli: resident




Reuters – Demonstrators wave flags and hold banners on the roof of burnt building in this undated picture made …
– 22 mins ago

LONDON (Reuters) – Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli on Monday, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast.

"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said.

Saleh, who called himself a political activist, said the bombings had initially targeted a funeral procession.

"Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth." he said. "Every 20 minutes they are bombing."

Asked if the attacks were still happening he said: "It is continuing, it is continuing. Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you."

There was no independent verification of the report but Fathi al-Warfali, the Libyan activist who heads the Swiss-based Libyan Committee for Truth and Justice, who was taking part in a protest outside U.N. European headquarters in Geneva said he had heard the same reports.

"Military planes are attacking civilians, protesters in Tripoli now. The civilians are frightened. Where is the United Nations, where is Amnesty International?" al-Warfali told Reuters.

Fuck that's bads news, callous bastards.

That obnoxious prick of a son of his has got it coming. Hague says Gaddafi's on his way to Venezuela, but Chavez is denying it.

Given the Gaddafi's are handling this situation using the Ceaușescu manual, i hope they all end up the same way.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

That obnoxious prick of a son of his has got it coming. Hague says Gaddafi's on his way to Venezuela, but Chavez is denying it.

Perhaps not Venezuela, but they will definitely be forced out within a month's time. I believe the good population of Libya aren't going to back down.

I think the brutality of the clampdown may mean people might not want to protest. The reports are horrendous and the death toll could be astronomical.

Gaddafi hired foreign militia and bombed his own people.

Words fail me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/wo...a.html?_r=2&hp

Warplanes and Troops Besiege Protesters in Libyan Capital


The New York Times
The main government conference hall in Tripoli, Libya, continued to burn Monday after riots on Sunday night.

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and MONA EL-NAGGAR

Published: February 21, 2011

CAIRO — The faltering government of the Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi struck back at mounting protests against his 40-year rule, as security forces and militiamen backed by helicopters and warplanes besieged parts of the capital on Monday, according to witnesses and news reports from Tripoli.

By Monday night, witnesses said, the streets of the capital, Tripoli, were thick with special forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi as well as mercenaries. Roving the streets in trucks, they shot freely as planes dropped what witnesses described as “small bombs” and helicopters fired on protesters.

Hundreds of Qaddafi supporters took over the central Green Square in the capital after truckloads of militiamen arrived and opened fire on protesters, scattering them. Residents said they now feared even emerging from their houses.

“It was an obscene amount of gunfire,” said one witness. “They were strafing these people. People were running in every direction.”

The police stood by and watched, the witness said, as the militiamen, still shooting, chased after the protesters. The death toll could not be determined.

The escalation of the conflict came after six days of revolt that began in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi, where hundreds of people were killed in clashes with security forces, according to witnesses. Human rights activists outside the country said they had confirmed more than 220 deaths. The rebellion is the latest and bloodiest so far of the uprisings that have swept across the Arab world with surprising speed in recent weeks, toppling autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia, and challenging others in Bahrain and Yemen.

The day had begun with growing signs that Colonel Qaddafi’s grip on power might be slipping, with protesters in control of Libya’s second largest city, his security forces pulled back to key locations in the capital as government buildings smolder, and a growing number of officials and military personnel defecting to join the revolt.

But the violence Colonel Qaddafi unleased Monday afternoon on Tripoli demonstrated that he was willing to shed far more blood than the deposed rulers of either neighboring Egypt of Tunisia in his effort to hold onto power.

Two residents said planes had been landing for 10 days ferrying mercenaries from African countries into an air base in Tripoli. The mercenaries had done much of the shooting, which began Sunday night, they said. Some forces were using particularly lethal, hollow-point bullets, they said.

“The shooting is not designed to disperse the protesters,” said one resident, who wanted to be identified only as Waleed, fearing for his security. “It is meant to kill them.”

“This is not Ben Ali or Mubarak,” he added, referring to the deposed leaders of Tunisia and Egypt — Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. “This man has no sense of humanity.”

Colonel Qaddafi, for his part, remained largely out of sight. Around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, after a rainy day, he appeared on state television for about 30 seconds, holding an umbrella up through the open door of a passenger car. He denied rumors that he had fled to Venezuela and called the cable news channels covering Libya “dogs.”

As rioters overwhelmed the streets around 1 a.m. on Monday, Colonel Qaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, delivered a rambling but bellicose speech threatening Libyans with the prospect of civil war and “rivers of blood” if they turned away from his father.

Apparently enraged by the speech, protesters converged on the Green Square soon after and clashed with heavily armed riot police officers for several hours, witnesses in Tripoli said by telephone.
By dawn in Tripoli police and stations and government buildings — including the Hall of the People, where the legislature meets —were in flames. Debris fires from the rioting the night before burned at many intersections.

Most stores and schools were shuttered, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas. Protesters had torn down or burned the posters of Colonel Qaddafi that were once ubiquitous in the capital, witnesses said.

To the east, protesters in control of Libya’s second city, Benghazi, flew an independence flag over the roof top of the courthouse and displayed the scene in an online video. A crowd celebrated what they called “the fall of the regime in their city.”


Alaguri/Associated Press
A resident holding a pre-Qaddafi-era national flag stood on a tank inside a security forces compound in Benghazi, Libya on Monday.


Ibrahim Dabbashi's Press Conference
Ibrahim Dabbashi's Press Conference


The New York Times
A billboard of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Tripoli was torn and burned after a night of protests.


Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters
A Libyan air force pilot walked next to his jet after landing at Malta International Airport on Monday. Two fighter pilots were said to have defected.


Michael Appleton for The New York Times
Ibrahim Dabbashi, left, Libya’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, left, along with other members of the Libyan Mission.


Libyan TV, via Reuters
Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi appeared on Libyan television early Monday.


Associated Press
Buildings at the Libyan security forces compound in Benghazi were burning on Monday.

“We have liberated the east areas,” said Fathi Terbil, a prominent opposition lawyer in Benghazi, over a live online stream that he calls the Free Libya Radio. “We are liberating, we are not overtaking. Now we need to go to Tripoli and liberate Tripoli.” Protestors issued a list of demands calling for a secular interim government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes.

In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials broke with Colonel Qaddafi. The Quryna newspaper, which has ties to Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, reported that the justice minister, Mustafa Abud al-Jeleil, had resigned in protest over the deadly response to the demonstrations.

And in New York the Libyan the delegations to the United Nations defected as well. The deputy ambassador and more than a dozen members of the Libyan mission to the United Nations called upon Colonel Qaddafi to step down and leave the country in a letter drafted on Monday.

“He has to leave as soon as possible,” the deputy ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said, paraphrasing the letter. “He has to stop killing the Libyan people.”

He urged other nations to join in that request, saying he feared there could be a large-scale massacre in Tripoli and calling on “African nations” to stop sending what he called “mercenaries” to fight on behalf of Colonel Qaddafi’s government.

Mr. Dabbashi said he had not seen the Libyan ambassador since Friday and did not know his whereabouts or whether he shared the opinion of many in his mission. But, Mr. Dabbashi said, the United Nations mission represents the people, not Colonel Qaddafi.

Abdel Monem Al-Howni, Libya’s representative to the Arab League, also resigned. “I no longer have any links to this regime which lost all legitimacy,” he said in a statement reported by news agencies. He also called what is happening in Libya “genocide.”

Al Manara, an opposition Web site, reported that a senior military official, Col. Abdel Fattah Younes in Benghazi, resigned, and the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsathttp://www.asharq-e.com/The English-language version of the site reported that Colonel Qaddafi had ordered that one of his top generals, Abu Bakr Younes, be put under house arrest after disobeying an order to use force against protesters in several cities.

Two Libyan fighter pilots ordered to bomb protesters changed their course and instead defected to Malta, said Maltese government officials quoted by Reuters.

The Libyan government has tried to impose a blackout on information from the country. Foreign journalists cannot enter. Internet access has been almost totally severed, though some protesters appear to be using satellite connections. Much news about what is going on came from telephone interviews with people inside the country. Several residents reported that cell phone service was down, and even landline phone service sporadic.

The United States ordered all non-essential personnel and family members at its embassy to leave the country.

Several foreign oil and gas companies were moving on Monday to evacuate some workershttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/wo...2oil.htmlTimes coverage as well. The QurynaصØ[at]ÙŠÙ�Ø© قورينا - Libya Newspaper newspaper said that protests have occurred in Ras Lanuf, an oil town where some workers were being assembled to defend a refinery complex from attacks.

Meanwhile, Libyans from other cities — Bengazhi and Misrata — were reported to be heading to Tripoli to join the battle against the government forces, said Mansour O. El-Kikhia, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Texas at Austin, who had talked to people inside the country.

“There are dead on the streets, you cannot even pick them up,” he said by email. “The army is just shooting at everybody. That has not deterred the people from continuing.” Though the outcome of the battle is impossible to determine, some protesters said the bloodshed in Tripoli only redoubled theirdetermination. “He will never let go of his power,” said one, Abdel Rahman. “This is a dictator, an emperor. He will die before he gives an inch. But we are no longer afraid. We are ready to die after what we have seen.”

Reporting was contributed by Sharon Otterman, Neil MacFarquhar and Kareem Fahim from Cairo; Nada Bakri from Beirut, Lebanon; and Colin Moynihan from New York.

I think when they asked for a day of anger, it was supposed to be from them, not from Gaddafi.

There was a Libyan on World Service earlier, and boy did he get angry. He was virtually screaming at the hypocrisy of the west, and making it clear that the Libyans for one will not forgive them standing by while Gaddafi used their arms to massacre his own people.

The manipulative extremists of course will feed off this bile for years.

The Religion of Peace turns on it's self!

http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/02/22/g...inues-to-rise/

Gaddafi to speak as the bodycount continues to rise

February 22, 2011 ⋅ 4:58 pm



Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is expected to speak shortly, as the residents in the Libyan capital of Tripoli reported a food shortage, gunfire and intimidation by security forces on Tuesday as the country’s longtime ruler asserted his power and gave no indication of succumbing to week-long anti-government protests.

Libya’s ambassador to the United States has resigned from what he calls a “dictatorship” regime. The Reuters news agency reported amabssador Ali Aujali, speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” saying, “Let me start by saying that I resign from serving the current dictatorship regime, but I will never resign from serving our people until their voices reach the whole world, until their goals are achieved.”

Security forces in Libya cordoned off the Fashloom suburb of Tripoli and were shooting anyone who moves on the streets — including those who are trying to retrieve bodies, said Mohamed Abdallah, spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya opposition group. Abdallah attributed the information to four eyewitnesses on the ground.

Meanwhile, a woman in Tripoli described a tense scene Tuesday morning.

“We heard a lot of gun shots, explosions, demonstrations and the sound of sirens,” said the witness, who is not being identified for security reasons. The witness added that firefighters have not been able to extinguish a fire at the People’s Hall government building and that a massive protest was expected for Tuesday night.

The Arab League is to hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, to discuss the unrest in Libya.

CNN, Al Jazeera

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...2?pageNumber=2

Exclusive - Libyans say Gaddafi "butcher," flick V-for-victory


Libyan protesters tear down a sign from a building during a demonstration in the seaport city of Tobruk February 20, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer

By a Reuters Correspondent
ROAD TO TOBRUK, Libya | Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:37pm GMT

ROAD TO TOBRUK, Libya (Reuters) - The Libyan side of the Egyptian border was controlled Tuesday by anti-Gaddafi rebels armed with clubs and Kalashnikov rifles who welcomed visitors from Egypt, a Reuters correspondent who crossed into Libya reported.

One held up a picture of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, upside down, and defaced with the words "the butcher tyrant, murderer of Libyans," the correspondent said when passing through the town of Musaid, just inside the Libyan side of the border. The men were welcoming and waved cars through.

Egypt's army said Libyan border guards had been withdrawn, with Libya's side of the border controlled by "people's committees," without giving details of their allegiance.

Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.

Demonstrations have spread to Tripoli from the second city Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that has engulfed a number of towns and which residents say is now in the hands of protesters.

One Libyan, who could not be identified, told the Reuters correspondent inside Libya that Benghazi had been "liberated" from a battalion belonging to one of Gaddafi's sons since Saturday.

Driving along a stretch of desert road with the occasional low-brick house and goat herds, groups of rebels with assault rifles and shotguns, waved cheerily at the passing cars.

"Photo! Photo!" they said, flicking the V-for-victory sign and posing with their guns. One of the Libyans, mocking the personality cult cultivated by Gaddafi, pointed at graffiti which read: "No God, but Allah."

Security forces have cracked down fiercely on demonstrators across the country, with fighting in Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week, in a reaction to decades of repression and following uprisings that have toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.

"THIS IS GENOCIDE"

Speaking to Reuters by telephone from the Libyan town of Al Bayda, one Libyan described Tuesday how forces using aircraft and tanks killed 26 local people overnight, including his own brother.

Libyans were now "scared of their own shadows," said Marai Al Mahry, from the Ashraf tribe, who named his dead brother as Ahmed al Mahry.

"This is worse than anyone can imagine, this is something no human can fathom. They are bombing us with planes, they are killing us with tanks," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.

Mahry accused forces loyal to Gaddafi of indiscriminate killing on the streets of the coastal town, which lies east of Benghazi. "They shoot you just for walking on the street."

His account could not be independently corroborated.

"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said 42-year-old Mahry.

Describing the climate of fear created by the crackdown, he said: "Libyans are scared of their own shadows, children can't sleep. It is like we are on another planet."

Keen to send his message to neighbouring Egypt and beyond, he said: "I call on the people of the world -- I call on the Egyptians -- to pray for us, to demonstrate for us."

Egypt's new military rulers -- who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February11 -- said the main crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.

KILLING AND BANDITRY

Piled onto tractors and trucks, hundreds of Egyptians streamed over the border from Libya Tuesday, describing a wave of killing and banditry unleashed by the revolt.

A witness who had fled the city of Benghazi said at least 2,000 people had been killed there -- a figure that could not be corroborated but which indicated the scale of destruction people believed was wrought by a week of violence.

Egyptians described a treacherous journey out of Libya in which they were shot at by bandits taking advantage of the chaos.

Hassan Kamel Mohamed, a 24-year-old steel worker who had fled from Tobruk, said: "There were thugs everywhere and they would pull weapons on you at any time."

"We were trying to sleep at night but we couldn't. Thugs would fire in the air every fifteen minutes. They took our money, they took everything."

Mohamed Bayoumy, 37, said he had been travelling for three days in the western part of the country and that there were armed groups along the road, demanding bribes.

Another man, who declined to be named, said: "The situation is bad for Egyptians right now."

"They took money from us and shot at us," he said, declining to give his name.

"Five people died on the street where I live," Mohamed Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi. "You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons," he added. "The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous," he said.

(Reporting by a Reuters correspondent, Writing by Edmund Blair and Peter Millership in Cairo; Editing by Giles Elgood).

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaN...71L1JU20110222

Libyan student says mercenaries killed protesters

* Student saw friends killed in protests
* Says mercenaries from Chad, Tunisia, Morocco killed dozens

By Abdelrahman Youssef

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A Libyan student who saw his friends killed in protests against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi in the town of Al Bayda said on Tuesday that mercenaries from Africa had killed dozens on the Libyan leader's orders.

Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power. Rebel soldiers said the east of Libya had broken free from the leader's control.

Saddam, a 21-year-old student who declined to give his full name, told Reuters that mercenaries from Chad, Tunisia and Morocco had opened fire on protesters.

In remarks that could not be independently corroborated, Saddam, a student at Omar Mokhtar University in Al Bayda, eastern Libya, said: "The revolution started on the 16th of February when seven youths went out chanting against corruption before they were joined by others. The numbers swelled to 300 and we chanted 'Peaceful, peaceful' and 'Down, down with the corrupt regime.'

"Police fired tear gas at us an hour into the protest but we continued to chant, so the police opened fire at us. My friend Khaled was the first martyr to fall and seven others died with him. There was one person, Mohamed, who was speaking to the crowd and he has disappeared. We still don't know where he is."

"OF THE SAME BLOOD"

Saddam was speaking to Reuters in Alexandria after crossing from Libya into Egypt.

"The next day, we were shocked to see mercenaries from Chad, Tunisia, Morocco speaking French attacking us," he said.

"On the 18th, the mercenaries killed about 40 men from the city of Shahat, next to Al Bayda. The number of dead in Al Bayda and Shahat in two days was 150."

Saddam said the mercenaries had been hiding in army camps. "The army was pushing us in their direction but wasn't firing at us. One of the town leaders spoke over the loudspeakers calling on the army to remember that we are of the same blood.

"Many of the soldiers starting leaving the camp, but the mercenaries fought with the army men trying to leave."

Saddam said the students had fought with the mercenaries.

"We captured some of the mercenaries and they said they were given orders by Gaddafi to eliminate the protesters," he said.

"We are running out of food and medicine, as well as ammunition to fight the mercenaries and that puts us in constant danger. I call on all Libyans in Western cities to help us as soon as possible."

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed; Writing by Peter Millership; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Libya: Gaddafi Set To Announce Plans To Devolve Power Shortly, According To State TV | World News | Sky News

Libya: 'Gaddafi Set To Devolve Power'

Libya's embattled leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is to announce plans to devolve power shortly, according to state TV.


Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi speaking earlier on state television

It follows days of protests which reportedly left hundreds of people dead spread as far as the country's capital, Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi, who has ruled for 41 years, has seen his grip on power loosen as cracks apparently formed within his government and the army amid the violence.

It follows days of protests which reportedly left hundreds of people dead spread as far as the country's capital, Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi, who has ruled for 41 years, has seen his grip on power loosen as cracks apparently formed within his government and the army amid the violence.

Overnight he appeared on state TV insisting that reports he had fled the country were wrong - a brief and bizarre address from a van in which he clutched an umbrella through the open door and described foreign media as "dogs".

The bloody unrest of recent days sparked a mass exodus of expats from the likes of France, Italy and Iran, with a number of oil companies relocating their staff.

Egypt has boosted its military presence near the border and set up field hospitals as thousands of its nationals return.

In Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, activists have reportedly taken over, destroying airport runways and preventing any flights from landing.

World powers have spoken out against Col Gaddafi's regime and Prime Minister David Cameron condemned reported attacks on civilians.

Libya's ambassadors to the US, France and India have resigned.

Some in the military also seem to have turned against him after two Libyan air force pilots apparently defected by landing their warplanes in Malta.

More to follow...

Some Tweets from Gaddafi's speech...waste of oxygen....

BBCBreaking BBC Breaking News
Col Gaddafi tells Libyan people on State TV: "Libya's image is being distorted" & the protesters are serving "the devil" and not #Libya.

REUTERSFLASH ReutersBreakingNews
#Gaddafi says he is a Bedouin warrior who brought glory to Libyans

channel4news C4 Newsroom blogger
Gaddafi: Libya is a tree and we've watered this tree with our blood. We are not going to leave! #c4news

BBCWorld BBC Global News
Col Gaddafi on Libyan State TV: "I will die a martyr at the end."

REUTERSFLASH ReutersBreakingNews
#Gaddafi says leader of revolution not a president to step down

France24_en FRANCE 24 English
[LIVE] #Gaddafi: "I represent glory and Revolution", talks about American bombing of 1986 France24 - Watch our TV channel #libya

washingtonpost The Washington Post
Gaddafi: "When the bombs were... killing my kids, where were you? Where were you people? You are with America" Live video #Libya

BBCWorld BBC Global News
Col Gaddafi on #Libyan State TV: "We have fought NATO's fight and strength and we shall not surrender."

Gaddafi says we resisted US, Britain in the past, will not surrender #Gaddafi #Libya

BBCBreaking BBC Breaking News
Col Gaddafi on #Libyan State TV: "All the legislative power is in the hands of the Libyan people. The Libyan people will decide."

BBCBreaking BBC Breaking News
Col Gaddafi : a small group of "sick people" are circulating drugs and arms to youngsters who want to emulate events in Tunisia and Egypt.