Thread: The Libyan Crisis

My mistake.

Originally Posted by sabang

Ultimately, Qaddafi fell because his people didn't want him any more. It has become obvious in the last couple of weeks that was the case in Tripoli too, all along- they just had to keep their heads down to survive.

Lets just hope the new gov't is not going to be a disaster.

Qaddafi is a liberation theologist. The "people", as usual, don't know what's best for them. Now the IMF, World bank and the Chicago economic school are smiling. The country is now ripe for rape.

Originally Posted by daveboy

Gaddafi has been found dead dressed as a woman.

Well, they won't catch him fighting till the end until the last drop of blood. He is a muslim running for his life.

Originally Posted by sabang

Lets just hope the new gov't is not going to be a disaster.

Getting the 3 former italian (colony) states together is an impossible task. Hundreds of tribes and different ethnic groups won't unite just for the sake of Allah. The region that has the most oil and gas will break off first (see Kurds in Iraq).
By the way, where are the Chinese. Waiting off the coast to get in ?

Last but not least is the religion of islam. With this in their heads the State of Libya is doomed. They should have let the guy with the wine and bread into their heart.

spliff..very true, these people will be doing mac-10 to get there hands on libyan assets, first stop will be 110 ton of gold ....

Originally Posted by spliff

Originally Posted by sabang

Ultimately, Qaddafi fell because his people didn't want him any more. It has become obvious in the last couple of weeks that was the case in Tripoli too, all along- they just had to keep their heads down to survive.

Lets just hope the new gov't is not going to be a disaster.

Qaddafi is a liberation theologist. The "people", as usual, don't know what's best for them. Now the IMF, World bank and the Chicago economic school are smiling. The country is now ripe for rape.

Well, it's a good thing there are people around who can help run things....they clearly can not do it themselves.... They can't even do a proper rebellion without help, and now that it's almost over, they are just shooting in the air....
They always shoot into the air don't they....that's why they never have any ammo left when the competition shows up.....and some people think these guys can run a country....sheesh...

The term is celebratory gunfire, I believe.

Washington tried to snatch $ 1.5 billion to pay its NTC employees [Voltaire Network]

"On Tuesday, 9 August 2011, Sana Khan, secretary of the Sanctions Committee established by resolution 1970 of the Security Council, transmitted to the Committee a notice from Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States before the United Nations.

In this letter, of which Voltaire Network has obtained a copy [downloadable document at the bottom of this page], Washington informed the Committee of its intention to unfreeze 1 500 000 000 billion dollars belonging to the Central Bank of Libya, the Libyan Investment Authority, the Libyan Foreign Bank, Libya Africa Investment Portfolio and the Libya National Oil Corporation.

Arguing that the unfreezing is legal when the funds are intended for humanitarian or civilian ends (Article 19 of Resolution 1970 [1]), Washington indicated that it will unilaterally allocate this amount as follows:

500 000 000 dollars to humanitarian organizations of its choice "to address ongoing humanitarian needs and those that can be anticipated, in line with the call of the United Nations and its foreseeable updates";

500 000 000 dollars to "companies supplying fuel and vital humanitarian goods";

500 000 000 dollars to the Temporary Financial Mechanism (TFM) for "salaries and operating expenses of Libyan civil servants, food subsidies, electricity and other humanitarian purchases." From this amount, 100 000 000 dollars will be provisioned to be subsequently allocated for the humanitarian needs of the Libyan people in areas not controlled by the National Transitional Council (NTC) once it will have established "a credible, transparent and effective" mechanism for handing over the funds.

In plain English, the United States informed the Sanctions Committee of its intention to help itself to $ 1.5 billion, of which one-third would be earmarked for their own humanitarian services (USAID ...), another third would go to their own multinationals (Exxon, Halliburton etc..), and the rest would be given to the TFM, a LIEM office, which happens to be an informal body created by Washington and endorsed by the Contact Group to administer Libya [2].

Washington said that it expected to have the tacit approval of the Sanctions Committee within five days after receipt of the letter.

Unfortunately, Libya could not object to this robbery because it was not represented at this Committee. Indeed, the former ambassador has defected, and - in violation of the Headquarters Agreement - the State Department has not issued a visa to the new ambassador of Libya.

Washington fully intended to take advantage of this forced absence to seize the booty. Moreover, France has already created a precedent by stealing $ 128 million in the similar conditions.

It was ultimately the Permanent Representative of South Africa, Ambassador Baso Sangqu, who hindered the operation.

In addition to exposing the rapacity of the United States, this incredible episode demonstrates that the self-proclaimed "Free Libya" of Misrata and Benghazi is not governed by the National Transitional Council (NTC), which is nothing but a facade, and a seriously cracked one at that. Eastern Libya is controlled by NATO and administered by the Libyan Information Exchange Mechanism (LIEM), an informal entity with no legal personality, which was established in Naples by the United States alone, although some of its employees are Italians.


The funds allegedly allotted to the NTC are actually delivered to the LIEM to pay the wages of NTC members and their staff. The difference is considerable: the National Transition Council doesn’t have a policy of its own; it is content to simply reflect that of the United States. This is normal when considering that the NTC was not formed during the events of Benghazi, but several years earlier in London as a provisional government in exile.

Consequently, the military action of the United States and its NATO allies or the Gulf Cooperation Council does not seek to protect civilians, pursuant to Resolution 1973, let alone "liberate the Libyan people," but indeed to colonize the country."

PDF Docs available here:

http://www.voltairenet.org/IMG/pdf/O...153_USA_-3.pdf

If only the Red Indians had been as corrupt the west would never have been won.

The Libyans are being asked to pay the Libyan Contact group to attack , bomb and murder Libyan people.

Another of the worlds despots on the run, and holed up in you know where, along with all the rest of the world's dross and deadbeats, you got it krung Threpland.

Move over guys, make room for a little un.

It looks like the apparition from Somtamslap's Pattaya story, croaking the dreaded words : "I GO WIT YOU"

Libya Live Blog | Al Jazeera Blogs


Libyan rebel fighters celebrate in Green Square, renamed Martyrs Square by rebels, in Tripoli [AFP]

REUTERS - Burkina Faso, a former recipient of large amounts of Libyan aid, has offered Muammar Gaddafi exile but has also recognised the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya's government.

Burkinabe Foreign Minister Yipene Djibril Bassolet said that Gaddafi could go into exile in his country even though it is a signatory of the International Criminal Court, which has charged him crimes against humanity.

"In the name of peace, I think we will take, with our partners in the international community, whatever steps are necessary," Bassolet said, without giving any other details.

As recipients of Gaddafi's largesse during his decades in power, the governments in Ouagadougou and N'Djamena had previously been hesitant about taking sides the conflict.

24 min 34 sec ago


Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from outside the central hospital in Tripoli:

There are still battles taking place across this city. We still hear the sound of gunfire, We stil hear the sound of explosions. What of course that means is that there are people injured in these battles. I have been standing here for just 15 minutes and I have seen three cars race up here and deliver people in front of the hospital, the patients are then taken into the hospital. They are on a constant state of alert here. You can see some of the medical staff here and the security because they have to keep the place safe. That's why there are men with guns out at the front, no real ambulance service operating, there are couple of ambulances operating, but most people are brought here in private cars..

The causalties are coming from all sorts of neighbourhoods. Because we know that there are certain places where there are pockets of Gaddafi forces. But not only are they fighting, they are also using those neighbourhoods to launch attacks and they are still firing in this urban environment where there are so many people living, they are firing mortars and they are firing grad missiles. So it's not just the fighters who are involved in the close quarter combat with the small arms but also people being injured when these mortars and missiles land near their homes..

The opposition controls this area but that doesn't make this area in any way safe. Because we suspect that all over this city there are Gaddafi loyalists. We know that some have taken to roofs, there are snipers, so even though I would say the majority of the city is in opposition control, it is still a very dangerous place.

37 min 34 sec ago

As the regime of Muammar Gaddafi crumbles in Tripoli, Al Jazeera's Evan Hill found that members of the city’s long-silenced public are eager to express their hatred for the soon-to-be-deposed dictator.

Mahmoud Ashour, a 58-year-old shop owner, told Hill that Gaddafi ruled the country like a ruthless mafia boss, maintaining iron-fisted control through his legions of loyalists.

"He closed all the windows and all the doors, except one, and he controlled that,” said Ashour on Wednesday as sporadic fighting continued in Tripoli.

"The worst regime in the world is the rule of one man." Hatem Abu Daia, a 42-year-old engineer who left Libya 15 years ago for Canada and came back two months ago, said Gaddafi used power and money to corrupt those around him.

“Now Gaddafi's guys are in the streets like gangsters,” Daia said.

59 min 34 sec ago

A Libyan national waves a Libyan rebels' flag outside the Libyan embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. [Image by AFP]


1 hour 2 min ago

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler reports from Benghazi:

We heard some very important words coming out of the press conference with Sarkozy and Mahmoud Jibril .. national reconciliation is a top priority for the NTC and these are very important things for those who rose up against Gaddafi: one Libya for all Libyans.. But there are challenges that lie ahead. For instance, this is a country that has not had a proper political infrastructure for 41 years..

1 hour 15 min ago

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that France would continue military operations in Libya under a United Nations mandate for as long as needed.

He also said an earlier announced conference on Libya would take place in Paris on September 1.

"We are ready to continue military operations under the UN Resolution 1973 for as long as our Libyan friends need," Sarkozy told reporters in front of the presidential palace, standing beside Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril of the National Transitional Council (NTC).

SkyNewsBreak Sky News Newsdesk

Italian news agency ANSA: Four Italian journalists kidnapped in Libya

Gadhafi Loyalists Continue to Defend Scattered Parts of Tripoli, Southern Libya | Middle East | English

August 24, 2011

Gadhafi Loyalists Continue to Defend Scattered Parts of Tripoli, Southern Libya

Edward Yeranian
Cairo

Fighting is continuing across parts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Wednesday, as Gadhafi loyalists attempt to defend their last enclaves in the city, as well as several cities still under Gadhafi control. The embattled leader described the fall of his Tripoli headquarters as a "tactical retreat," and he urged his partisans to continue fighting.

It was another day of fighting in parts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as Gadhafi loyalists used automatic weapons, anti-aircraft guns, mortar rounds and grad rockets to stave off a rebel advance on their last positions in the south of the city.

Witnesses say that snipers loyal to Gadhafi also have been firing from buildings along strategic roads, paralyzing life in much of the capital. Gadhafi supporters also have targeted the road to the airport in southern Tripoli, making its use unsafe, although the facility is now in rebel hands.

Gadhafi forces were routed from the Bab al Aziziya military complex Tuesday, but his supporters have regrouped in a wooded area south of the facility. Gadhafi loyalists also have detained over 30 foreign journalists in a luxury hotel, not far from the former government enclave.

Gadhafi delivered a rambling phone message to his supporters early Wednesday, over one of the few remaining TV stations he still controls. He urged supporters to come to Tripoli to free the capital.

He said that (his supporters), be they young, old, men or women, need to come to Tripoli from elsewhere, to clean up the capital and capture criminals, traitors and rats.

Gadhafi's government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim insisted that the colonel's partisans are well armed and will continue to fight a guerrilla war that could last a long time.

He said that (the Gadhafi forces') military, strategic and popular situation is quite strong, and they can continue to fight not just for days and weeks, but for months and years. He called the fight against opposition fighters a plot against his country and said his side will continue to resist until it wins.

The man often described as the rebels' “prime minister”, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference late Tuesday that he expects a “bitter battle” to take the coastal port city of Sirte, which remains a Gadhafi stronghold. Gadhafi forces also continue to hold the oasis towns of Sabha and Jiffra, as well as small enclaves near the Tunisian border.

British Foreign Minister William Hague urged Gadhafi to give up the fight and accept the fact that his people want him to go.

“There's a clear, fundamental, decisive rejection of that regime by the people of Libya, and the regime has clearly lost control of most of the capital and much of the country," he said.

"I think it is time now for Col. Gadhafi to stop issuing delusional statements and to recognize that. He should be telling his dwindling and remaining forces now to stand down.”

On the diplomatic front, representatives of the rebel Transitional National Council are meeting with Western officials in the Qatari capital, Doha, in a bid to release Libyan government funds for use by the cash-starved rebel government. Rebel Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril says that he needs $2.5 billion before the end of the month to pay salaries of civil servants.

Originally Posted by OhOh

An an estimated $896 million cost less $221.9 million revenue, small change and easily printed in an afternoon.

It is hardly going to justify the intervention in your eyes, but that is indeed small change- as in, the West will make end up making a considerable profit. The biggest profit of all will likely be to Italy, which is a bit ironic because they didn't exactly do much to help oust Q.

Anyway, I can't fault the tactics employed by Nato once the decision was made. Few if any dead Nato bodies, no expensive and counterproductive foreign occupation, and relations with the new broom off to a good start. The cost of this exercise, in financial, human and infrastructural terms, has been minimal compared to our 'efforts' in Iraq and Afghanistan- and look what we achieved there. Like, nothing.

^ jesus christ, sab, supporting illegal wars now ?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

in a bid to release Libyan government funds for use by the cash-starved rebel government

a priority no doubt,

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Rebel Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril says that he needs $2.5 billion before the end of the month to pay salaries of civil servants.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Rebel Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril says that he needs $2.5 billion before the end of the month to pay salaries of civil servants.

Holy Mohamed !
Are they in the "Greek Union" ?

Do they work 35 hours a week ?
Vacation money
Ramadan money
Circumcision money
No one marry's my daughter/son money

Reports that Gadaffi has been captured were proved wrong today when Jackie Stallone was released unharmed by American forces.

Rebels send in special forces to hunt for Gadhafi - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - msnbc.com

Rebels send in special forces to hunt for Gadhafi

On the run, strongman tells Libyans: 'The enemy is delusional, NATO is retreating'

updated 30 minutes ago

TRIPOLI — Libyan rebels said they were sending in special forces units in their hunt for fugitive strongman Moammar Gadhafi, whose supporters are now pinned down in pockets of resistance in the capital, Tripoli.

The rebel leadership announced it was planning to move from the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution to topple Gadhafi began six months ago, to govern the country from Tripoli.

Rumors of Gadhafi or his sons being cornered or sighted, swirled among excitable rebel fighters engaged in heavy machinegun and rocket exchanges. But even after his compound was overrun on Tuesday, hopes of a swift end to the war were still being frustrated by fierce rearguard actions.

The rebels' Col. Hisham Buhagiar said they were targeting several areas to find Gadhafi: "We are sending special forces every day to hunt down Gadhafi. We have one unit that does intelligence and other units that hunt him down."

Loyalist forces are still present in several areas of the city, some of them flying rebel banners rather than the green flags of the Gadhafi era, Reuters correspondents said.

The effects of the ongoing fighting were evident in Tripoli's Matiga hospital, according to The Guardian newspaper's Martin Chulov.

"The emergency room is awash with blood," he said in a recorded interview.

"What we are dealing with here is a large number of Gadhafi loyalists who were injured in fighting late (Thursday)," he said. "Many of them are in particularly bad shape. A couple of them look quite emaciated — they haven't eaten or drunk for a couple of days and they have got some severe wounds. The doctors here say they are being treated just like any other patient would be, there is no discrimination."

Thursday was a "particularly lethal afternoon," Chulov added.

NATO warplanes, whose support has been crucial to the rebels' advance into the capital, could be heard over Tripoli during the night, residents said.

A measure of the rebels' grip on the capital will be apparent at Friday prayers later in the day. As the insurgency developed, Gadhafi's security forces saw the weekly worship as a protest and shot people as they exited mosques.

Western powers have demanded Gadhafi's surrender and worked to help the opposition start developing the trappings of government and bureaucracy lacking in the oil-rich state after 42 years of an eccentric personality cult.

The United States and South Africa struck a deal to allow the release of $1.5 billion in frozen funds for humanitarian aid and other civilian needs, U.N. diplomats said.

But with loyalists holding out in the capital, in Gadhafi's coastal home city and deep in the inland desert, violence could go on for some time, testing the rebel government's ability to keep order when it moves from Benghazi.

"I proclaim the beginning of the resumption of the work of the executive office in Tripoli," Ali Tarhouni, in charge of oil and financial matters for the rebel council, said in Tripoli.

The shift is seen as a crucial step to smoothing over rifts in the country, fragmented by regional and tribal divisions, particularly between east and west.

Gadhafi taunted his enemies and their Western backers, calling on his supporters to fight back in the city in his latest broadcast rallying cry.

"The tribes ... must march on Tripoli," Gadhafi said in an audio message aired on a sympathetic TV channel on Thursday. "Do not leave Tripoli to those rats, kill them, defeat them quickly.

"The enemy is delusional, NATO is retreating," he shouted, sounding firmer and clearer than in a similar speech released on Wednesday. Though his enemies believe Gadhafi, 69, is still in the capital, they fear he could flee by long-prepared escape routes, using tunnels and bunkers, to rally an insurgency.

Airstrikes

A pro-Gadhafi station said NATO warplanes had bombed his hometown of Sirte, one of his last strongholds. While Britain's defense minister said NATO was providing intelligence assets to help the rebels find Gadhafi, the U.S. State Department said neither NATO nor Washington was involved in the manhunt.

Rebel leaders, offering a million-dollar reward, say the war will be over only when Gadhafi is found, "dead or alive."

In a southern district of Tripoli, close to the notorious prison of Abu Salim, rebel forces launched a concerted assault, sweeping from house to house and taking prisoners. Elsewhere, pro-Gadhafi forces shelled rebel positions at Tripoli's airport.

Diehards numbering perhaps in the hundreds were keeping at bay squads of irregular, anti-Gadhafi fighters who had swept into Tripoli on Sunday and who were now rushing from one site to another, firing assault rifles, machineguns and anti-aircraft cannon bolted to the backs of pick-up trucks.

The lack of security will be just one of many challenges facing Libya's new masters as they try to meet the expectations of young men now bearing arms and to heal ethnic, tribal and other divisions that have been exacerbated by civil war.

Revenge

After a meeting of officials in Istanbul, the Contact Group of allies against Gadhafi called on Libyans to avoid revenge following reports that non-combatants had been killed.

"The participants attached utmost importance to the realization of national reconciliation in Libya," it said. "They agreed that such a process should be based on principles of inclusiveness, avoidance of retribution and vengeance."

However, there was already evidence of the kind of bitter bloodletting in recent days that the rebel leaders are anxious to stop in the interests of uniting Libyans, including former Gadhafi supporters, in a democracy.

A Reuters correspondent counted 30 bodies, apparently of troops and gunmen who had fought for Gadhafi, at a site in central Tripoli. At least two had their hands bound. One was strapped to a hospital trolley with a drip still in his arm.

All the bodies had been riddled with bullets.

Elsewhere, a British medical worker said she had counted 17 bodies who she believed were of prisoners executed by Gadhafi's forces. One wounded man said he had survived the incident, when, he said, prison guards had sprayed inmates with gunfire on Tuesday as the rebel forces entered Gadhafi's compound.

Concerns about an insurgency

Gadhafi's opponents fear that he may rally an insurgency, as did Saddam Hussein in Iraq, should he remain at large and, perhaps, in control of funds salted away for such a purpose.

Western powers, mindful of the bloodshed in Iraq, have made clear they do not want to engage their troops in Libya. But a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Washington would look favorably on any Libyan request for U.N. police assistance — something some say might aid a transition to democracy.

The United States and NATO are also deeply concerned about possible looting and resale of weapons from Libyan arsenals as Gadhafi's rule crumbles, though the U.S. State Department said it believed Libya's stocks of concentrated uranium and mustard agent were secure.

Nonetheless, many in Tripoli count themselves happy already that Gadhafi has gone. "I was nine years old when Gadhafi came to power and I've always hoped I wouldn't die before I saw this day," said Ali Salem al-Gharyani, choking back tears.

"I am now 50 years old and this is the first time, seeing Gadhafi gone, that I have experienced true joy in my life."

A Libyan rebel, left, handcuffs captured Moammar Gadhafi loyalists, in Tripoli on Aug. 25. An intense battle has erupted between about 1,000 rebels surrounding two buildings filled with Moammar Gadhafi loyalists in the neighborhood next to the Libyan leader's captured compound. (Francois Mori / AP)


Libyan rebel fighters stand guard over detainees during a fight for the final push to flush out Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Abu Salim district in Tripoli on Aug. 25. Libyan rebels stormed Tripoli's Abu Salim district, one of the main holdouts of forces loyal to Gadhafi in the capital, after NATO air strikes on a building in the area on the same day. (Zohra Bensemra / Reuters)


A Libyan rebel fighter fires his heavy machine gun during a fight for the final push to flush out Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Abu Salim district in Tripoli on Aug. 25. (Zohra Bensemra / Reuters)


Rebel fighters and a television cameraman take shelter as an intense gun battle erupts outside the Corinthia hotel, where many foreign journalists are staying, in Tripoli, Thursday, Aug. 25. (Sergey Ponomarev / AP)


Libyan rebels seize boxes of ammunition hidden underground by Gadhafi's forces in the al-Maser forest in southern Tripoli on Aug. 25. (Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images)


A Libyan rebel inspects a tunnel at the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli on Aug. 25. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images)


A rebel fighter enters a bunker of the main Moammar Gadhafi compound in Bab Al-Aziziya in Tripoli, LIbya, Thursday, Aug. 25. (Sergey Ponomarev / AP)


A cameraman works near a destroyed Afriqiyah Airways aircraft at the Tripoli Airport, Aug. 25. (Louafi Larbi / Reuters)


A rebel fighter kicks down a door during a house search for snipers in the final push to flush out Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Abu Slim area in Tripoli, Aug. 25. (Zohra Bensemra / Reuters)


Rebels examine a photo album of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which was found in Moammar Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli on Aug. 24. (Ammar Abd Rabbo / Abaca)


Rebel fighters seen inside the house of Aisha Gadhafi the daughter of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli, Aug. 24. A defiant Moammar Gadhafi vowed Wednesday to fight on "until victory or martyrdom," as rebel fighters tried to end scattered attacks by regime loyalists in the nervous capital. (Sergey Ponomarev / AP)

Rebels send in special forces to hunt for Gadhafi - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - msnbc.com

Daily life in Libya's rebellion - Picture Stories- msnbc.com

Daily life in Libya's rebellion

Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
A rebel stands on the infamous "Hand of Gadhafi" monument in the Bab Al-Azizya compound a day after numerous rebel brigades defeated Gadhafi loyalists for control of the massive military and government center, on Aug. 25, in Tripoli, Libya.

Photojournalist Benjamin Lowy describes the scene: After breakfast our driver showed up in his white PT Cruiser and five journalists including me stuffed ourselves in. Drivers and translators are difficult to come by, so we all pooled resources and used one car.

The first stop of the day was Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziyia compound - home to the infamous "hand crushing the plane" statue. It seems like every day some of the thousands of rebels pouring into Tripoli take their turn to pose with it and spray unrelenting celebratory gunfire in the air. The rebels have been doing that for months - shooting in the air and yelling "Allah-O-Akbar." They don't seem to understand firing discipline or the fact that what comes up, must come down. I would love to see some figures, in later years, of how many civilians and rebels were killed, not by Gadhafi, but by themselves, and in happiness.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
Libyan rebels cringe as their position comes under fire from Gadhafi loyalist forces in the Buslim neighborhood. (Editor's note: These images were taken with a smart phone using an app that applies filters to the photography)

Photographer's view: Our little crew decided to make our way through the southern gate of the compound and came across a massing of rebels trying to clear the Buslim neighborhood - an area known to be pro-Gadhafi. In fact, green flags still flew on most buildings and most of the buildings were painted white and green.

Several gun battles ensued over the course of the morning as we pushed forward and fled with the rebel who were taking sniper fire, returning it. Eventually we walked back to our starting point at the roundabout at the southern gate of the Gadhafi compound.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
Rebel forces run for cover after coming under small arms fire while clearing the dangerous and pro-Gadhafi Abu Salim neighborhood.

Photographer's view: A rumor began to circulate on the wires that the rebels had surrounded a building where Gadhafi and his sons were holding up. We felt forced to investigate. Even though it was unlikely, it's not a picture or story to miss.

We all jumped on the back of a rebel vehicle - essentially embedding ourselves. We didn't want to risk the life of our driver, especially since his beloved PT Cruiser took one for the team and had the windshield shattered and the chassis dented by an erratically driven rebel technical.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
A Libyan fires his weapon at a building housing a Gadhafi loyalist sniper in the dangerous Abu Salim neighborhood on Aug. 25, in Tripoli, Libya.

Photographer's view: The rebels, and our own two feet, eventually took us to the Abu Salim neighborhood. It is possibly the last holdout of diehard Gadhafi forces.

It was brutal. For four hours the streets of this gated apartment complex were lit up with seemingly every type of ammunition. Small arms fire from pistols and AK-47s whittled away at building facades. Machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, RPGs and mortars were used to rout out suspected snipers.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
Suspected Gadhafi loyalist soldiers are pulled from apartments and lined up against a wall in the Abu Salim neighborhood by rebel forces on August 25 in Tripoli, Libya.

Photographer's view: Prisoners were taken. Most seem to be black Africans, and a few Libyans. I was scared, as I watched the rebels violently arrest these men and throw them in the back of a pickup truck, that as soon as they were out of our view, they would be executed.

Incoming sniper fire from a nearby building forced us to take cover. The untrained rebels released what I call the "death blossom" of firing in 360 degrees at pretty much everything.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
Walid Barui, 25, breaks his Ramadan fast with a cup of water as a building burns behind him in the still violent neighborhood of Abu Salim. Baruni took up his gun and joined the revolution weeks ago, initially reluctant since he takes care of his elderly parents. He trained in the Nalut Mountains and was part of the rebel advance that swept into Tripoli. He said his parents "couldn't be prouder" with his choice to join the rebellion.



Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com
A Libyan rebel rips a poster of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi from the lobby of an apartment block.

Photographer's view: Will finding Gadhafi stop this violence? Will people dance in the streets, will shops open again? More than likely yes. But now pretty much every male in Tripoli - even teens - have some sort of firearm. There will be divisions in the rebel camp, in the National Transitional Council, as they try to shape a new country. And right now, divisions are settled by war.

^^ looks like it's shopping time for the rebels

Revolutions are won with blood. That's an intrinsic part of every revolution.