Libyan Revolution Week 32 part 2

[joshcryer]

[joshcryer]

1. Libyan Revolution Day 222 updates below, current time in Libya, 2:40pm Tuesday, September 27

Video of that UCLA mathematician http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2011/09/ucla_kid_back_from_libya.php">who went to Libya. Thanks to tabatha. :)

[pinboy3niner]

2. Libya envoy wants African states to prevent Gaddafi sabotage

Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:24pm GMT


LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The international community must put pressure on African countries still backing Muammar Gaddafi to ensure the deposed Libyan leader and his family do not sabotage the country's fight for freedom, a Libyan diplomat said on Tuesday.

"At a political level I think Libya will need support from the international community to put pressure on those African countries who still support Gaddafi and benefit from his money," Mahmud Nacua, charge d'affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, told Reuters.

"The international community has a vital role to stop any sabotage from Gaddafi and his sons and his supporters, especially in the south near the border," Nacua said in an interview on the sidelines of a private meeting with British executives hoping to win business in Libya.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KR1UC20110927

[pinboy3niner]

3. Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte seek truce-NTC commander

Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:37am GMT


SIRTE, Libya, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A local military commander with Libya's interim government said on Tuesday he was in talks about a truce with an elder from Muammar Gaddafi's tribe inside the besieged city of Sirte.

Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte is one of the last two major towns in Libya still held by fighters loyal to him. His opponents' forces have been trying to capture the city, and are now on the edge of the centre.

Touhami Zayani, commander of the El-Farouk brigade outside Sirte, told Reuters the elder, whom he did not identify, had contacted him on his satellite phone and asked for a truce.

"He called me and said we are looking for a safe passage for the families and for the militia to leave the city," he said.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KR1ME20110927

[bluestate10]

90. The Truce must be an unconditional surrender. Gaddafi can't be trusted. nt

[pinboy3niner]

4. EXCLUSIVE-Libya assures UK of key business role

Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:49pm GMT

By Paul Hoskins


LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Britain's help in overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi will never be forgotten and British companies can expect to play an instrumental role in rebuilding Libya, a senior diplomat told British executives on Tuesday.

"I would like to thank the British people and their government for their invaluable support," Mahmud Nacua, a long-time Libyan exile and now charge d'affaires at the country's embassy in London told a private meeting of businessmen arranged by the British government.

"I can assure you that British businesses have a role to play and hope you will work with us to build the future Libya," Nacua told the meeting, attended by about 100 executives and closed to media other than Reuters.

Stephen Green, a former head of bank HSBC and now Britain's trade and investment minister, warned delegates they should take nothing for granted in their dealings with Libyans, however.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFWLA615420110927

[tabatha]

5. Sovereignty cannot stop intervention against rights abuses

Sovereignty can no longer be used as excuse by States to oppress their own people or prevent the international community to intervene to stop gross abuses of human rights, Belgium and Italy said at the United Nations.

"Belgium will not stand idly by when people claim a future free of coercion and terror," Belgium"s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Institutional Reforms, Steven Vanackere, told the annual general debate of the General Assembly on Saturday.

"Instead of non-interference, Belgium believes in non-indifference. Sovereignty is no longer a wall leaders can use as an excuse to violate the rights of their citizens."

He noted that the uprising against authoritarian governments in North Africa and the Middle East had demonstrated that democracy and accountability are universal ideals valued by people across the world.


http://www.speroforum.com/a/61036/Sovereignty-cannot-stop-intervention-against-rights-abuses-Belgium-and-Italy-tell-UN

[DrunkenBoat]

6. Sunday: "Killed 9 civilians including children Nato confirmed"

Sunday: "Killed 9 civilians including children Nato confirmed"

In a statement issued late Sunday at Brussels headquarters, the trans-Atlantic alliance said airstrikes were launched against a military missile site in Tripoli, but "it appears that one weapon did not strike the intended target and that there may have been a weapons system failure which may have caused a number of civilian casualties."

"NATO regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care in conducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its own citizens," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of the anti-Libya operation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/libya-nato-bom...

[tabatha]

7. Link not found. Here is the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/libya-nato-bombing-civilian-casualties_n_879903.html

You may note the date: /2011/06/19/ and that it is in Tripoli NOT Sirte. Tripoli has been free for over a month.

When I tried to call the xx,000 civilian deaths by Gaddafi as genocide, I was told it was not.

Some newspaper has hysterically called the bomb on a guy's house that he thought was from NATO, genocide.

That is, there has been no verification that it was a NATO bomb, and if it was not, then it was by Gaddafi forces because they are use heavier weaponry than the NTC.

I also listened to today's NATO briefing and there was not one question (that I heard) about civilians deaths in Sirte.

[DrunkenBoat]

11. NATO ACKNOWLEDGED IT. Why is this so hard for you?

[tabatha]

13. It is not hard for me at all.

I applaud NATO for acknowledging it.

Gaddafi denies killing people.

What is hard for me is people dragging up stuff that was posted in these threads six months ago as if it is relevant now.

I also assumed that you had conflated it with the hysterical report of genocide of a "possible" NATO bombing. Possibly my assumption was wrong.

I am a facts monger - and I try to correct misinformation where ever I see it, especially if it unjustly smears.

I think NATO has done an outstanding job in LIbya. For the number of sorties flown, the collateral damage has been incredibly small. They have exercised diligence more in this campaign than any other. I particularly dislike their actions in Afghanistan/Pakistan. But, I am open minded enough to understand that NATO under one commander is different from NATO under another, and acknowledgement of a job well done must be given where it is due.

Most people here say NATO BAD (in Afghanistan/Pakistan, I'll agree). But it is not true in Libya.

It is this propensity of people all over the world to broad brush. This was a statement on the AJE blog, I thought was apt:

"Don't you think a large part of the world's problems are caused by people judging the many by the behavior of a few."

This is what the right has done to the left in the US. Smeared everyone, ridiculed everyone on the left by the actions of a few.

[DrunkenBoat]

16. omfg

[tabatha]

21. Well, that was informative and intelligent.

Here is something more informed and intelligent:


The general describes a recent video he watched, where a multiple rocket launcher was driven inside a house. On top of that same house a women with a young child was hanging out the washing. He says such examples make life difficult for Nato, but "not impossible".

With the mantra of this mission to avoid civilian casualties, he says the targeting process is "very rigorous". They first collect intelligence from a variety of sources. Spy planes fly over the target for imagery. An entire team - including lawyers - then assesses the mission and matches the appropriate weapon with what needs to be hit.

At the end of the process a recommendation is made and Gen Bouchard then makes the final decision. He says the questions he asks himself last are: Is this necessary? What will this do and what will be the impact on the civilian population?

The alliance believes that it has largely been successful in avoiding civilian casualties. Nato admits that last week a bomb malfunctioned and strayed. But the general is keen to point out that more than 5,000 bombs dropped by Nato warplanes have hit their target.

http://revolutionaryprogram.blogspot.com/2011/06/lt-gen-charles-bouchard-canadas-role.html

And by the way, as much as they are diligent in choosing targets, they are just as diligent in recording everything that happens with those targets as they are hit, and afterwards.

I am quite happy to see Gaddafi's ammunition go up in smoke - firstly because he cannot use it against civilians, and secondly because he had way too much.

[bluestate10]

91. Great post. Meet bullshit with firmness. nt

[ellisonz]

19. " When I tried to call the xx,000 civilian deaths by Gaddafi as genocide, I was told it was not."

Gaddafi himself said he would if he must exterminate/deport the Libyan people and replace them with 4 million Chinese. I looked for a link and couldn't easily find one. But I have a damn good memory.

[ellisonz]

8. Reuters: New Footage of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

5 min ago - Libya

A television station broadcast footage dated September 20 of what it said was Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, apparently rallying his forces in one of the last strongholds of the Libyan leader.

"This land is the land of your forefathers. Don't hand it over," Saif al-Islam shouted to a crowd of followers in an unidentified location, according to the footage broadcast by Arrai TV on Tuesday.

Saif al-Islam has not been seen in public since the Libyan capital Tripoli was overrun by rebels in August.

Brandishing an automatic rifle and wearing a military uniform, he said: "Brothers, you need to enter Tripoli today by force."

It was not immediately possible to verify the footage.

It was the first time that Gaddafi's son, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity, had been seen in public since footage of him was broadcast on August 23, soon after rebels announced they had captured him.

"I am off now, but I will send you weapons,"Saif al-Islam could be heard saying to his followers. A crowd could be heard reciting a traditional chant: "God, Muammar and just Libya".

- Reuters

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya

[pinboy3niner]

18. 'New' video of Saif Gaddafi may be 7 months old - AP

Syrian-based Al-Rai TV, which has become the former regime's mouthpiece, aired video of Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, and it said it was taken last week. The same video, however, appears to have been uploaded to YouTube on March 6. A second YouTube video appears to show the same event with an upload date of Feb. 27, early on in the uprising.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi's last known public appearance was on Aug. 23 in Tripoli. Many have speculated that he is hiding in Bani Walid. Like his father, he has been charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity for the regime's bloody efforts to repress the uprising.

http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-official-delivers-16m-southern-city-204034808.html

[ellisonz]

9. Reuters: Algeria to Gaddafi's - Quiet Yourselves

- Reuters
Tags Saif Gaddafi
1 hour 23 min ago - Libya

Algeria's government has ordered members of Muammar Gaddafi's family in exile on its territory to stop making political pronouncements, after Gaddafi's daughter Aisha angered the new Libyan government by telling the media her father was still fighting to hold on to power.

"It is clear that the message has been passed on to Aisha and the other members of the family that they should, from now on, respect their status as guests in Algeria and remove themselves completely from any political action," Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci was quoted as saying by Algeria's official APS news agency. - Reuters

[ellisonz]

10. Reuters: Algeria Drops Illegal Entry Charges Against Mahmoudi

1 hour 38 min ago - Libya

A Tunisian court Tuesday dismissed an illegal entry conviction against Muammar Gaddafi's ex-prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi who had fled Libya to the neighbouring north African country, AFP news agency reports.

"It's a dismissal. Mr Mahmudi and his two co-accused have been acquitted by the appeals court in Tozeur," the lawyer Aref Rouiss told AFP.

Prime minister until the last days of Gaddafi's regime, Mahmudi was arrested last week with two others near Tamaghza on the south-western border with Algeria. His lawyer said the co-accused were his nephew Karim al-Mahmudi and Libyan car dealer Fethi Hamel.

Swiftly tried by a court in Tozeur, some 450km from the capital Tunis, he was sentenced to six months in prison for illegal entry into Tunisia.

His lawyers appealed that decision which was overruled Tuesday by a higher court.

The dismissal was later confirmed to AFP by a spokesman for Tunisian Justice Minister Chokri Nafti.

According to Reuters news agency, Libya's interm rulers have not asked Tunisia to extradite Mahmudi.

"He is a free man," said source from the justice ministery.

[ellisonz]

12. Reuters: Libyan National Oil Company Employees Demand Break from Past

5 hours 41 min ago - Libya

More than a hundred employees of Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) protested outside its offices in Tripoli on Tuesday against what they said was a failure by managers to make a clean break with the past.

"This is a new era, a new revolution. We paid a lot of blood. We are looking for a huge change," said Haifa Mohammed, who said she worked in the company's sustainable development department.

"We expected this change to happen. But what we are seeing is the old people are still there, the bad people, the managers.

The new people they brought are not good enough," he said.

"We are looking for qualified people. We have this culture of loyalty. It's not a matter of qualities ... It's always ...if you are loyal to him and doing what he wants you'll have credits."

Some workers said the new NOC chief, Nouri Berouin, had not made a good first impression because he had not given an indication that he would act against favouritism.

"We need clean decisions to change departments and to (stop) corruption," said an employee who declined to give his name.

"We presented a demand about our problems and we did not get a reply," said NOC employee Mowz Nasser.

The protesters carried banners saying: "We need a change of leadership to return to work." and "Yes to justice, no to favoritism."

- Reuters

[Swede]

14. US helping secure Libya arms stockpiles: White House

The United States is working closely with Libya's new interim leaders to secure all arms stockpiles, amid concerns over weapons proliferation, the White House said Tuesday.

"Since the beginning of the crisis we have been actively engaged with our allies and partners to support Libya's effort to secure all conventional weapons stockpiles including recovery, control and disposal of shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles," spokesman Jay Carney said.

"We are exploring every option to expand our support," he told reporters on Air Force One as President Barack Obama toured western states.

US General Carter Ham, who led the first stage of the coalition air campaign in Libya, said in early April that there were fears that militants could seize some of the estimated 20,000 shoulder-launched missiles in Libya, calling it "a regional and an international concern."



http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jgthjMmOYCbcYqLmN4rvGzCAJgBg?docId=CNG.211f4e001608b37db54efe2a0eef44b5.e91

[pinboy3niner]

15. Libyan official delivers $16M to southern city

By BEN HUBBARD and RAMI AL-SHAHEIBI - Associated Press | AP – 24 mins ago.


SABHA, Libya (AP) — Libya's transitional government delivered 20 million dinars ($16 million) Tuesday to this remote southern city beset by fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, hoping to bolster support for revolutionary forces. On the other side, Gadhafi's son was seen in a video for the first time since Tripoli fell, trying to rally the remnants of his father's regime.

Journalists accompanied the oil and finance minister, Ali al-Tarhouni, and the cash on the first flight to touch down in the desert city of Sabha since a NATO enforced no-fly zone order in March. The 20 boxes of 20-dinar notes, each weighing 116 pounds (78 kilograms), were delivered to the Sabha central bank.

...


In Sabha, revolutionaries are based in the city's largest neighborhood, al-Gurtha. They have set up a national council office and checkpoints on roads leading to areas where Gadhafi loyalists refuse to hand over their weapons. Residents are able to cross checkpoints into Gadhafi loyalist-held areas, but only if they have family inside, and even then they risk being accused of being Gadhafi supporters.

Bashir said the area has no Gadhafi brigades, but there are worries that armed Gadhafi loyalists may ambush revolutionary forces from the desert.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-official-delivers-16m-southern-city-204034808.html

[pinboy3niner]

17. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 223: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:01 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, UTC +1 hour, GMT +2 hours










Inside one of Gaddafi's torture cells
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030931/Libya-Inside-Gaddafis-torture-chamber-The-bloodstained-cells-inside-primary-school-used-brutalise-enemies.html

[pinboy3niner]

20. Libya fighting rages for Gaddafi hometown

Source: Al Jazeera

At least seven NTC fighters killed in continuing push for Sirte, while offensive in Bani Walid stalls.

Last Modified: 27 Sep 2011 23:10


Seven people have been killed and at least 40 wounded as Libya's National Transitional Council forces launched a fresh assault on Sirte, the hometown of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

The dead include two NTC commanders who were shot by snipers in fighting near Sirte's port on Tuesday, according to medical officials at a field hospital.

...


Reinforcements were sent in for the anti-Gaddafi forces on Tuesday, including two tanks and about a dozen trucks carrying infantry.

Heavy artillery and tanks were moved on Tuesday afternoon to new positions by NTC forces, in an attempt to combat rocket attacks by pro-Gaddafi forces. Revolutionary forces say they are planning an assault with heavy weapons on the city, but they are currently allowing families to leave.

...


Fateh Marimri, an NTC fighter who left Sirte via its eastern gate, told the AFP news agency that clashes had been taking place near the Mahari Hotel in the city.

"There is intense fighting between us and them. They are using heavy weapons but we are not as we want to cause minimum damage to civilians," Marimri said.

...


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/201192722259122579.html

[tabatha]

22. Zintan Brigade discovered a huge weapons cache in houses of a village

As the fighting raged in Sirte, a group of fighters from the Zintan Brigade discovered a huge weapons cache in houses of a village several kilometres (miles) south of the city, one of them told AFP.

"The stock is massive. Around 100 houses in the village were full of all kinds of ammunition," said Maatiz Saad.

"The stock is so big that we would need hundreds of pickup trucks to load it and move it out. Ammunition was stored even in the village hospital. There are bullets for all kinds of guns and hundreds of rockets."

The claim could not be immediately verified.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/afp/anti-kadhafi-fighters-capture-sirtes-port/468175

[pinboy3niner]

23. Al Jazeera reports from yellowcake warehouse

The discovery of a large quantity of so called yellowcake in the Libyan town of Sabha has shocked observers.

The radioactive chemical which can be used in the production of nuclear weapons was found unguarded.

Tony Birtley toured the warehouse where the milled powder is stored (1:50):

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-27-2011-2101

[tabatha]

24. US helping secure Libya arms stockpiles: White House

The United States is working closely with Libya's new interim leaders to secure all arms stockpiles, amid concerns over weapons proliferation, the White House said Tuesday.

"Since the beginning of the crisis we have been actively engaged with our allies and partners to support Libya's effort to secure all conventional weapons stockpiles including recovery, control and disposal of shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles," spokesman Jay Carney said.

"We are exploring every option to expand our support," he told reporters on Air Force One as President Barack Obama toured western states.

US General Carter Ham, who led the first stage of the coalition air campaign in Libya, said in early April that there were fears that militants could seize some of the estimated 20,000 shoulder-launched missiles in Libya, calling it "a regional and an international concern."

http://news.yahoo.com/us-helping-secure-libya-arms-stockpiles-white-house-211716551.html

[pinboy3niner]

25. LATimes: R2P and the Libya mission. When does 'responsibility to protect' grant countries the right

to intervene?

Posted in GD by pampango:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2014795

[tabatha]

26. Democracy Now

Video Report from Libya: "I Never Expected We Would Be Free"

In Libya, a brigade commander of Libyan revolutionary fighters says his forces are communicating with families stuck inside of Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s besieged hometown to try to secure a way out. More than one month after seizing Tripoli and effectively ending Gaddafi’s rule, revolutionary forces still face fierce resistance from Gaddafi loyalists in the towns of Sirte, Bani Walid and in pockets in the country’s desert south. Meanwhile, the National Transitional Council has delayed announcing an expanded interim cabinet of up to 36 members that is supposed to be more representative. Even as the fighting continues and questions remain over Libya’s political future, inside the recently liberated capital city of Tripoli the mood is largely upbeat. Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat and Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films were in Tripoli last week and filed this report.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/27/video_report_from_libya_i_never

[tabatha]

27. Musa Ibrahim arrested

FreeBenghazi Libya.elHurra
Gaddafi mouthpiece, Musa Ibrahim arrested between Gates 30 & 50, by Misrata fighters in #Sirte, disguised as a woman wearing a veil #Libya
3 hours ago

Waiting for confirmation.

[al bupp]

30. Tweet: Its HMED GHUMA

@AFreeHuman
_McClane_ BREAKING: CONFIRMED: Person arrested between Gates 30 & 50 in #SIRTE is NOT MOUSSA "LONG NOSE" IBRAHIM - Its HMED GHUMA. #Libya #Feb17
1 hour ago via TweetDeck

[ellisonz]

36. Aww rats...

[tabatha]

39. Well, there may be some news tomorrow or soon.

[tabatha]

28. Libya: Ammunition of mass destruction around the Libyan city

http://youtu.be/gDVQBMuYF2g

[inna]

29. oh god

-1

[ellisonz]

35. God is Great.

+1

At least that's what the Libyans seem to be saying: ALLAHU AKBAR!

:woohoo:

[tabatha]

37. God is Greater.

[ellisonz]

42. God is Greatest.

[inna]

44. care to elaborate? just curious.

i, personally, used the word "god" as an euphemism (being an atheist).

[pinboy3niner]

45. Allahu Akbar literally means, "Allah is Greater"

It's a common expression among Libyan revolutionaries as well as Muslims around the world.

[inna]

46. i know what "Allahu Akbar" means, and that was clearly not my question. thanks anyway though,

and nm.

[tabatha]

48. Nothing ground shattering.

I presumed the first answer was the translation - great.
I responded with the correct translation - greater.
I guess the next post was just completing the adjective derived forms.

[joshcryer]

50. Ahh.

That actually explains a lot.

[inna]

51. atheism is hardly uncommon, my self-proclaimed anarchist DU fellow

[joshcryer]

53. Some of the most virulent anti-islam people are atheists.

Dawkins, for example, is highly critical of Islam while being relatively kind to Christianity. Hitchens, likewise, is extremely critical of Islam. And Douglas Murray is a truly grotesque example and it goes even deeper with him. It's no wonder Juan Cole has been thrown under the bus, it's not really the atheism that is of course the signifier, it's the whole. Being in "that" camp.

Still have respect for Dawkins and Hitchens, despite their obvious overlap with the neo-conservative Murray, of course.

[mark7sys]

70. The burr under Dawkins' saddle

Dawkins – quite understandably, IMHO – has a burr under his saddle with respect to Islam on account of the unmitigated plonk being promulgated by one Adnan Oktar under the name “Harun Yahya”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlas_of_Creation

To make matters worse, Turkish courts appear to take a dim view of freedom of speech among scientists.

Read more: “Dawkins website banned in Turkey”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790039.ece

Apart from these factors, I do not have the sense that Dawkins would be any more antagonistic towards Islam than towards any other religion. Certainly it isn't fair to paint all religionists as anti-intellectual, but Dawkins probably has more motivation and justification than most people do for having such an outlook.

[joshcryer]

31. The Case for U.S. Humanitarian Interventionism

http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3814.cfm">The Case for U.S. Humanitarian Interventionism
...

Say what you will about President Obama's decision to lead a NATO intervention in Libya. The criticisms are plenty, and they are not unfounded. It is true that we armed and supported rebel fighters who neither knew what they were doing nor had a unifying identity. It is true that the National Transitional Council (NTC) faces a hard road ahead and is in no way guaranteed to succeed in effectively governing the Libyan people. One can even make the argument that our oil interests indirectly drove the decision. But the fact remains that Muammar Gaddafi was defeated, and that the brutal assault on his people has come to an end.

...

Libya cost a sliver of what we're spending in Afghanistan and, arguably, accomplished more. If the civil conflict in Ivory Coast had received more press this spring—with hundreds caught in the crossfire as Laurent Gbagbo refused to give up his presidency to Alassane Outtara—the United States, working with its international partners and consulting the U.N. Security Council, could have saved more lives by stepping in and quelling the violence. We could have been in and out without violating the War Powers Resolution.

1970s Castro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_intervention_in_Angola">would agree with this kind of internationalism...

[tabatha]

38. The Libyan model has been envious to the Syrians.

They would like the same for themselves.

Another important byproduct has been getting a handle on all of Gaddafi's weapons, chemical and otherwise.

He seems to have spent a far larger chunk of Libyan income on weapons rather than people.

[ellisonz]

85. Rats Carry Germs!

[joshcryer]

32. Anti-Gaddafi forces capture Sirte's port

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/anti-gaddafi-forces-capture-sirte-s-port-2011-09-28-1.420941">Anti-Gaddafi forces capture Sirte's port
Anti-Gaddafi forces overran Sirte's port on Tuesday, scoring a strategic victory in the battle for control of the ousted Libyan leader's birthplace, as instense fighting carried on inside the city.

But in the other main redoubt of Bani Walid, Muammar Gaddafi's forces went on the offensive after the fugitive ex-strongman broadcast a message rallying resistance to a weeks-long siege by National Transitional Council forces.

...

"There is intense fighting between us and them. They are using heavy weapons but we are not as we want to cause minimum damage to civilians," Marimri said.

"They are now fighting us in civilian clothes and there are African mercenaries everywhere in Sirte," he told AFP.

[joshcryer]

33. Photos reveal party life of Kadhafi son

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/09/28/11/photos-reveal-party-life-kadhafi-son">Photos reveal party life of Kadhafi son
Photographs obtained by AFP in Libya reveal how Moamer Kadhafi's son Hannibal and his lingerie model wife lived a high-flying party lifestyle during his father's brutal rule.

In the dozens of photographs, found on a laptop belonging to Kadhafi's son and made available by former Libyan rebels to AFP, Hannibal, 36, and his Lebanese wife Aline Skaff are shown partying in European capitals, on a private jet and on a yacht off the Egyptian coast.

The couple is famed for having provoked diplomatic tensions with Switzerland when they were arrested in 2008 in a luxury hotel in Geneva for allegedly assaulting two former servants.

After the fall of Tripoli last month, an Ethiopian nanny also said she had been beaten and severely burnt while working for the couple.

[joshcryer]

34. Libyan official delivers $16 million to southern city

http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_18991141?source=rss">Libyan official delivers $16 million to southern city
Libya's transitional government delivered 20 million dinars ($16 million) Tuesday to this remote southern city beset by fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, hoping to bolster support for revolutionary forces.

Journalists accompanied the oil and finance minister, Ali al-Tarhouni, and the cash on the first flight to touch down in the desert city of Sabha since a NATO enforced no-fly zone order in March. The 20 boxes of 20-dinar notes, each weighing 116 pounds, were delivered to the Sabha central bank.

Revolutionary forces have gained control of much of the area but still face heavy resistance.

"The forces inside these areas are not opposed to joining us, but they do not want to disarm," said Ahmed Bashir, spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council in Sabha. "They have the weapons and no manpower. We have the manpower and lighter weapons."

[tabatha]

40. Amazigh cultural event & fundraising for the wounded

ِ#Amazigh cultural event & fundraising for the wounded in #Tripoli's Martyrs' Square 27/09/11 facebook.com/media/set/?set… facebook.com/media/set/?set…

WOW



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=281949148489386&set=a.281947998489501.75807.225382630812705&type=1&theater

[tabatha]

41. NTC forces have opened a line of communication in the northwest coastal area

Lavoie also said Gadhafi forces are turning away neutral humanitarian aid, “which is appalling and senseless, as this gives Gadhafi forces no military advantage at all.”

The military spokesman said National Transitional Council forces have seen some success in recent days.

“On a more positive note, the NTC forces have opened a line of communication in the northwest coastal area last weekend, which has allowed thousands to escape from that route,” he said. “This life-saving operation resulted in NTC casualties, but allowed many to escape a very tough, if not to say dire, situation.”

Lavoie also said transitional government forces have gained control of Libya’s remaining stockpile of chemical and nuclear-related agents.

“We are confident that allies in international organizations that are in contact with the NTC are working to ensure that Libya’s governing authorities can take full control of any proliferation sensitive material that is left and that they start planning for their safe disposal,” he said.

http://shabablibya.org/news/libya-operations-remain-fluid-nato-official-says

[joshcryer]

43. Libya lecture to shed light on US relations

http://www.daily49er.com/news/libya-lecture-to-shed-light-on-us-relations-1.2639647#.ToKbJPpQcWY">Libya lecture to shed light on US relations
Cal State Long Beach's department of Africana Studies will host a lecture today about the unfolding events in Libya, entitled "Engaging Libya: International Legitimacy and National Interest."

There will be specific issues discussed during the lecture, including discourse on moral and legal implications, extensions of U.S. foreign policy, and recent issues regarding U.S. involvement in Libya, according to Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of the department of Africana Studies.

After the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, "Engaging Libya" hopes to spread further knowledge about more recent events unfolding in Africa and the Middle East.

Roland Adjovi, academic director of the Nyerere Center for Peace Research in Arusha, Tanzania, will share his expertise on international law and human rights. Adjovi once served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a 1994 United Nations-sanctioned court that judged people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide. In addition, he earned his educational background in law and public administration, and political science and human rights at the University of Paris.

[tabatha]

47. Nelly Furtado pledges $1-million from Gaddafi performance to children’s charity

Nelly Furtado has pledged her $1-million fee from a 2007 performance for the family of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to the children’s rights charity Free the Children.

The Victoria-born singer made the announcement Tuesday night before a cheering crowd of 18,000 people at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. Performing with the Kenyan Boys Choir, she was one of several celebrities to appear at We Day, an annual event put on by Free the Children. The singer did not mention the donation’s connection to Muammar Gaddafi.

Ms. Furtado first went public with news that she had performed for the Gaddafi family in February following a New York Times report that several Western pop stars had collected enormous sums of money to perform for the dictator’s family.

“In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Gaddafi clan to perform a 45 min. show for guests at a hotel in Italy. I am going to donate the $,” she Tweeted, just as the Libyan Revolution was in its opening stages.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/09/27/nelly-furtado-pledges-1-million-from-gaddafi-performance-to-childrens-charity/

[tabatha]

49. TAWARGA - "Gaddafi used you and then he ran away."

28-Sep-11, 9:55 AM |

The graffiti on a wall next to a looted grocery store neatly sums up the plight of a small Libyan town whose entire population fled in fear of reprisals by the rebel forces now in power.

The people of Tawarga -- who are mostly black-skinned Libyans -- are accused of having played a major role in the siege by Muamma Gaddafi's forces of nearby Misrata, the bloodiest event in Libya's revolution.

Misratans, who say men from the town of around 30,000 people eagerly signed up to kill and rape, like to show mobile phone footage of uniformed Tawargans climbing aboard trucks and chanting that they are ready to take Misrata.

The same images are repeatedly shown on Misrata's television station, fanning the animosity that many Misratans feel - and readily express - towards their departed neighbors.

As Gaddafi forces retreated from Tawarga last month, the town's residents quickly fled en masse, terrified that their neighbours would take revenge. They sought refuge in Tripoli and Sirte and other cities.

Tawarga is now a ghost town, with goats, donkeys and a few cows wandering streets whose buildings are pockmarked by bullets and rockets. Shops and many homes have been looted, and some have been torched.


At a checkpoint on that road on Monday, NTC fighters gave a typically angry reaction when asked about Tawarga. We don't want them living next to us, they said.

"They raped our women, killed our children, they cut their throats. They're not normal human beings," said Yusuf Ali Mohamed. "We want to take those who killed to court. Those who raped, we will never forgive them."

One of his colleagues then produced a mobile phone and showed a video of dark-skinned men in Gaddafi uniforms slapping prisoners, and he said these were Tawargans abusing rebel fighters.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/14030/bitter-payback-for-libyan-town-that-fought-for-gaddafi

A less hysterical, more informational account.

[pinboy3niner]

52. Western powers back off from sanctions call on Syria

AFP – 1 hr 30 mins ago.

Western powers dropped calls for immediate sanctions against Syria at the UN Security Council in the face of veto threats from China and Russia, as activists reported more Syrian civilian deaths.

A new draft resolution drawn up by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal, with US backing, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Tuesday, threatens to adopt sanctions if the deadly crackdown by Syrian security forces does not end.

...


Rights groups said that the violence on the ground was continuing.

Syrian forces killed at least six civilians in raids on dissidents Tuesday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Three civilians were killed and seven others were injured during an assault by the army and security agents against the Homs district of Bayada," it said.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/syria-accuses-west-sowing-total-chaos-060404395.html

[pinboy3niner]

54. NATO airstrikes conducted Tuesday, September 27

Key Hits 27 SEPTEMBER:


In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 ammunition /vehicle storage facility.


...


International Humanitarian Assistance Movements as recorded by NATO


Total of Humanitarian Movements**: 1494 (air, ground, maritime)


Ships delivering Humanitarian Assistance 27 SEPTEMBER: 1


Aircrafts delivering Humanitarian Assistance 27 SEPTEMBER: 34


**Some humanitarian movements cover several days.


http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_09/20110928_110928-oup-update.pdf

[pinboy3niner]

55. U.S. to Syrians: 'Don't Expect Another Libya'

Source: TIME Magazine

By RANIA ABOUZEID / BEIRUT Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011

September 28 2011 at 10:18am



Syria's protest movement is largely peaceful, says U.S Ambassador Robert Ford. But the longer President Bashar Assad prolongs his ferocious campaign to suppress the challenge, the greater is the likelihood that Assad's claims to be facing an armed sectarian rebellion will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

...


.... Six months of a ruthless crackdown have left at least 2,700 people dead and more than 20,000 in detention (some of whom are feared dead). Some Syrians are now calling for protection from the international community, but like many things related to the fragmented Syrian opposition, there is disagreement as to what that might mean. The spectrum of opinion covers everything from full-throttled NATO intervention on the lines of Libya to creating and protecting and a Benghazi-like haven near the Syrian-Turkey border, deploying international monitors or simply providing greater political support.


"One of the things we've told the opposition is that they should not think we are going to treat Syria the same way we treated Libya," Ford says. "The main thing for the opposition to do is figure out how to win away support from the regime, and not look to outsiders to try and solve the problem. This is a Syrian problem and it needs Syrian solutions."

...


http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2094881,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

77. It would be nice to not get sucked into another war

but if NATO/UN/US stays out of this, the Syrian protest movement is doomed.

Without western air power, the sitting government holds all the cards. The Syrian demonstrators have no more chance than the Libyan rebels had.

[pinboy3niner]

56. NTC fighters killed in Sirte battle

Source: AFP

September 28 2011 at 10:18am


Sirte - More than 10 fighters of Libya's new rulers were killed on Tuesday in fierce street fighting with forces of Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte, a commander told AFP.

“More than 10 of our fighters have been killed today in face-to-face fighting near Mahari hotel” in eastern Sirte, said the commander who asked not to be named as the information was sensitive.

The fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Libya's new ruling body, had taken control of the hotel on Monday.

The NTC fighters and Gaddafi's diehards clashed “in street fights and shot at each other from close range with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled-grenades” on Tuesday, the commander said.

...


http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/ntc-fighters-killed-in-sirte-battle-1.1146185

[pinboy3niner]

57. NTC official: Gaddafi hiding near Algeria boder

Reuters reports this morning that "a senior Libyan military official" said the former dictator is believed to be hiding near Ghadamis, protected by Tuareg tribesmen.

[pinboy3niner]

58. Libya's Gaddafi hiding near Algeria border - NTC official

Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:01am GMT

By Samia Nakhoul


LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi is believed to be hiding near the western town of Ghadamis near the Algerian border under the protection of Touareg tribesmen, a senior Libyan military official said.

"One tribe, the Touareg, is still supporting him and he is believed to be in the Ghadamis area in the south," Hisham Buhagiar, a senior military official of the Libya's new leadership, told Reuters by telephone late on Tuesday.

Buhagiar, coordinator of the hunt for Gaddafi, said the ousted Libyan leader was believed to have been in the southern town of Samnu a week ago before moving to Ghadamis, which lies 550 km (345 miles) southwest of Tripoli.

He said Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was in Bani Walid and another son, Mutassem, was in Sirte, the family's home town.

"They are both thinking about leaving Libya maybe to Niger," Buhagiar added.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KS2U420110928?sp=true

[ellisonz]

60. Ghadamis is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Ghadames or Ghadamis (Arabic: غدامس‎, Berber: Ghdames / Ɣdames / ɛadēməs; Libyan vernacular: ġdāməs) is an oasis town in the west of Libya. It lies roughly 549 km to the southwest of Tripoli, near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia. Ghadames borders Illizi Province, Algeria and Tataouine Governorate, Tunisia.

The oasis has a population of 7,000, mainly Berbers. The old part of the town, which is surrounded by a wall, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Each of the seven clans that used to live in this part of the town had its own district, of which each had a public place where festivals could be held.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghadamis

[pinboy3niner]

59. NTC forces have launched an assault against the airport in Sirte

From The Guardian's Live Blog:


Al-Jazeera reporter Zeina Khodr tweets that forces loyal to the new government have begun an assault near the airport in Sirte.

#Libya, a few hundred fighters taking part in operation aimed at securing southern flank of #Sirte where airport is located

#Libya, Anti #Gaddafi fighters firing rockets at #Sirte airport

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/28/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live-updates#block-8

[ellisonz]

61. Soon Sirte Will be FREE!!!

[pinboy3niner]

62. HRW demands UN probe into Syrian woman's death

AP – 11 mins ago


BEIRUT (AP) — An international human rights group is calling for a U.N. investigation into the possible role by Syrian security agents in the recent decapitation of an 18-year-old Syrian woman.

Zainab al-Hosni from the central city of Homs was beheaded and mutilated and her body returned to her family earlier this month.
...

http://news.yahoo.com/hrw-demands-un-probe-syrian-womans-death-112356359.html

Detailed HRW News Release:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/27/syria-investigate-possible-state-role-decapitating-woman

[pinboy3niner]

63. Exclusive: First Libya crude cargo bound for Italy

By Jonathan Saul | Reuters – 14 mins ago


LONDON (Reuters) - Libya's first crude oil cargo to be shipped in months sailed from the eastern port of Marsa el Hariga on September 25 bound for Italy, Libya's port authority chief told Reuters on Tuesday.

The country, formerly Africa's, third-largest producer, had exported only two other crude oil cargoes since a rebellion erupted against former leader Muammar Gaddafi in February. Gaddafi was toppled last month.

Capt. Ramadan Boumadyan, chairman of the designated committee at Libya's Ports & Maritime Transport Authority, said the Hellas Warrior was carrying a cargo of 381,000 barrels of Libyan crude. "It left on September 25 to Italy," he said in an interview.
...

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-first-libya-crude-cargo-bound-italy-113350341.html

[pinboy3niner]

64. NTC fighters appeal for more NATO help after loyalist rocket barrage kills a top commander

From AJE's Live Blog:

The AFP news agency reports that anti-Gaddafi fighters Wednesday appealed for help from NATO after being blasted by rockets fired by loyalist troops in Bani Walid, one of the ousted Libyan leader's last bastions.

Among 11 National Transitional Council fighters killed in the barrage was senior commander Daou al-Salhine al-Jadak, whose car was struck by a rocket as he headed towards the front late on Tuesday, NTC chief negotiator Abdullah Kenshil told AFP.

NTC field commander Captain Walid Khaimej said, meanwhile, that the fierce resistance of Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists had stalled the advance by NTC fighters in the desert town, some 170 km (100 miles) from Tripoli.

"There is always incoming missile and artillery fire. We are returning fire with heavy weapons but we are not sending in infantry. We are waiting for reinforcements to come from Tripoli and Zawiyah," said Khaimej.

"NATO is here but is not doing enough. They take out the rocket launchers firing at us, but they are immediately replaced. We need more help from NATO," he added.

...


Jadak was one of the highest ranking NTC military commanders in Bani Walid and hails from the oasis town itself.

...


http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-28-2011-1456

[pinboy3niner]

65. NTC fighters report taking Sirte airport

The news comes from Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting live just now from Sirte. The claim should be able to be confirmed shortly.

[pinboy3niner]

66. Gaddafi hometown a hazardous prize for Libya's NTC

Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:15pm GMT

• Bloody battle could harm new rulers' reputation

• Gaddafi Sirte gives succour to his supporters

• Sirte running short of food, water and power

• City has strategic, symbolic importance


By Alexander Dziadosz


SIRTE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - For months the Libyan fighters who toppled Muammar Gaddafi both craved and dreaded the battle for his hometown Sirte. Nearly two weeks of costly fighting have made it clear why.


The fall of the coastal enclave would be a major strategic and psychological boost to the country's new rulers as they try to stamp out pockets of Gaddafi loyalists, and could encourage the surrender of the other major remaining bastion, Bani Walid.

...


More than 50 of the former rebels have been killed and over 460 wounded on the city's western front alone since brigades from the port city of Misrata began the advance into Sirte on Sept. 15, according to records at an NTC field hospital.

...


It is impossible to know how many Sirte residents have died during the assault, but any high death toll blamed on the former rebels could cast further doubt on the NTC's ability to control the brigades nominally under its command, embarrass their foreign allies and engender regional feuds.


Wary of these dangers, officers have stressed their priority is to save civilian lives, using their tanks, mortars and other heavy weapons only against selective military targets.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KS34L20110928?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

67. 'Mass Grave' Found Close To Libyan Hotel

Source: Sky News

1:56pm UK, Wednesday September 28, 2011

Alex Rossi, in Libya


The new Libyan authorities claim to have discovered another "mass grave" in Tripoli - close to a hotel at which Western journalists had been forced to stay.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) say the latest site is being unearthed near the Rixos Hotel, where 37 foreign journalists were trapped by the Gaddafi government during the fall of Tripoli.

A total of eight corpses have so far been uncovered although no evidence has yet been made available linking it to the previous regime.

The discovery was made after a soldier saw blood on the ground and what looked like broken limbs.

...


It is thought the alleged victims died within the past five months and the NTC is speculating that they could be local civilians.

...


http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16078825

[pinboy3niner]

68. Libya's Agoco plans restarts at three oilfields

Wed Sep 28, 2011 2:33pm GMT


• Agoco plans to pump 350,000 bpd by mid-October

• Nafoora, Hamada and Beda fields due to resume

• Second crude cargo planned from Tobruk


By Emma Farge


LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Benghazi-based oil firm Agoco said it planned restarts at three more Libyan oilfields in east and west Libya by mid-October, boosting output to 350,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Oil is slowly starting to flow again after seven months of fighting and, if fresh projections prove correct, may beat the expectations of analysts who think it could take three years to reach pre-war output levels.

"Our target plan is to have the Nafoora field back on 5 October and Hamada and Beda on 15 October. That will bring total output to 350,000 barrels per day," said Agoco spokesman Abdeljalil Mauf by telephone on Wednesday.

The oil firm, a subsidiary of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), was the first to restart production in Libya after around seven months of war and is now pumping from the eastern Sarir and Mesla fields.

Agoco's current output is around 220,000 bpd, said Mayuf.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KS56820110928?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

69. NTC forces find hidden helicopter at Sirte port - Reuters

In Tripoli, a senior NTC officer said his fighters, on entering Sirte port two days ago, had found and seized a helicopter hidden under camouflage that appeared to have been made ready for a swift departure. He told Reuters he suspected the helicopter was assigned for the use of a senior official of the ousted Gaddafi government, possibly one of Gaddafi's sons.

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KS3TF20110928?sp=true

[tabatha]

71. Libya’s Berbers demand post-revolution dues

“Free Men” in Libya for 10,000 years but not for the past four decades under Muammar Qaddafi, the Amazighs − or Berbers − are rallying to seek recognition of their language and other rights, thanks to the country’s revolution.

During the 41 years of Qaddafi hardline rule, the Amazighs − whose name means “free men” − were banned from publicly speaking, writing or printing anything in their own tongue, tamazight.

Earlier this week, the Berbers who make up some 10 percent of Libya’s six million people, organized the “First Libyan Amazigh forum” under the slogan: “Officialize the Amazigh language and support national unity.”

The unprecedented conference, opened on Monday, started with the new nation anthem, sung in Arabic and tamazight.

“We do not believe in political parties founded on different (identities) from Amazighs but want to tell the transitional government and the government that follows that the Amazighs are an integral part of political life,” said Fathi Abu Zakhar, chairman of the preparatory committee.

“We want tamazight inscribed as a right in the constitution,” he told dozens of participants at the conference.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/28/169162.

[tabatha]

72. Benghazi Boy Scouts Fill Vacuum of Libyan Social Services

The chaos that has engulfed Libya in the last few weeks has sent ripple effects throughout the society. When the Gadhafi government lost control of eastern Libya, a vacuum formed in social and other basic services. Among those who have stepped forward to help are the Benghazi Boy Scouts.

http://youtu.be/Qnm9ZkG6t9g

Can you imagine Boy Scouts directing traffic in Iraq after Bush invaded?

[tabatha]

73. Another grave outside Misrata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CBrTwmz8-g

Misurata Free Zone: Special: detect a single al-Gaddafi of prisoners by the rebels for a mass grave in the Air Force Academy Misurata, containing the remains of two individuals from Misurata rebels who were captured by the battalions.

He said the prisoner - who have reservations on his name - which indicates the location of the tomb: he saw the burial by the members of the battalion after they have been sentenced to death in a special prison prisoners in the same place, he said.
And shows the grave site a decomposing body and a human skull and bones.

[ellisonz]

86. Gaddafi attempted to commit genocide.

The Libyan's called for our help - and together we stopped a madman dead in his tracks.

I don't think any reasonable observer doubts we will see more of these images in the weeks, months and years ahead.

[tabatha]

74. Driving around Tripoli

http://youtu.be/sBXwxLi7zow

[tabatha]

75. Gadhafi nephew had ‘house of gold’ but didn’t pay maids

Two housemaids managed to escape from Libya with the help of a Filipino labor attaché last week, but two other Filipino househelp have chosen to remain, hoping they would still be paid.

Diana Jill Rivera, 30, and Mary Ann Ducos, 29, arrived in Tripoli within a week of each other in September 2010 to work as housemaids for Sharif Sahal, said to be a nephew and righthand man of the fallen Libyan dictator.

“Tripoli is a big place. It may be a city but we lived in a farmhouse,” recalled Rivera.

Sahal’s property was a sprawling mansion with a garage that housed 13 luxury vehicles.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/14023/gadhafi-nephew-had-%E2%80%98house-of-gold%E2%80%99-but-didn%E2%80%99t-pay-maids

[Swede]

98. Not too suprising.

nt

[tabatha]

76. Odds and ends

RazanSpeaks Razan Saffour
by JossanSE
A rap from Libyan Freedom Fighters dedicated to their fellow Syrians :) - اغنية ليبية لثورة سوريا كوينر #Syria #Libya
http://youtu.be/pKTptA49Kbg

youngamazigh youngamazigh
by JossanSE
Libyan national anthem in Amazigh sung proudly by Libyans in martyrs square. #amazigh #libya #feb17
http://youtu.be/3PIGv9AVh1M
(LOVE SEEING ALL THESE UNFORCED-TO-BE-THERE PEOPLE in martyrs square.)

Alzfalz Ala F
by JossanSE
Princess Ameerah of Saudi tweets that the lashing of the #Saudi #woman driver is canceled by King Abdullah #women2drive #stillnotenough

Thanku4theAnger THANKU4THEANGER
by JossanSE
Gaddafi officer Ajaj Ajaj capturedby FFs in attempt to escape Beni Walid as woman.Was responsible for arming Tawergha against Misrata #feb17

[tabatha]

78. Alive in Libya

http://alive.in/libya/category/education/

Click on Summer Camp

Love the messy hair kid. Bu Shafufa

They have redone their website - very nice.

http://alive.in/libya/

[pinboy3niner]

79. Libyan fighters capture Sirte airport

Source: Al Jazeera

Forces loyal to interim government say they are in control of the airport in one of last bastions of Gaddafi support.

Last Modified: 28 Sep 2011 17:55


Forces loyal to Libya's interim government say they have captured the airport in Sirte, the birthplace of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Fighters belonging to National Transitional Council said on Wednesday they were in control of the airport after intense fighting in the coastal city, one of the last of two bastions of support for the deposed Libyan leader.

...


Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the city, said the latest seizure by NTC forces marked the capture of a strategic site.

"Anti-Gaddafi fighters seem to be in control of Sirte airport, a very strategic location; they have been receiving help from NATO," she said.

...


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/2011928134252487233.html

[pinboy3niner]

80. Libya ready to probe possible other Lockerbie suspects

Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:30pm EDT

By William Maclean


TRIPOLI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Libya's interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi said on Wednesday he was ready to work with Scottish authorities to probe the possible involvement of others in the Lockerbie bombing apart from the sole Libyan convicted for the attack.

His remark at news conference reversed a position he took only on Monday, when he said that as far as Libya was concerned the case of the bombing of the U.S.-bound airliner over the Scottish village of Lockerbie with the loss of 270 lives was closed.

Scottish prosecutors had asked Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) to give them access to papers or witnesses that could implicate more suspects in the attack, possibly including deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Asked on Wednesday about his response to this request, he said through an interpreter: "I'd like to confirm that we are accepting any facts that might arise in this regard, if there is any suspicion about any other person."

He added: "We will cooperate in this regard with whoever has any other facts, according to international treaties."

...


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/28/libya-lockerbie-probe-idUSL5E7KS70Y20110928

[pinboy3niner]

81. Violent crackdown by Syrian forces leaves 69 people dead in five days

Source: Al Arabiya

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
DUBAI


Syrian security forces killed up to 69 people in the past five days as part of a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, activists said.

Rights groups said that the violence on the ground was continuing.

At least 15 people were killed on Tuesday in the central governorates of Homs and Hama, the northern province of Idlib and in the southern area of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad began in March, they said.

“Three civilians were killed and seven others were injured during an assault by the army and security agents against the Homs district of Bayada,” the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to AFP.

...


http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/28/169091.html

[pinboy3niner]

82. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 224: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:01 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, UTC +1 hour, GMT +2 hours










Inside one of Gaddafi's torture cells
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030931/Libya-Inside-Gaddafis-torture-chamber-The-bloodstained-cells-inside-primary-school-used-brutalise-enemies.html

[tabatha]

83. Libya: Extraordinary argument captured during fresh Sirte assault

Anti-Gaddafi fighters have renewed the battle to capture Sirte with one soldier attempting to use psychological warfare to undermine forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Away from the battlefield's mix of rocket fire, he took to the airwaves on an intercepted radio frequency to urge pro-Gaddafi fighters in the city to surrender.

As the war of words began, a fighter loyal to Gaddafi said: "We are fighting for the sake of Muammar", to which the NTC fighter replied: "We are fighting for the sake of Libya, that's it, Libya is free and Gaddafi must leave. That's it, it's game over, today is your end."

"Just ignore him, he's a dog, let him bark away," said another pro-Gaddafi soldier. "Surrender or face the sword," the NTC fighter replied.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/libya-video/8795578/Libya-Extraordinary-argument-captured-during-fresh-Sirte-assault.html

[ellisonz]

87. They're like Japanese soldiers hiding in a the jungle after World War II.

Still refusing to accept that the war is over.

[pinboy3niner]

84. NTC fighters have captured Sirte's port, airport and air base

From AJE's Live Blog:

Ahmed Bani, a spokesman for the NTC's defence ministry, says NTC fighters are in control of Sirte's port, airport and air base.

"We are also controlling north of the city now and our fighters advanced some kilometers from the east side of Sirte.

"We won't lose this battle; it's a matter of days."

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-29-2011-0047

[pinboy3niner]

88. Libya ‘issues summons’ for Qaddafi’s ex-PM

Thursday, 29 September 2011

By AFP
TRIPOLI


Libya has issued a summons for Muammar Qaddafi’s former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, who fled the country for neighboring Tunisia, the interim justice minister said Wednesday.
...

A Tunisian court swiftly sentenced him to six months in prison after finding him guilty of illegal entry, but that decision was overruled on Tuesday by a higher court following an appeal by his lawyers.
...

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/29/169201.html?PHPSESSID=jb6gqiqfv4b3il41lsqmvgqcr6

[pinboy3niner]

89. Girlfriend of Gadafy's son investigated over alleged trafficking of 'escorts'

Talitha van Zon (39), a Dutch former Playboy model who is under investigation in the Netherlands over people-trafficking claims


The Irish Times - Thursday, September 29, 2011

PETER CLUSKEY in Amsterdam


A 39-YEAR-OLD Dutch former Playboy model is under investigation by police in the Netherlands over allegations she was involved in the trafficking of women as “escorts” to members of the Gadafy regime in Libya.

Talitha van Zon, who met Muammar Gadafy’s son Mutassim in an Italian nightclub in 2004 and became his girlfriend, has gone on Dutch radio to deny the allegations. Last month she jumped from a hotel balcony in Tripoli and escaped the country in a last-minute evacuation arranged by the Hungarian embassy.

The charges were filed in Amsterdam by a former girlfriend of Ms van Zon’s who travelled with her on that last trip to Tripoli just as the Gadafy stranglehold began to crumble. The girlfriend claims she was raped there by Mutassim Gadafy and reported the alleged rape to the Dutch police. She subsequently filed the people-trafficking charges against Ms van Zon, claiming she had been the most recent in a long line of women brought to Tripoli to fund the former centrefold’s luxury lifestyle.

Ms van Zon, however, told a different story in her radio interview. She said it was she who had advised her friend to go to the police, tell them what happened and press charges against Mr Gadafy.

...


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0929/1224304933906.html

[ellisonz]

96. Mutassim Gaddafi - Fan of Hitler

“He worshipped his father. He talked a lot about Hitler, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez. He liked leaders who had a lot of power. He always said: ‘I want to do better than my father’.”

:nopity: for Gaddafi's.

[pinboy3niner]

92. Libyan Rebels Press Toward Sirte in Hunt for Gadhafi, Sons

Source: PBS NewsHour

REPORT AIR DATE: Sept. 28, 2011

Transcript

JUDY WOODRUFF:
...

We begin with a report from Neil Connery of Independent Television News.


NEIL CONNERY:
...

(The civilians who have escaped) may have left this behind them, but so many remain effectively held as prisoners in this last stand by Gadhafi loyalists. The forces we're with say they have just heard their position is about to be targeted by Gadhafi's men.


MAN: That's what we hear, but actually we are not moving out of this place, even if they shoot at us or bomb at us by their rockets.


NEIL CONNERY: You will stay?


MAN: Of course. Of course we will, because we cannot leave our group in the front.


NEIL CONNERY: Sirte will fall, but it's still not clear when.

While the final chapter in this war can only be written once Colonel Gadhafi's fate is known, what happens here in the former leader's hometown will resonate across the new Libya.


Full transcript and video (2:09):

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec11/libya1_09-28.html

[Swede]

93. Libya will cooperate in search for more Lockerbie suspects: minister

Libya’s interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi said on Wednesday he was ready to work with Scottish authorities to probe the possible involvement of others in the Lockerbie bombing apart from the sole Libyan convicted for the attack.

His remark at news conference reversed a position he took only on Monday, when he said that as far as Libya was concerned the case of the bombing of the U.S.-bound airliner over the Scottish village of Lockerbie with the loss of 270 lives was closed.

Scottish prosecutors had asked Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to give them access to papers or witnesses that could implicate more suspects in the attack, possibly including deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/28/libya-will-cooperate-in-search-for-more-lockerbie-suspects-minister/

[pinboy3niner]

94. Behind Qatar's Intervention In Libya

Source: Foreign Affairs

Why Was Doha Such A Strong Supporter of The Rebels?

David Roberts

September 28, 2011


Among the many countries that supported Libya's rebels in their fight to unseat Muammar al-Qaddafi, Qatar was a particularly enthusiastic partner. The Arab emirate of just 1.6 million people, rich in oil and gas, was the first Arab country to recognize the rebel government, the Transitional National Council. It sold Libyan oil on behalf of the rebels to avoid sanctions and supplied them with gas, diesel, and millions of dollars in aid. And Al Jazeera, the satellite broadcaster based in Doha, covered the struggle of the Libyan rebels in even greater detail and depth than it has the Arab world's other revolutionary movements.


On the surface, such actions appear in line with Qatar's recent behavior. Since the mid-1990s, Qatar has pursued an activist foreign policy, using its affluence, unthreatening military position, and skills as a mediator to interject itself in conflicts around the Middle East and beyond.


Still, Qatar's actions in Libya took most analysts by surprise when, in March, it sent six Mirage fighter jets (which likely represented the majority of Qatar's operational fighter strength) to join in NATO air operations. This move signaled a qualitative change in Qatari foreign policy. Over the years, the country has involved itself (with mixed success) in a range of international disputes: In 2008, it mediated a successful resolution to the 18-month-long political stalemate in Lebanon, and in recent years has facilitated temporary agreements between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels. But never before has Qatar so overtly supported one side or made such an active intervention.

...


What Qatar is after is at once much bigger but also more amorphous. As Qatar's elite see it, being at the forefront of popular Arab opinion and defending fellow Arabs against an onslaught from a widely hated dictator is a priceless commodity, both at home and abroad. In the coming post-Qaddafi era in Libya, Qatar wants to act as a translator and guide for those seeking access. In so doing, Qatar may reinforce its role as a knowledgeable, central, and invaluable ally for Western countries. But Libya may remain the exception when it comes to Qatar's approach toward overt intervention: For all its success in Libya, Qatar's leaders are unlikely to forget that despite its growing diplomatic respect and economic clout, Qatar remains a small country in a precarious part of a volatile region.


http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/68302/david-roberts/behind-qatars-intervention-in-libya?page=show

[pinboy3niner]

95. NTC fighters take Sirte airport, plan to hold positions there

Fighters supporting Libya's National Transitional Council say they they are now in control of the airport in Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's hometown.

The city is one of the last battlegrounds in the NTC's push to take over the country.

Sirte is Gaddafi's birthplace, and has been a stronghold for him throughout the seven months of conflict in Libya.

Al Jazeera Zeina Khodr reports (from) Sirte, Libya (2:00):

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-29-2011-0443

[ellisonz]

97. LAT: Kadafi foes keep up assault on stronghold

Kadafi foes keep up assault on stronghold
Libyan revolutionary forces again meet stiff resistance from Moammar Kadafi's loyalists in Surt. But the anti-Kadafi fighters say they are making steady gains and that victory is inevitable.
Battle for Surt



Libyan revolutionary forces open fire during clashes with Kadafi loyalists near Surt. (Asmaa Waguih / Reuters / September 28, 2011)

By Ruth Sherlock, Los Angeles Times

September 28, 2011, 6:34 p.m.
Reporting from Surt, Libya—

Revolutionary forces loyal to Libya's provisional government pressed their assault Wednesday on Moammar Kadafi's hometown, pounding loyalist positions with rockets and mortar fire as plumes of smoke rose from the besieged city.

The forces again met stiff resistance from Kadafi loyalists taking cover in buildings and other urban hideouts in Surt.

------

Checkpoint guards examined all vehicles, going through a farmer's stacked hay bales, emptying suitcases and searching under car hoods for hidden weapons.

"We have 10,000 names of wanted men, so we have to check everyone carefully," said a man issuing permission slips to fleeing families.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-surt-20110929,0,4699153.story

[ellisonz]

99. Reuters: Libya's tanker fleet seen operational in a month

Libya's tanker fleet seen operational in a month
By Jonathan Saul | Reuters – 18 hrs ago

LONDON (Reuters) - Libya's state owned oil tanker fleet is set to be back in business within a month, with some vessels ready for trading in the next two weeks after months at anchorage due to war, the country's port authority chief told Reuters on Tuesday.

Libya's interim rulers are stepping up efforts to get the economy and Africa's previously third biggest oil producer back on track after former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled last month. The country's seaborne trade is seen as vital for resumption of trading activity.

State-owned shipping firm General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC) has been under pressure in recent months due to a combination of sanctions and a freeze on assets belonging to the Gaddafi family, with several tankers that were managed by an international company laid-up off Malta and Singapore.

Ramadan Boumadyan, chairman of the designated committee at Libya's Ports & Maritime Transport Authority, said the interim government was working on getting the 24-strong fleet operational again.

http://news.yahoo.com/libyas-tanker-fleet-seen-operational-month-113350190.html

Wealth for the Libyan people - not Muammar and his children.

[pinboy3niner]

100. The bloody battle for Sabha--that wasn't

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• CNN's Ben Wedeman met the NTC fighters heading to Sabha

• In the hours before the attack fighters showed signs of nerves and confidence

• The city, despite its reputation as a Gadhafi stronghold, fell to the opposition in less than a day

• There are still a few parts of Sabha where the revolutionaries are hesitant to tread

Witnessing lengthy battle for Libyan city


By Ben Wedeman, CNN

updated 6:48 AM EST, Tue September 27, 2011


(CNN) -- We were told to be awake and ready to move at 4 a.m. The National Transitional Council fighters we were with were planning to launch a dawn assault on the Saharan city of Sabha.

All predictions indicated it would be one of the bloodiest battles yet. NTC officials said loyalist forces would use weaponry they hadn't used before. They didn't go into detail but it sounded ominous. Western intelligence sources told CNN the fighters in Sabha still loyal to Libya's ousted leader, Moammar Gadhafi, had heavy artillery and would likely use it.

...


An hour later, after an uneventful drive though the desert, we arrived on the outskirts of Sabha. I could see some smoke on the horizon, but could hear no gunfire. Small clumps of people by the side of the road were cheering and waving. Driving further into the city, the crowds grew larger. There was gunfire but it was all in the air, the ubiquitous celebratory gunfire.

Up above, a man tore down the green flag from the city's main water tower and sent it fluttering to the ground.

...


The huge, bloody battle for Sabha wasn't to be. No one was disappointed.

...


http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/world/africa/battle-sabha-libya/index.html?hpt=wo_mid

[joshcryer]

101. Week 32 part 3 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2021647