Libyan War : Political and strategic aspects

[abhishek_sharma]

From the Urdu Press

After Gaddafi

Commenting on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s appeal for an end to the war in Libya, Rashtriya Sahara writes in its August 30 editorial: “The UN is appealing to the world community to cooperate for peace in Libya, to reduce the difficulties of the US and NATO. The question is, when the US and Europe did what they wanted in Libya, isolating the world community, why there is a need for the world community now... The UN’s irresponsibility that allowed the US and NATO to trample upon Libya like a camel without a rein (be-nakel oonth ki tarah).”

Noted Urdu litterateur and journalist, Hasan Kamal, in a commentary in Jadeed Khabar on August 29, writes: “After witnessing the plight of Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar Assad must also feel his military wall will not be able to stop the wave of political consciousness that has been unleashed in the Arab countries. If Assad is farsighted, he will give up power on his own, instead of clinging on like Gaddafi. This would be good for him as well as for the Syrian people.”

[Philip]

The Rape of Libya:

A Tory donor becomes the prime entity to trade with Libyan rebels in secret talks with the UK!
Talk about "backscratching,this is scratching another more sensitive part of the anatomy!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... y-oil.html

Libya: the minister, the Tory donor and a contract to supply oil
An oil firm whose chief executive has bankrolled the Conservatives won exclusive rights to trade with Libyan rebels during the conflict, following secret talks involving the British Government.

Vitol is thought to be the only oil firm to have traded with the rebels during the Libyan conflict. Oil industry sources said that other firms including BP, Shell and Glencore had not been approached over the deal. One well-placed source said this was “very surprising” because other companies would have been keen to be involved.

Last night the Coalition was under pressure to disclose details of Mr Duncan’s role in securing the deal, worth about $1billion (£618million). The firm is thought to have supplied fuel and associated products to the rebels and traded oil on their behalf.

The controversial firm has previously been fined for breaching sanctions and paid money to Arkan, the Serbian warlord, allegedly for oil contracts.

Sources at other oil firms described the situation as “highly unusual”. Companies are rushing to secure deals with the rebels in Libya, which has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. An Italian oil firm sent a tanker to Benghazi during the conflict but was forced to turn away from the port.

Mr Duncan, a minister in the Department for International Development, is reported to have arranged the setting up of a special “Libyan oil cell” which brought together officials from the Cabinet Office and Foreign Office to stop the Gaddafi regime benefiting from its control of oil reserves. The oil cell is said to have been key in paving the way for deals between Vitol and the rebels.

[joshvajohn]

At present Western approach is very balanced in the case of Libya. I hope the democratic country will evolve soon and will also be balanced in their political approaches towards other countries.

India can help in Libya's democratic transition, says US

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... ting-brics

India's democratic experience can help Libya: US
http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/N ... 40356.aspx

[Philip]

Exposed: The West;'s cosy ties with Gadhaffi!

Yes,the US wants India to do its dirty work in Libya ,picking up the pieces for it so that India can legitimise a puppet regime that will effectively hand over Libya's oil to the US and its western cronies.Who knows,Man Mubarak Singh might jump at the chance to pleas his western gurus!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 49039.html

Gaddafi, Britain and US: A secret, special and very cosy relationship

Classified files lay bare the ties between the nations

Xcpt:

Britain helped to capture one of the leading opponents of the Gaddafi regime before he was sent back to be tortured in Libya, according to a secret document discovered by The Independent on Sunday in the offices of Moussa Koussa, then Muammar Gaddafi's spymaster.


London's involvement in the rendition of Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, currently the military commander of rebel forces in Tripoli, is revealed in the letter from an MI6 officer. In it, he reminds Mr Koussa that it was British intelligence which led to the capture of Mr Belhaj, then leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, before he was sent to Libya in the rendition process by the Americans.

The senior UK intelligence official, whose identity is not being revealed by The Independent on Sunday for security reasons, then sought information obtained from the Islamist leader by "enhanced interrogation technique". Mr Belhaj had revealed that he was tortured during questioning.

Related articles
•The hunt for Gaddafi – and his victims – goes on
•Gaddafi warned UK over Lockerbie bomber
•Douglas Alexander: We helped free Libya, but our job's not over
•Patrick Cockburn: A clean victory in Libya, but the peace will be rather messier
Search the news archive for more stories
The letter refers to Mr Belhaj by his nom de guerre, Abu 'Abd Allah Sadiq, and reads in part: "The intelligence about Abu 'Abd Allah was British. I know I did not pay for the air cargo [Mr Belhaj]. But I feel I have the right to deal with you direct on this and am very grateful to you for the help you are giving us."

The senior UK intelligence official wrote: "This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years... I was grateful to you for helping the officer we sent out last week. Abu 'Abd Allah's information on the situation in this country is of urgent importance to us."

So close had the relationship become that several Western European intelligence agencies were using the services of MI6 to approach the Libyans for help with their own terrorist suspects. The Swedish, Italian and Dutch services sought the help of the UK agency in liaising with Tripoli. A sign of the warmth of the relationship between British intelligence and their Libyan counterparts is shown in the stream of letters from London to Tripoli, headed "Greetings from MI6" and "Greetings from SIS".

Although the documents, which we have not been able to independently verify, relate to the years when Tony Blair's government was in power, they threaten to undermine the UK's relations with the new Libyan administration, the Transitional National Council (TNC). Last night one Conservative MP accused Blair's government of "aiding and abetting" the Gaddafi regime.

Most of the papers were found at the private offices of Moussa Koussa, the foreign minister, regime security chief and one of Gaddafi's chief lieutenants, on Friday afternoon. Rebel fighters had been inside the building and paperwork was strewn on desks and the floor amid broken glass. The building was locked up on the orders of the TNC yesterday morning.

Mr Koussa, who defected after the February revolution and spent time in the UK, left to take up residence in the Gulf after demands that he face police questioning over the murder of Libyan opposition figures in exile, the Lockerbie bombing and the killing of the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher. In a sign of the importance of the British connection, MI6 merited two files in Mr Koussa's office, while the CIA had only one. UK intelligence agencies had played a leading role in bringing Gaddafi's regime in from the cold.

The documents reveal that British security agencies provided details about exiled opposition figures to the Libyans, including phone numbers. Among those targeted were Ismail Kamoka, freed by British judges in 2004 because he was not regarded as a threat to the UK's national security. MI6 even drafted a speech for Gaddafi when he was seeking rapprochement with the outside world with a covering note stressing that UK and Libyan officials must use "the same script".

The Libyan government sought the services of British intelligence in attempting to block asylum applications by opponents of the regime. One document, regarding an application for refuge by a man with the initials SRA-Z (name withheld by The IoS for security reasons), led to a response from British officials. "It is not the practice of the UK government to comment on possible asylum cases."

However, the intelligence agency then sought to gain information about the applicant. The letter, addressed to "Dear Friends", said: "We are sorry we can't be more helpful in this case but we must comply with this practice. We... would welcome hearing from your service why you are interested in Mr A-Z so we could consider what action we might wish to take should we become aware of him."

Other documents show urgent requests for information about Abu Hamza al-Libi, said to be a senior al-Qa'ida operative who had travelled to the UK from Italy and the Netherlands to collect forged UK passports destined for Iran. Al-Libi was suspected of being involved in a plot to carry out a cyanide attack in Rome in 2002. He was detained in Britain, but freed in January 2010. He is believed to have died in a motorbike crash in London eight months later.

Ben Wallace, a Conservative MP, said the last government should be made to answer publicly for "conspiring" with Gaddafi's regime. The former military intelligence officer said: "Giving countries like this information they can use to oppress their people and break international law amounts to aiding and abetting the Gaddafi regime. We need to get to the bottom of how far British officials and ministers went to assist the Libyans to do their job of suppressing their own people. We might hand information like this over to our allies, but we would be confident they would use it lawfully. You can't have that confidence with Gaddafi."

Britain's extraordinary rekindling of relations with Libya did not start as Mr Blair sipped tea in a Bedouin tent with Gaddafi, nor within the walls of the Travellers Club in Pall Mall – although this "summit of spies" in 2003 played a major role. It can be traced back to a 1999 meeting Mr Blair held with the man hailed as one of the greatest to have ever lived: Nelson Mandela, in South Africa.

Mr Mandela had long played a key role in negotiations between Gaddafi, whom he had hailed as a key opponent of apartheid, and the British government. Mr Mandela first lobbied Mr Blair over Libya in October 1997, at a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Edinburgh. Mr Mandela was pressing for those accused of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to be tried outside Scotland. In January 1999, Mr Mandela, during a visit by Mr Blair to South Africa, actively lobbied the PM on behalf of Gaddafi, over sanctions imposed on Libya and the Lockerbie suspects.

UN sanctions were suspended in April 1999 when Gaddafi handed over the two Lockerbie suspects, including Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was eventually convicted of the bombing. Libya also accepted "general responsibility" for the death of Yvonne Fletcher. Both moves allowed the Blair government to begin the long process of renewing ties with Libya.

Within a couple of years, the issue of persuading the Gaddafi regime to turn itself from pariah into international player surged to the forefront of the British government's agenda. It was during this time, according to the documents found in Mr Koussa's office, that MI6 and the CIA began actively engaging with Libyan intelligence chiefs. But it was a key meeting on 16 December 2003, at the Travellers Club, that would put the official UK – and US – stamp on Gaddafi's credibility. Present were Mr Koussa, then head of external intelligence for Libya, and two Libyan intelligence figures; Mr Blair's foreign affairs envoy, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, and three MI6 chiefs; and two CIA directors. Mr Koussa's attendance at the meeting in central London was extraordinary – at the time he had been banned from entering Britain after allegedly plotting to assassinate Libyan dissidents, and so was given safe passage by MI6.

Mr Koussa's pivotal role at the Travellers Club casts light on how, following his defection from Gaddafi's regime during the initial Nato bombing campaign earlier this year, he was able to slip quietly out of the country. Two days after the 2003 meeting, Mr Blair and Gaddafi held talks by telephone; and the next day, 19 December, the announcement about Libya surrendering its WMD was made by Mr Blair and President Bush.

In March 2004, Mr Blair first shook hands with Gaddafi in his Bedouin tent. The pair then met again in May 2007, shortly before Mr Blair left office.

Downing Street and the doctorate

Tony Blair helped Muammar Gaddafi's son and heir, Saif al-Islam, with his controversial PhD thesis while at the London School of Economics, new documents unearthed in Tripoli revealed last night.

The former premier sent Saif a personally signed letter on Downing Street headed paper – addressed in his own handwriting to "Engineer Saif" – which thanked Saif for showing him "your interesting PhD thesis". The letter was written on 5 March 2007, two months before Mr Blair's second meeting in the Libyan desert with Colonel Gaddafi.

Mr Blair helped Saif on a number of points, including offering examples of co-operation between governments, people and business "that might help with your studies". Saif Gaddafi later gained a PhD from the LSE in 2008. It was claimed that Saif, who donated £1.5m to the institution, plagiarised large parts of his work.

Yet a spokesman for Mr Blair last night denied that the ex-PM had seen the thesis "in full or in draft form" and said that officials had drafted the letter.

The spokesman added: "Tony Blair didn't see Saif Gaddafi's thesis in full or in draft form. What he did receive was a letter from officials for him to sign, which was entirely appropriate.

"Saif Gaddafi wrote to Downing Street. He did not send in his thesis. Officials drafted a reply that the Prime Minister signed. That was the entirely appropriate way to handle the correspondence."

Saif Gaddafi, who also has links to Mr Blair's ally Peter Mandelson, was seen as his father's successor before the regime fell. Just days before the rebels seized Tripoli, he turned up in the middle of the night in front of TV cameras claiming his father's forces had overcome the advance.

Jane Merrick

By Kim Sengupta and Portia Walker in Tripoli, Jane Merrick and Brian Brady in London
Sunday, 4 September 2011

[joshvajohn]

The regime in UK and in US changed before the Libyan revolution and so their policies towards Libya. previous regimes had links with Libyan govt for wrong reasons. A business relationship with NTC and so with Libya is good for the West. Ofcourse the oil wealth will be shared as in other countries. libyans themselves are influenced well by Gaddafi in their antiwestern mindset so it is not easy for Western companies just to go into Libya. Possibly thle West would get some good contracts in Libya. They would only seek their money back that they put in the war. One should also understand West's liberal media policy sometimes work against them. Human Rights Watch was allowed to have access document and were allowed to talk in public about it. If it is in China by this time these revealers would have been executed. In India these revealer will be called antinationals and would have been given life imprisonment. Doing a proper business is good for the West and for libya. This is better than our politicians in india taking money and allowing Oil companies to exploit the Indian wells in secret!


Can the NTC unite a divided Libya?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Libya.html

[RajeshA]

Ah the Saints in the West again trying to bring freedom to the oppressed Libyans! And what to speak of corrupt Indians who throw people in prison for life!

[Neshant]

Possibly thle West would get some good contracts in Libya. They would only seek their money back that they put in the war.

Man you sound totally brainwashed by the missonary folks.

Libya is a good example of what happens to a small, soverign country with resources & wealth that its unable to defend. Thieves, like the ones from europe, inevitably show up to invade and clean the country out.

[shyamd]

Tripoli: So what happened and how did they take it?

During the Libyan conflict, the CIA, MI6 and DGSE worked more closely together on the ground than they have ever done before.

DGSE special action team and the MI6 worked on the ground, while CIA provided operational intelligence.

SAS, MI6 and DGSE created a joint team to plan the assault on tripoli. This team was based in a command centre in the Zuwatina refinery. These guys are the ones who planned and supervised the operation with NTC and the rebels in Jebel Nafusa. The sea borne op took place from Misrata. DGSE nor the SAS actually took part in the taking of Tripoli but UAE and Qatari SF were involved (there are youtube videos of Qatari special forces raising the qatari flag in the Qatari embassy in Tripoli). Mixed teams of Qatri, Emirati and French forces worked together on the assault coordinating with each other.

First step for DGSE was to establish contacts, once this was done the Office of Special ops who were being controlled by Sarkozy's chief of staff began to be stationed in Benghazi. There are around 30 officers. These officers were involved in advising the NTC, target selection and coordinating with the French military to hit targets.

So what you will realise is this was a successful joint operation by several nations. Mixed teams worked together on this.

[devesh]

we should expect more operations like above where the Atlanticists (US, UK, France) join forces to "save" the West. America is so firmly in this basket that they don't even realize they're going down the path of imperial states which have no resources by themselves and therefore need to take from others by force.

they need to consolidate some regions ruthlessly, before India and/or China can start to truly show their influence. if they don't do it now, the chance slips out of their hands.

Libya is also a good reminder that ultimately, the allies of WW1 and WW2 are united (excluding Russia) in all the issues where it truly matters.

[Pranav]

MI6 and British Government worked closely with Gaddafi's regime (and even helped him write his speeches)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1X2lPXOKK


Let's not laugh at Gaddhafi too much. When top honchos like MK Narayanan tell US diplomats that asking for Headley's extradition is merely for fooling Indians, and joke about defecting to the United States, it shows that we are little better than Ghaddafi, if not worse.

[chetak]

"Daddy" Gaddafi was good psychologist: ex-Ukrainian nurse

Sunday, 04 September 2011

Fallen Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi was perhaps a good psychologist and had the knack of understanding people from just a handshake, one of his five Ukrainian personal nurses has said, strongly denying reports that they were part of his 'harem'.

25-year-old Oksana Balinskaya said that Gaddafi's foreign nurses called him "daddy".

"Daddy gave us jobs, money and a good life," Balinskaya said, adding that she would feel sorry for him if he were killed or captured. "I don't know how he made the choice; perhaps he was a good psychologist," she said, recalling her recruitment and her first meeting with Gaddafi in 2009 during one of his state visits to the country.

All the Ukrainian nurses called Gaddafi "Daddy." It was a nickname they used to speak about him among themselves, without attracting attention.

"Gaddafi was quite considerate to us. He would ask us whether we are happy and whether we have everything that we need," Balinskaya was quoted as saying by CNN.

Balinskaya, who has served Gaddafi for two years, said she learnt that Gaddafi understood people from that first handshake, from that first gaze into their eyes.

She knew little about Gaddafi in 2009 and felt nervous at their first meeting. Three of the six nurses had already worked in Libya and knew Arabic. Balinskaya thought she did not have a chance.

Gaddafi greeted them but Balinskaya found nothing special in the selection process. The rules were strict. The attractive Ukrainian nurses wore no flashy makeup or revealing clothes.

"Our appearance was very humble so as to not attract anybody's attention," she said. "We would never put on lipstick going to his house and have vivid colours in our clothes," she said.

She had checked his blood pressure, monitored his heart, stuck him with a needle to draw blood, gave him vitamins and pills for his ailments, though he didn't seem to have many. He was a healthy man.

Every September, on the anniversary of his rise to power, Gaddafi presented souvenirs to his Ukrainian nurses and other members of his inner circle. Balinskaya received a medallion and a watch etched with his picture.

She took turns with the other nurses accompanying him on foreign trips, sometimes sparking rumours spread in the media about Gaddafi's 'harem'.

Her job now lost to Libya's civil war, she pitied the oil-rich nation.

"If it were not for Gaddafi, who else would have built it?" she asked. "It was he who constructed it. He has transferred Libyans from camel-backs into cars."

Balinskaya said she was always surrounded by others --Gaddafi's wife, children, grandchildren and officials within his inner circle.

"None of us had ever been one-on-one with him," she said. "There wasn't even a single room in his household where we could have possibly been left alone with him."

That's why she was shocked by the gossip that Gaddafi had sexual relationships with his foreign nurses.

Veteran Ukrainian nurse, Galina Kolonitskaya, 38, who had worked with Gaddafi for nearly a decade, was described in a US diplomatic cable posted by WikiLeaks as a "voluptuous blonde" who "knows his routine." It said the Libyan dictator was deeply attached to her.

"Galina was the same kind of nurse as we all were," Balinskaya said. "She is of course a glamorous and very kind woman with a big heart. She helped me a lot."

"I don't know who created this image about us nurses, as well as about his female bodyguards," she said. "How could anyone in sane mind assume that we could have had any intimate relationship with Gaddafi?"

Both Balinskaya and Kolonitskaya left Libya in February when the uprising against Gaddafi took root.

"All that gossip about her is untrue," Balinskaya said. "She was totally fed up. There was too much attention on her for no reason." The nurses, she said, had no personal relationship with Gaddafi.

"I can only say good things about him," she said, thinking of the comfortable life she had in Libya, dreaming of how to make it happen again.

"I very much hope that we will return to Libya," she said, flipping through an album with photographs of herself in Libya.

[sumishi]

So, was this a war for oil?: Guardian - 2 September 2011
Loads of comments

[Philip]

Nightmare on Arab St.!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 51028.html

Hundreds of missiles go missing from regime's abandoned arms dumps
As rebels take over, fears rise that huge arsenal may have fallen into the hands of terrorists

By Kim Sengupta in Tripoli

Xcpt

Thursday, 8 September 2011

The long metal crates strewn on the grounds of the warehouse were empty. Hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, craved by terrorist groups and "rogue states", had disappeared in the past few days, looted from one of Libya's overflowing arms dumps.

Among the missiles taken away were 480 Russian-built SA-24s, designed for use against modern warplanes, which the US had been attempting to block from falling into Iranian hands, and the older SA-7s and 9s, capable of bringing down commercial airliners, which al-Qa'ida has been striving to obtain.

As Libya's bloody civil war reaches its conclusion, myriad bunkers and barracks containing the regime's weaponry, from Kalashnikovs to missiles, armoured cars and tanks, have been left unguarded, many to be stripped bare by militia fighters and the public.

PS:Perhaps Britain should send the London "looters" to Libya!

[abhischekcc]

We know who to blame when these missiles will be used in the world. I hope the west gets a taste of its own medicine soon.

[Philip]

..and here they are!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 51028.html

The numbers involved are far larger than the caches that armed the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in Libya there are even fewer guards at these sites. Unlike those two fronts of the "war on terror", there are no foreign troops present in Libya, and the opposition forming the new government has its resources tied up attempting to subdue the remaining loyalist strongholds and repairing infrastructure to safeguard the arsenals.

The ransacking of the depots containing missiles has set alarms ringing among security agencies in America and Europe. The SA-24 "Grinch" surface-to-air missile targets fighter-bombers, helicopter gunships such as Apaches, and even Cruise missiles, and can strike at as high as 11,000ft. Washington had lobbied the Russians to block sales to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and to Tehran. The SA-7s and 9s are older but can destroy civilian jets or be used against military targets such as the drones increasingly employed by the US. Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, charting the arms depots, said: "The problem is pretty huge. There are around 20,000 surface-to-air missiles in Libya and a hell of a lot of them are missing. The Western agencies are obviously pretty concerned. This lot can turn the whole of North Africa into a no-fly zone."

Nato air strikes destroyed an estimated 600 missiles, radar systems and storage facilities in the course of the campaign. In response, regime forces moved some of the weaponry away from military into civilian areas, where they could be accessed once the rebels gained control.

The missiles found to be missing yesterday had been taken from the Tripoli headquarters of the 32nd Brigade, under the command of Gaddafi's son, Khamis al-Gaddafi, to a commercial storage area. Although the missiles had gone, there were still dozens of cases of mortar rounds, artillery shells, rocket-propelled grenades and rifle ammunition left in the vast room.

[rohitvats]

What should be of bother are the loss of MANPADS from this armory. Others SAMs are a non-issue asa far as terrorists and AQ types are concerned.

[Theo_Fidel]

The SA-24 is not a point and shoot device like the stinger. If anyone one successfully uses one it will require quite a bit of expertise and planning. The country that should feel most threatened should be Israel. A couple of dozen of these in Gaza would probably shut down Israeli commercial flights for good.

[Singha]

> This lot can turn the whole of North Africa into a no-fly zone."



and unlike the stinger, replacement batteries for this lot should be readily available in the local china bazaar.

[JE Menon]

And why would it turn North Africa into a no fly zone? These chaps who have replaced regimes from Tunisia to Egypt are friends of the West no? They helped them take over right?

[Philip]

The Rebel coalition is already crumbling.It will take a massive effort from the west to stabilise the country,which can only be done through the help of "contractors",who will man the oilfields as "protectorates" of the western oil companies,leaving the rest of the desert for the Libyan people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/se ... ing-unrest

Libya's new PM Mahmoud Jibril faces growing unrestInterim prime minister makes first Tripoli appearance amid criticism of leadership and warnings of fresh revolt

David Smith and Martin Chulov in Tripoli
Thursday 8 September 2011

Mahmoud Jibril, the interim Libyan prime minister, speaks to the media after arriving in Tripoli from Benghazi. Photograph: Ismail Zitouni/Reuters
Libya's interim prime minister arrived in Tripoli on Thursday for his first public appearance in the capital since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown more than two weeks ago, to face criticism that the country is experiencing a power vacuum.

Mahmoud Jibril's debut press conference coincided with a meeting of revolutionary activists from across Libya who called on the National Transitional Council to show leadership or face potential revolt.

Saoud Elhafi, co-founder of the February 17 Coalition – a reference to the date of the first uprising – told the Guardian that there had been frustration over Jibril's long diplomatic missions abroad.

"There is definitely a vacuum," he said. "He needs to fill this vacuum as soon as possible. He was assigned to form a new government but we are yet to see it. Part of stability is to provide services to the people – otherwise, they will revolt."

Elhafi added: "In the next few weeks you will see change with Mr Jibril. There's a lot of pressure on him now. The honeymoon period for him now is gone. People are coming together to say enough is enough."

He said of Jibril, head of the NTC's executive office: "We notice he is not available. He is mostly outside Libya; you can count on your hands the days he is here. It is not acceptable. He needs to be in touch with the people."

Elhafi, a businessman who spent four months working with fighters and refugees in neighbouring Tunisia, added: "We are not happy about the performance of the executive committee, especially the appointment of ministers without consulting us or other organisations.

"From what I see, they are a bunch of business people. Some of the decisions, we disagree with. The main issue is that we need to consult each other. We need to find the right people."

Meanwhile...Gadhaffi rants and raves at "rats and scumbags" vowing victory or bust!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/se ... bags-libya

Meet Gaddafi's favourite television hostMisha'an al-Jabouri, an Iraqi exile who runs al-Rai satellite TV in Syria, has spoken to Gaddafi four times since Tripoli fell

[Singha]

> And why would it turn North Africa into a no fly zone?

it was non-halal for the speaker to mention the dangers these could pose to Eu and US area. but we all know the truth. if tons of drugs and lakhs of people are getting smuggled into Eu and US , so can anything else given the right motivations. and unlike JDAMs these will not have a radiation sig to sniff for.

[Lalmohan]

saw a rather sad article in al guardian about the amazon guards, most seem to have been glorified comfort women. one or two were still die hard loyalists, but most got caught up in the chaos in unpleasant ways - like all those on the losing side, they will bear the brunt of retribution too

[shyamd]

Libya update - Several of Gaddafi's generals are taking refuge in the Northern borders of Niger. Mainly Touareg chiefs. Sarko has been in talks with Niger president. THey already have a detachment of the SF. France is considering deploying them in the north against Gaddafi's generals. The Niger govt is using local tribal chiefs to talk to the generals, for now they will use diplomacy. Next step would be to pull out French special forces in current missions in Niger and deploy them in an operational role. There is a worry that Generalswill join with AQIM and cause more havoc, give them expertise etc.

It was disloyal Colnols who helped the NTC and NATO with key info to make arrests and take over tripoli.

[Philip]

The utter hypocrisy of the British who lauded Gadhaffi by B.Liar and co. and then betrayed him by on-the-ground military force and are now stealing Libya's oil with the French is the most shcking betrayal of the Un mandate to "protect civilians".The UN under the west's chief pimp, Bunkum Moon,has been reduced to the equivalent of a Bosnian rape-house where Bosnian women were allegedly kept as sex slaves by their Serbian enemies.

The rape of nation after nation rich in petro-wealth like Iraq,Afghanistan-now with recent discoveries of valuable minerals to the tune of trillions,and now Libya are being effectively invaded and their leadership handed over to gangs of cut-throats who have switched allegaince overnight from loyalty to their former despots to the west,is taking place with greater intensity,as the scramble for the world's riches is fast becoming a battle-ground between western entities and the Chinese.The Russians have their own wealth and the disgrace of the oligarchs who conspired with the west to loot Russia are either behind bars or in comfy exile in London,etc.India struggles to gain concessions for the same long after the Chinese soldier-ant army has swept through leaving very little for India to chew upon.MOre exposes are emerging shedding light of thre truth behind the Libyan "take-away".

How Labour secretly put Libyan dissidents under house arrest at Gaddafi's behest following Blair's 'deal in the desert'
EXCLUSIVE: Top-secret documents discovered abandoned in ambassador's residence by the Mail on Sunday reveal Blair government's double-dealing
Government 'used control orders to appease Gaddafi', says David Davis

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1XijVCjW1

[Agnimitra]

Libya: NTC's Jalil vows state based on 'moderate Islam'

The head of the National Transitional Council has delivered his first speech in Libya's capital, Tripoli, since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil outlined his plans to create a modern democratic state based on "moderate Islam" to thousands of flag-waving supporters in the newly renamed Martyrs' Square.

[...]

In his first speech since moving to the capital from the NTC stronghold of Benghazi, Mr Jalil told some 10,000 supporters to avoid retribution attacks, adding that Libya's new leaders would not accept any extremist ideology.

Mr Jalil, who served as Col Gaddafi's justice minister before joining the rebels when the uprising started, said women would play an active role in the new Libya, and thanked a number of nations - including France and Britain - for supporting the NTC.

But he also warned against secularism, envisaging a state "where sharia [Islamic law] is the main source for legislation".

[Aditya_V]

Libya: NTC's Jalil vows state based on 'moderate Islam'

The head of the National Transitional Council has delivered his first speech in Libya's capital, Tripoli, since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil outlined his plans to create a modern democratic state based on "moderate Islam" to thousands of flag-waving supporters in the newly renamed Martyrs' Square.

[...]

In his first speech since moving to the capital from the NTC stronghold of Benghazi, Mr Jalil told some 10,000 supporters to avoid retribution attacks, adding that Libya's new leaders would not accept any extremist ideology.

Mr Jalil, who served as Col Gaddafi's justice minister before joining the rebels when the uprising started, said women would play an active role in the new Libya, and thanked a number of nations - including France and Britain - for supporting the NTC.

But he also warned against secularism, envisaging a state "where sharia [Islamic law] is the main source for legislation".

Islamic Fundamentalists want Secularism wherever they are in a minority but never when they are in a majority? Funny isnt it?

[Singha]

another budding set of Mushradors and crony businessmen is how I see it. but subservient to the West, so its ok.

[Pranav]

Looming in Libya, a murderous peace
Praveen Swami http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/ar ... epage=true

Excerpts:

Early in March, U.S. President Barack Obama claimed that if NATO waited “one more day, Benghazi could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.” Dennis Ross, a White House adviser on the Middle East, warned of the “real or imminent possibility that up to a 1,00,000 people could be massacred.”

Six months after those speeches, little evidence has emerged to show that such a massacre was in fact being contemplated: no large-scale killings appear to have taken place in cities which the regime held on reoccupied, though both sides had engaged in killings and torture. ...

This we do know: between 30,000 and 50,000 are reported to have died in a war meant to stop a massacre. ...

Libya's Islamist rebirth: “Air Cargo,” was how MI6 officer Mark Allen called him, in a secret letter to Libya's Foreign Minister, written on Christmas Day in 2003. Last month, six years after the CIA and MI6 put him into a grim warehouse in Tripoli called the Abu Salim prison, the “Air Cargo” reappeared at the head of the forces which stormed Tripoli. Abdelhakim Belhadj's story illustrates the Islamist rebirth in Libya — and helps to understand just why the euphoria over Mr. Qadhafi's defeat might prove ill-founded.

Born in 1966, Mr. Belhadj graduated with a degree in civil engineering, before leaving for Afghanistan in 1988 to fight in the jihad against the Soviet Union. He returned home in 1990 to help found the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihadist group determined to overthrow the country's “Pharoah.” It was generously aided in that enterprise, a former MI6 officer David Shayler alleged, by Britain's intelligence services.

From his web page on Minbar al-Tawhid, the leading Middle Eastern jihadist site, we know something of Mr. Belhadj's world view: the LIFG, he proclaimed, opposed democracy as a mater of religious doctrine, as those who believe in the glory of Islam could be achieved without a jihad. ...

The LIFG was routed in combat, but its leadership found succour overseas. Much of its leadership shifted to London, often after the rejection of its claims on security grounds by continental European governments, joining hands with MI6 to wage war against Mr. Qadhafi. Elements of the Libyan jihadist movement also joined with the al-Qaeda in Sudan. Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqai'i, one of the architects of the 1998 bombings in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi, was a LIFG veteran; so too is Abu Yahya al-Libi, among the al-Qaeda's top ideologues.

In 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri, now the al-Qaeda's chief, announced that the LIFG had merged with the al-Qaeda. In his recorded message, he hailed the imprisoned Mr. Belhadj as the “emir of the mujahideen.”

[nithish]

India supports Libyan rebels at UN

India Saturday extended its support to the Transitional National Council (TNC) of Libya to attend the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.

"India extended its support to the acceptance of credentials of the delegation of the Transitional National Council, led by its president Mustafa Abdel Jalil, to attend the UNGA session," Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said at a press briefing here ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to New York to attend the UNGA meet Sep 22-26.

India was in contact with the TNC in Benghazi and Cairo and it also participated as an observer in the Libyan Contact Group meeting in Istanbul in July and at the level of minister of state at the Paris Conference on Libya, jointly organised by France and Britain Sep 1.

India will also be participating in the high-level meeting on Libya scheduled to be held on the margins of the UNGA Sep 20, called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, an external affairs ministry statement said.

"In this meeting, India will reiterate its willingness to extend all possible assistance to the people of Libya in their political transition, rebuilding and reconstruction activities," it added.

Indian representatives to Libya, currently based in Tunis, had formally established contact with the TNC mission in Tunis, it noted.

"We have given humanitarian assistance of $1 million through UN-OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) to Libya and assistance of another $2 million is being processed," Mathai added.
--IANS

[Philip]

Secret lovers!

Blair and Gaddhaffi's secret trysts make a complete mockery of Britin's military invasion of Libya alng wiht the French,ostensibly to "save" Libya from a so-called amd lunatic.The business of "saving" Libyans will now be hopefully outsourcred top the Yanqui EJs! Tony B.LIar meanwhile continues to count his ill-gotten gains.

Mr Blair has made a fortune since leaving Downing Street through speaking engagements and consultancy deals largely set up in the Middle East and the US. His personal wealth is estimated at anywhere between £20 million and £60  million.

He is also paid about £2.5 million a year by JP Morgan, a US investment bank which has a number of business interests in Libya. A spokesman for Mr Blair said last night: “The subjects of the conversations during Mr Blair’s occasional visits was primarily Africa, as Libya was for a time head of the African Union; but also the Middle East and how Libya should reform and open up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tings.html

Libya: Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi's secret meetings
New questions over Tony Blair's ties to Col Muammar Gaddafi and his role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber have emerged from documents discovered in Tripoli.

By Colin Freeman, in Tripoli and Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter
17 Sep 2011

The letters and emails, found by The Sunday Telegraph, show Mr Blair held secret talks with Gaddafi in the months before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was freed from a British jail.

He was flown to Libya twice at Gaddafi's expense on one of the former dictator's private jets - visiting the him in June 2008 and April 2009, when Libya was threatening to cut all business links if Megrahi stayed in a British jail.

The disclosure of the meetings – of which Mr Blair makes no mention on his various websites – prompted calls by relatives of Lockerbie victims for Mr Blair to make public all his dealings with Gaddafi and his regime. Mr Blair even brought an American billionaire to one of the meetings. Sources say the financier was asked by Gaddafi for help in building beach resorts on the Libyan coast.

In the correspondence, Mr Blair's private office refers to Gaddafi deferentially as "The Leader". Pam Dix, whose brother died in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie on Dec 21 1988, said yesterday: "The idea of Gaddafi paying for Mr Blair's visit is deeply offensive.

"These new meetings between Mr Blair and Gaddafi are disturbing, and details of what was discussed should now be made public. I am astonished Tony Blair continued to have meetings like this out of office."

Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said: "Mr Blair is clearly using his Downing Street contacts to further his business interests."

The emails and letters – between Mr Blair's office, the British ambassador in Tripoli and the Libyan ambassador in London – raise concern over possible conflicts of interest regarding his varied roles as Middle East peace envoy, philanthropist and business consultant.

The documents will also add fuel to suggestions made last year by Gaddafi’s son, Saif, that Mr Blair had advisory links to the Libyan government and the Libyan Investment Authority, which controls a £41 billion fund.

Mr Blair has categorically denied the connection.

The documents outline arrangements for the trips in 2008 and 2009. Mr Blair also held a further private meeting with Gaddafi in June 2010 after Megrahi’s release.

In both 2008 and 2009, the documents show Mr Blair negotiated to fly to the Libyan capital from Sierra Leone, in a jet provided by Gaddafi.

In 2008, Mr Blair, having met Gaddafi, arranged to fly on to Luton on a Libyan jet.

The first letter was sent on notepaper headed Office of the Quartet Representative, Mr Blair’s title as a Middle East peace envoy, which he took up after resigning as prime minister in June 2007.

The letter, written on June 2, 2008, was sent to Omar Jelban, Libya’s ambassador to Britain. It was written by Gavin Mackay, who was based at Mr Blair’s London office in Grosvenor Square, and stated: “Let me begin my [sic] saying that Mr Blair is delighted that The Leader is likely to be able to see him during the afternoon of 10 June and he is most grateful that the Libyan authorities have kindly offered an aircraft to take him from Freetown to Tripoli and back to London.”

The letter continues: “In addition to a call on The Leader, he [Blair] would welcome the opportunity to have a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Assistant Secretary Dr Abd-al-Hafid Mahm-jud al-Zulaytini, who he has met in the past.” Mr Zulaytini was one of Libya’s most powerful men and a former chairman of the state-owned National Oil Company.

Details of the 2009 meeting are contained in an exchange of emails between Victoria Gould, who was Mr Blair’s events organiser, and Sir Vincent Fean, the former British ambassador to Libya. The correspondence shows Tim Collins, a billionaire friend of Mr Blair, attended the meeting with Gaddafi.

Miss Gould wrote to Sir Vincent on March 31 to say that an audience with Gaddafi was “looking positive”, adding: “If we were able to stay at the Residence I know TB would be really grateful (as would we all).”

The email gives flight details and a plea that the group “need wheels” to return to the airport in Tripoli in time for the flight back to London. Three hours later, Sir Vincent replied: “Just to confirm the residence is at your disposal.”

A week later on April 7, 2009, Miss Gould confirms the visit is going ahead. “We have asked the Libyans to collect us from Sierra Leone and bring us to Libya,” wrote Miss Gould.

She then provides a list of people staying with the ambassador – including herself, Mr Blair, and Catherine Rimmer, a former Downing Street adviser and now Mr Blair’s strategic director.

The rest of the group, including several police officers, Mr Collins – described by Miss Gould as a “very successful investor and philanthropist” — and Mr Blair’s official spokesman Matthew Doyle stayed at the Corinthia Hotel, where rooms typically cost about £300 a night.

The email goes on: “In terms of calls, if you could note that TB would like to do the following: a meeting with the Leader (partly 1:1 and partly with Tim Collins) Then the following meetings with TB starting them on his own and then Tim Collins joining: Abdulhafeed Zlitney, Mohammed Lyas, Africa development Fund (incl Zarti?)” Mr Zlitney is thought to be an alternative spelling of Mr Zulaytini; Mr Lyas refers to Mohammed Layas, the head of the Libyan Investment Authority; while “Zarti” is thought to be Mustafa Zarti, the deputy head of the investment authority.

According to the email, Mr Doyle and four police officers flew back to London on a scheduled British Airways flight while the rest of the party left on Mr Collins’ 'private charter’. Mr Collins had flown separately from the US.

The 2009 meeting occurred a day after Britain signed a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, just one of several steps paving the way for Megrahi’s release from jail.

[Rony]

India recognizes new regime in Libya

[Klaus]

Anti-Gaddafi fighters say that they have seized an airport and a garrison near Sabha

"General Belgacem Al-Abaaj, Gaddafi's intelligence chief in the Al-Khofra region, was captured" on Monday some 100km from Sabha, said Wardugu.

Abaaj, who had been sought by the forces of the NTC, was seized with members of his family who were travelling in five four-wheel drive vehicles.

"This general has committed many crimes in Al-Khofra (in Libya's far south) and when this town was liberated he fled towards Al-Jufra (centre)," where he commanded sabotage operations against the new regime forces, said Wardugu.

In the north, dozens of new regime fighters stormed the town of Sultana, braving rocket and artillery attacks as they marked another victory in their march towards Sirte, the fugitive Gaddafi's hometown on the Mediterranean coast.

Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Hold your heads high, you are Libyans," the fighters drove into Sultana - the site of steady fighting in the past two days - pushing Gaddafi's diehards back towards Sirte.

[Philip]

The battle for Libya has not endded.Yaking Sirte is proving a very bloody battle.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... ance-sirte

Anti-Gaddafi troops meet fierce resistance in major assault on SirteIntense sniper fire by Gaddafi's men defending his home city exacts a bloody price on NTC troops

Xcpts:

Anti-Gaddafi troops meet fierce resistance in major assault on SirteIntense sniper fire by Gaddafi's men defending his home city exacts a bloody price on NTC troops

Peter Beaumont in Sirte guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 October 2011

Libyan government forces have launched their biggest and most sustained attack on the coastal city of Sirte in what has been described as the long-awaited final assault on its pro-Gaddafi defenders.

Following a sustained barrage early morning by scores of tanks, rocket trucks and anti-aircraft guns, columns of revolutionary fighters poured into the city from the east and west. Despite the scale of the attack, pro-Gaddafi forces continued to put up fierce resistance.

Forces loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council are under pressure to make swift progress on the battlefield, but for weeks heavy resistance by Gaddafi loyalists has prevented them from taking the city. "This is it," said one fighter waiting to enter the city. "It's day zero."

By 10am, columns of smoke were visible across Sirte, Gaddafi's home town where his supporters fled after the fall of Tripoli. Near the Ougadougou conference centre, they have fought off several attempts to capture the compound. Several black-painted T-55 tanks advanced to shell the complex – but failed to break through the defences.

Ahmed Saed, a commander from Misrata, explained the slow progress. "The Gaddafi forces are in buildings behind the conference centre that have reinforced concrete walls with loops for sniping," he said.

Further forward, troops were pinned down by a wall opposite the complex in their vehicles. "They are in that row of buildings behind," said Ahmad Shah, pointing to a large pink house. "That's where the snipers are. We are finding it difficult to move forward. Perhaps we need another plan."

As the fighting began, dozens of ambulances ferried the wounded and dead towards a field hospital outside the city. By mid afternoon, at least 50 fighters and civilians arrived. They had been wounded in the fighting, most of them seriously.

On the eastern side of Sirte, in a seafront neighbourhood of apartment blocks in the Emirates neighbourhood close to a luxury hotel occupied by revolutionary fighters, the Guardian witnessed fierce street-to-street fighting as government troops attempted to move closer towards the city centre.

Among those fighting in the east of the city was Matthew VanDyke, an American videographer turned revolutionary fighter who spent six months in solitary confinement in a Gaddafi prison after being captured earlier in the war.

"The day before yesterday, they turned everything on us," he said. "Today, we've had oncoming anti-aircraft fire towards the hotel. It's urban. It's very tough. It's street-to-street fighting that's going slowly."

At the luxury hotel, Faraj Adel was separated from his fellow fighters and lost his weapon during a counterattack. "We had three units inside," he said. "I was fighting in the Mauritanian area. Then I was on my own and lost my weapon. I was being shot at by snipers. We lost two in my katiba [unit] today. One shot in the neck and another in the leg. We are trying to go from house to house. Often it is hit and run."

Further forward, amid the pink apartment buildings of the Emirates area, several hundred fighters were trying to move out towards a tower flying the green flag of the Gaddafi forces. Their heavy-calibre weapons were trading fire on the street corners with hidden snipers. The streets were littered with hundreds of spent cartridges, the abandoned apartment blocks pocked with bullet holes.

Wearing a black denim hat, Ahmed Ankaza, a 23-year-old oil worker, said: "At the moment we are seeing a lot of RPG fire from the other side. We could go in and take this city in a moment but that would end up with a lot of civilian deaths.We have to do it this way."

....Another Sirte resident who gave his name as Abdel Nasser said: "Last night there was heavy, random firing and shelling. We had a hundred narrow escapes. Conditions are tragic. You can smell the rotting corpses at the hospital."

Hassan Briek, another fleeing resident, said fewer than half of Sirte's populace remained in the city and most had moved to three safer neighbourhoods.

"There are lots of families in those districts of the city," Briek said. "No one knew there was going to be an assault today. No one is sleeping. Food isn't the problem – it's the shelling."

[Pranav]

From Sirte -



This is what you get if your leaders are ignorant about global political realities.

[Klaus]

NTC forces trade fire with pro-Gaddafi demonstration in Tripoli.

They also rounded up several suspected African mercenaries, pulling them from cars and houses.

Witnesses said dozens of loyalists carrying the green flag appeared on a square in the Abu Salim neighbourhood, which has long been a pro-Gaddafi stronghold and houses a notorious prison of the same name

Meanwhile, the latest offensive is underway in Sirte

In other developments, UN human rights official Mona Rishmawi called on the NTC to find a way to "regulate" the situation of about 7000 people, including migrant workers, who have been detained in the country due to the conflict.

Some of them are "migrant workers, some are combatants and some of them are maybe mercenaries", she said in Geneva after visiting Libya earlier this month.

[Philip]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... t-own-side

LIbya:Chaos still rules as pro-Gaddhaffi supporters strike in Triplo and in Sirte,the anti-G forces kill each other!

In the chaos of Sirte, anti-Gaddafi fighters are killing each otherFight for last uncaptured ground made more deadly by Libyan government forces' rivalries and inexperience

In the chaos of Sirte, anti-Gaddafi fighters are killing each otherFight for last uncaptured ground made more deadly by Libyan government forces' rivalries and inexperience


Peter Beaumont in Sirte guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 October 2011

Libyan National Transitional Council fighters fire at Gaddafi loyalists as street battles continue for control of Sirte. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
Death and injury arrive suddenly and randomly on the Libyan city of Sirte's frontline. Sometimes, however, they come with a gruesome symmetry.

On Friday, an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired by pro-Gaddafi forces, defending their last pocket of resistance in the city, caused some of the casualties. But it was a mortar fired by the government's own fighters that caused the most. Both incidents occurred within a few seconds.

The fighters were bunched near the frontline on Dubai Street on the southern front occupied mainly by fighters from Misrata when the two rounds came in.

"It was a mistake," said a passing fighter a few minutes later in the chaos as the injured were treated. "The RPG came from Muammar Gaddafi's forces. But I was close to where the mortar was fired. They fired it straight into the air. It came down on our men. We are shooting our own people."

There were too many casualties at first for the medics at their open-air field station to cope with. So the Guardian's driver and translator, both medical students who worked during the siege of Misrata in the intensive care unit, helped treat the wounded, more than 20 of them.

One was a young fighter brought in limp and pale from shock, hit by shrapnel in the shoulder that had penetrated his neck. Another older man arrived hanging to the back of a jeep, his lacerated scalp bleeding heavily over his clothes, blood bubbling from his mouth.

In the small space that the last uncaptured ground in Sirte provides for assaults, such incidents are escalating.

Without proper communications and a dangerous rivalry between the forces from Misrata on the pocket's southern and western fronts, and fighters from Benghazi and the towns to the east, those fighting Gaddafi's soldiers are killing each other in increasing numbers.

Eastern soldiers said three men they lost on Thursday in an attempt to assault the pocket were killed by Misratan fire. Shells and mortars misfired or falling short have killed others while crossfire is commonplace.

Two days ago, a shell fired from behind Sirte exploded close to the Guardian's car near a column of government fighters.

Blame has fallen on "weekend fighters", who are unwilling to go forward and fire from behind their colleagues towards their backs, or inexperienced government troops, who lack the ability to accurately aim their mortar batteries or are ignorant of their targets.

The randomness of the government fighter's fire was underlined on Friday at a battery made up of odds and ends of improvised rocket systems, a recoilless rifle, anti-aircraft guns and an armoured carrier parked on a rise a few hundred metres from the pocket's southern edge. The Guardian watched rockets from a homemade system on a pickup truck fly in wildly different directions and distances.

"I've had too many friends die in this ****** city," said Mhjurb Ibrahim, a lawyer from Misrata. "Twenty-two of them have died. Five in the first day of the fighting."

It is these problems of co-ordination as much as the fierce resistance of the remaining Gaddafi fighters occupying high buildings in Sirte's District 2 that have slowed up the advance and forced government fighters to bring up tanks and other heavy weapons to pound the buildings occupied by their foes.

Shells flew into the tight packed collection of buildings on Friday at a rate of almost one a minute at times, sending up clouds of concrete and white smoke that drifted across the rooftops.

"We cannot go into the pocket yet," said one of the eastern forces' commanders, Abdul Salam Rishi. "When we tried, there were still too many snipers. So we'll bomb with artillery and tanks. Then we will attack."

The difficulties of the government in bringing a final end to the siege of Sirte came as a gun battle erupted between revolutionary forces and supporters of Gaddafi in the heart of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, for the first time since the longtime leader was ousted and forced into hiding.

Shouting "God is Great", anti-Gaddafi fighters converged on the Hay Nasr district of the Abu Salim neighbourhood in pickups mounted with weapons, setting up checkpoints and sealing off the area as heavy gunfire echoed through the streets.

Fighters at the scene said the shooting began after a group of armed men tried to raise the green flag that symbolises Gaddafi's regime.

Assem al-Bashir, a fighter with Tripoli's Eagle Brigade, said revolutionary forces suspected there were snipers in the surrounding high rises after spotting a man trying to raise the green flag.

Ahmad al-Warsly, from the Zintan brigade, said several Gaddafi supporters apparently planned a protest but drew fire because they were armed. They fled and were pursued by revolutionary forces, prompting fierce street battles.

"It seems like it was organised," he said. "They were planning to have a big demonstration, then the fight started."

The violence in the capital, which has been relatively calm since it was taken in late August, underscores the difficulty Libya's new rulers face in restoring order as Gaddafi remains on the run.
Printable versiony

[sumishi]

Following the "humanitarian" "kinetic action" by the Massa led western forces against Libya, here's a link to an article about the "massa"care being showered on the blacks by the "rebel" forces.

Libyan rebels massacre black Africans

Meanwhile, those who "whooped" the fall of dictator Gaddafi and Libya, please go back to it. The above is just an inconsequential sideshow, for, you see, "India can help in Libya's democratic transition, says US,":TOI and "India's democratic experience can help Libya: US": HT.
After all, Massa cares!!

[Rudradev]

Geopolitics aside, I can't help but feel a certain personal satisfaction that with Gaddafi's removal, justice has been done.

A dear friend of our family, Mrs. Shanthi Shastri, used to give me Hindi tuitions when I was in school.

Her daughter Mridula led the Indian womens' swim team at the 1982 Asiad. Later she completed her MBBS and went to Oxford on a Rhodes' scholarship. Besides being brilliant, with a very sweet and compassionate disposition, she was stunningly beautiful... much more than her photographs do justice to.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/aug/01 ... elease.htm

In December 1988, heading to New York to meet her fiance, she boarded Pan Am 103. She had just celebrated her 24th birthday, two weeks previously.

I have no love for the Western powers interfering in Libya, and distrust them as much as I distrusted their motivations in Iraq. I have the greatest of doubts about the kind of people the rebels will turn out to be. However... when they catch that pig... I hope they do a Najibullah on him.

[Pranav]

Geopolitics aside, I can't help but feel a certain personal satisfaction that with Gaddafi's removal, justice has been done.

A dear friend of our family, Mrs. Shanthi Shastri, used to give me Hindi tuitions when I was in school.

Her daughter Mridula led the Indian womens' swim team at the 1982 Asiad. Later she completed her MBBS and went to Oxford on a Rhodes' scholarship. Besides being brilliant, with a very sweet and compassionate disposition, she was stunningly beautiful... much more than her photographs do justice to.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/aug/01 ... elease.htm

In December 1988, heading to New York to meet her fiance, she boarded Pan Am 103. She had just celebrated her 24th birthday, two weeks previously.

I have no love for the Western powers interfering in Libya, and distrust them as much as I distrusted their motivations in Iraq. I have the greatest of doubts about the kind of people the rebels will turn out to be. However... when they catch that pig... I hope they do a Najibullah on him.

Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked - http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-n ... _1_1403341

Lockerbie's dirty secret - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/3 ... rbie.libya

[Philip]

The Lockerbie evidence has been amongst the most controversial ever,and there is credible evidence to doubt the conviction/complicity of the Libyans.