Things are getting pretty serious. The 2nd largest city in Libya in the eastern part of the country is under the control of demonstrators and portions of the military sympathetic to their cause. They used a tank and what sounds like a car bomb to attack a military camp loyal to Gadhafi.
Last edited by burn_this_city; 08-22-2011 at 07:33 AM.
Reports are that the regime was flying in foreign mercenaries to quell the protesters and at some point a indigenous army or commando group joined the protesters to attack the mercenaries. The security forces are still largely working for the regime and tribes who have leaders in the regime though.
Yeah I read that too, they were killing protestors in funeral processions with high powered rifles. It sounds like the eastern tribes are in full revolt and things in Tripoli are getting tense with protestors taking to the streets.
Reports now that the regime is using the airforce to attack groups of demonstrators.
Apparently a bunch of pilots refused their orders and flew their jets to Malta. Its a shame they didnt try and shoot down their rogue counterparts or drop their ordinance on the palace.
Last edited by burn_this_city; 02-21-2011 at 11:08 AM.
I just cannot imagine living in a country where the goverment vows o ""fight to the last bullet" against its own people to stay in power...
However, apparently the stuff about the air force being ordered to attack protestors may just be speculation (from the link above):
Quote:
"Meanwhile, two helicopters and two fighter jets from Libya landed in Malta.
The helicopter was said to be carrying French oil workers, and the fighter pilots were reported to have left Benghazi when an airbase was taken over by protesters."
However, this is also not good news for the West either. Gadhafi in recent years has warmed to the Western world, and abandoned his WMD and missile programs his country was devleoping. In response, the U.S. rescinded their name off list of states sponsoring terrorism. They also recently paid back families of victims who were a result of their state-sponsored terrorism in the past.
A vacuum will be created with his departure, and I'm not sure pro-democratic elements friendly to the U.S. would necessarily replace Gadhafi at the helm. Libya is far more fragile politically, and has less to lose with the U.S. and Western country relations than Egypt ever did.
Gadhafi may have been an eccentric dictator, but with no formal constitution, anything could happen, IMO.
Hm... apparently the airforce has started strafing protestors. Sure does not sound like the regime line that the army caused casaulties are because of inexperience with crowd control
Watching Al Jazeera in Turkey, they're reporting that the Libyan ambassador to India has resigned in protest (they interviewed him on the air, so that's legit) the Libyan delegation at the UN has specifically asked for a no-fly zone to be enacted over Libya to prevent Ghadaffi bringing in mercenaries and using the airforce to attack demonstrators.
However, this is also not good news for the West either. Gadhafi in recent years has warmed to the Western world, and abandoned his WMD and missile programs his country was devleoping. In response, the U.S. rescinded their name off list of states sponsoring terrorism. They also recently paid back families of victims who were a result of their state-sponsored terrorism in the past.
A vacuum will be created with his departure, and I'm not sure pro-democratic elements friendly to the U.S. would necessarily replace Gadhafi at the helm. Libya is far more fragile politically, and has less to lose with the U.S. and Western country relations than Egypt ever did.
Gadhafi may have been an eccentric dictator, but with no formal constitution, anything could happen, IMO.
This is kind of the problem though...the West keeps propping up these dictatorships which benefit the West and no one else. The people suffer, corruption is rampant and for what? Oil? Resources? Army Bases? Torture centres? Money, money, money?
The people want Gadhafi gone, they, like the Egyptians, want a democratically elected president. They deserve that...it's high time the West stops dictating who will lead and who will not.
The days of dictatorships are hopefully coming to an end.
Libya headed for civil war? Update: Gadhafi dead
