The Libyan Revolution

Message: "I am your brother from Libya. I live in the US. I’ve been calling my family. They said there’s a massacre, in Benghazi there’s a massacre, a massacre, worse than Sabra and Shatila. Gaddafi the dog is killing the Libyan people. He’s using missiles to kill citizens. He’s using anti-aircraft missiles to kill citizens. Gaddafi is massacring Benghazi."

source: Christiane Amanpour

Doctor in Benghazi told AP that 200+ protests killed by Gadhafi’s forces. Protestors assaulted w/ knives, assault rifles & heavy weaponry.

Unlike the revolution in Egypt, this revolution is being violently suppressed.

How will it end?

Comments

Mark de LA says

It's sad when revolutions end this way (via FoxNews). We should look back to our own revolution circa 1776 & remember we had help from foreign powers to repel the British. Meanwhile Obama worries about the basketball & plays golf.

Qaddafi Goes for the Kill in
Libyan Rebel Stronghold

Forces loyal to Libyan strongman ordered to advance toward Benghazi in effort to crush the rebellion

URGENT: 4 New York Times Journalists Missing in Libya
VIDEO: Rebels Plead for Help
Bahrain Unleashes Forces on Protest Camp, 5 Dead

Seth says

Well i too would like to see the Libyan rebels overthrow Qaddafi and not get slaughtered. I suspect, so does Obama. The thing is there are unintended consequences of any military adventure. I am not so very sure that i would prefer them to what might happen. I am also pretty sure that is what Obama is dealing with.

your scandalous foisting of intent on me and Obama, notwithstanding

Mark de LA says

seth 2011-03-16 11:43:48 14996

by which we learn that some will never let an even go by without blaming Obama for it.

Which means that some people are so blind as to ignore a reality. What is he doing? As far as I can see he is letting a dictator slaughter his own people (unthinkable to Bush about Saddam) & he is fiddling while Rome burns; fingering his Noble Peace Prize. Maybe he spent so much of the U.S. resources we can't help anymore. Maybe China is saying - "Don't you dare" because she depends on oil.... maybe he (& you) are applauding higher gasoline prices so that government motors can sell their shitty, expensive electric cars .... that the market doesn't want.

Mark de LA says

seth 2011-03-16 13:20:05 14996

your scandalous foisting of intent on me and Obama, notwithstanding

You are imagining things. I am looking at results! Intent counts for zero with the Obama regime - look at the record so far.

.. right back.

Mark de LA says

M 2011-03-17 16:44:49 14996

I'm sure all those dead Libyans who waited for help appreciate his waiting for someone else to lead. So who is going to enforce it? Does anyone think that Gadaffi cares what the UN thinks or says? Saddam didn't! He threatened the UN & the US this morning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/17/gaddafi-retaliation-mediterranean-libya-no-fly-zone

Seth says

M 2011-03-16 12:14:25 14996

seth 2011-03-16 11:43:48 14996

by which we learn that some will never let an even go by without blaming Obama for it.

On the other hand, pehaps Obama did exactly the best thing in this situation by waited until the UN joined, instead of taking adventurous unilateral measures.

source: CNN Just in: U.N. imposes no-fly zone over Libya
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday imposed a no-fly zone extending over all of Libya to try to halt Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's mounting attacks against rebel positions.

The resolution states that "all necessary means" can be used to enforce the no-fly zone. Flights to provide humanitarian aid, medicine or for evacuations are exempt.

The vote was 10 for, none against and five abstentions.

We may yet have the desired outcome of this uprising.

Mark de LA says

... & the day after the UN declarations the headlines (on Drudge) are:
Libya Renews Attacks After Cease-Fire Offer...

*Heaviest bombardment since fighting started - rebel
HEAD FAKE: 'LIBYA HALTS ALL MILITARY OPERATIONS'...
Inside classified Hill briefing, administration spells out war plan...

BBC LIVE...

C says

seth 2011-03-20 09:49:02 14996

C 2011-03-20 08:32:54 14996

Whom do you follow on twitter for the rebels in Libya? This one came up under #libya .

I follow @ShababLibya and have also liked (follow) their page on facebook , but most of their activity should show up on #Libia.

I tried to calculate the the URLs above such that they would work even if you were not logged on to twitter and facebook. Let me know if they don't work for you. I think twitter's and facebook's URL designs suck ... it might have something to do with their walled garden policies ... which also suck. Oh well, we must adapt to what is

ie submit

Hmmm.... a whole tagroom which also spells Libya differently all in Spanish?. There's also a whole twitter tagroom for #Labia .

Seth says

source: Pentagon briefing

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.

...

C says

The Irony of it all: (via Drudge)

MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger'...

& Obama didn't even ask for Congress' approval. & Bush got UN resolutions. The parallels are amazing - i.e. Kadafi is acting like Hussein did.

C says

seth 2011-03-20 11:37:01 14996

C, does that mean you're on twitter now? What's your username so that i can follow you. Mine of course is just SethRussell.

I got this via Libyan Youth Movement on facebook ... quite an album.

Nope! So far I can search from twitter.com. I am resisting ....

C says

WTF ?

How did Obama get sucked into this - he is a nobel prize peace prize winner? How come the Brits sucker-punched Gadaffi by blowing up his compound? ... & making it harder for the US? Why are the Russians, despite all the friendship & olive branches we extended still assholes to us - opposing what we do in the UN all the time? Is Russia afraid of Georgians & the Chechnyans revolting? Is China afraid of what the revolution in Libya will do to their oil supplier? ... or more worried about Tiawan & suppressing their own Jasmine revolution. What is this humanitarian shit - is it all about oil? If it is not, why is the UN so useless to stop a dictator from slaughtering his own people.

Seth says

source: Libya: A Long War or a Limited Engagement?

Here in London, the parliament is retroactively voting to authorize the military invention already underway in Libya.

Meanwhile, there is a gap developing between Britain and the U.S. that bears watching. The British defense secretary today said they could specifically target Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in these bombings, calling him a "legitimate target." Concern for civilian casualties could be a factor that could dissuade them from that decision, he said.

But Secretary Robert Gates, the U.S. secretary of defense, says no, targeting Gadhafi is not our aim.

[read the whole story and watch the video]

...

C says

... & unintended(?) consequences:

'Al Qaeda snatched missiles' in Libya... & Al Qaeda amongst the rebels