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charlizecourriers 02/22/2011 03:26 PM Report
Surely we have at least one spare Predator for Gaddafi in our arsenal!
REMant 02/22/2011 11:43 AM Report
Well, we knew by the time this aired that Qaddafi was in Tripoli, because he made a statement indicating that he was going to go down to Green Square to see his supporters, but that it was raining, and so he canceled the trip. If they were not his supporters there - it has been reported there were more than a million protestors in Tripoli yesterday - it must have been a hoax. In any case he used the occasion to call the report he had left the country the work of "stray dogs."
I noticed the Saif statement was a little circular myself, as did Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst: "It's also fascinating how he threatened the West with chaos in Libya and then threatened Libyans with Western intervention, because, as he put it, that would turn Libya into a decentralised country allowing various Islamist groups to take over, which the West would not allow." Saif, who is the heir apparent and the man who deals with the oil companies according to Vivienne Wait of Time, also said that if the protests did not stop, Libyans could kiss its revenues good-bye. Italy, Libya's main trading partner, would be adversely affected by an interruption of oil and natural gas. The head of the Al Suwayya tribe in eastern Libya threatened to cut oil exports to western countries within 24 hours unless the authorities put an end to the "oppression of protestors." according to a report on the Al Jazeera website. It is my understanding that there are many tribal differences that have not yet been taken into account by journalists.
Ali al-Essawi, who resigned as Libyan ambassador to India said that the govt had called in African mercenaries, as well as, that they were shelling cities, which the Deputy Foreign Minister has denied. But at least 61 people were killed in the capital yesterday, witnesses told Al Jazeeera, and a doctor at Benghazi's main hospital estimated the number of people killed there in the past five days to be near 300. State television has, however, dismissed the allegations as "lies and rumors." Al Jazeera quotes defecting Libyan military officers that Qaddafi said: "I was the one who created Libya, and I will be the one to destroy it."
The Benghazi doctor said that when military forces who had defected from Qaddafi's government entered an army base, they found evidence of soldiers having been executed, reportedly for refusing to fire on civilians. Some have suggested the army would be the key to a settlement as in Egypt, but if, as the professor says, and seems apparent, it is not unified, it is likely that there will be continued bloodshed, which raises the question what can be done about it. Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at GWU, tackles that question here: http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/21/the_libyan_horror
The Security Coucil was to have held a meeting this morning, and Ban Ki-moon is said to have been "outraged" at reports of bombing and shelling. Lynch makes the point that not only is the degree of violence unprecedented in recent times, but that anti-Qaddafi sentiment is widespread, which might offset fears of repercussions from Western intervention. However, the question remains what kind of intervention could be most effectively undertaken. That would seem to be to establish air superiority, requisite before anything else could be done anyway.