Facing Down Bullets in Tripoli

The following is a video report.

"Gaddafi Loses More Libyan Cities" (3:02)
AlJazeera, Feb. 24, 2011 (originally posted Feb. 23)

http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2011/02/gaddafi-loses-more-libyan-cities

Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's long-standing ruler, has reportedly lost control of more cities as anti-government protests continue to sweep the African nation despite his threat of a brutal crackdown.

Protesters in Misurata said on Wednesday they had wrested the western city from government control. In a statement on the internet, army officers stationed in the city pledged "total support for the protesters".

The protesters also seemed to be in control of much of the country's east, and an Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from the city of Tobruk, 140km from the Egyptian border, said there was no presence of security forces. "From what I've seen, I'd say the people of eastern Libya are the ones in control," Hoda Abdel-Hamid, our correspondent, said. She said there were no officials manning the border when the Al Jazeera team crossed into Libya.

"All along the border, we didn't see one policeman, we didn't see one soldier and people here told us they [security forces] have all fled or are in hiding and that the people are now in charge, meaning all the way from the border, Tobruk, and then all the way up to Benghazi.

"People tell me it's also quite calm in Bayda and Benghazi. They do say, however, that 'militias' are roaming around, especially at night. They describe them as African men, they say they speak French so they think they're from Chad."

Major-General Suleiman Mahmoud, the commander of the armed forces in Tobruk, told Al Jazeera that the troops led by him had switched loyalties. "We are on the side of the people," he said. "I was with him [Gaddafi] in the past but the situation has changed - he's a tyrant."

Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, was where people first rose up in revolt against Gaddafi's 42-year long rule more than a week ago. The rebellion has since spread to other cities despite heavy-handed attempts by security forces to quell the unrest.

With authorities placing tight restrictions on the media, flow of news from Libya is at best patchy. But reports filtering out suggest at least 300 people have been killed in the violence. But Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said there were "credible' reports that at least 1,000 had died in the clampdown.

Amid the turmoil, a defiant Gaddafi has vowed to quash the uprising. He delivered a rambling speech on television on Tuesday night, declaring he would die a martyr in Libya, and threatening to purge opponents "house by house" and "inch by inch".

Here's what the text with the video clip at Youtube reads.

While the international community pushes for sanctions against Libya over Muammar Gaddafi's brutal crackdown - his son, Saif al-Islam, says everything is normal (my emphasis).

He says the problem lies in the eastern regions.

In the city of Tobruk close to the Egyptian border, there is no presence of security forces.

The province of Cyrenaica is also in the hands of pro-democracy protesters according to Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister.

And it is the same situation in the western city of Misurata where army officers have reportedly thrown their weight behind calls for Gaddafi to go.

Tripoli is said to be on virtual lockdown - it has always been Gaddafi's stronghold .

Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford reports.

The following article informs that AlJazeera is NOT a reliable news media, certainly not about Libya anyway. It's not the reason for including the link to this next article, for the bit about AlJazeera is learned near the end and this note is with an update of this post after having read the whole article, which I'd say is both very good and very important. However, anyone who views the above AlJazeera video should easily notice that it's rather extremely lacking; basically, superficial reporting. I knew it was quite superficial and found it odd for this reason, but the following article provides some additional insight, say, on AlJazeera with respect to Libya.

"Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?"

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Feb. 25, 2011

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375

One should be opposed to dictatorship, but one should not forget the issue of foreign domination.

Is “manufactured destruction” or “creative destruction” at work?

Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?

If Qaddafi is not ousted, are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?

Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya

(snip)

Excuse my non-PC language, but shmuck (too PC for him) Tony Blair is pictured gleefully and sick(ening)ly smiling while sort of shaking hands with apparently very independent dictator "Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi)", who is not smiling at all, perhaps because of his independent sort of nature vis-a-vis Washington and the EU. Colonel Al-Gaddafi doesn't seem to be happy in this picture and maybe this has a little something to do with the false US-Britain story on the Lockerbie Bombing of 1988. GR is providing some links to older articles today on the falseness of US and UK accusations against and conviction of an innocent Libyan man and the Libyan government for the Lockerbie bombing and I guess GR is now doing this because of what's going on in Libya, today. I'll provide some links further on in this post for readers who haven't yet learned the truth about this Lockerbie bombing history.

He is evidently far from being a saint, but is also evidently someone who isn't and hasn't been a puppet of Washington and Europe. It's a great character trait. Unfortunately, he nevertheless is a dictator of undesirable sort, a despot.

Do the US and NATO have sufficient "spare" forces to intervene in Libya? They could, f.e., send US-NATO AFRICOM forces and forces from African proxies of Washington, like Nigeria and Rwanda. That's been done in some African countries, before, and possibly (more likely to be probably or surely) still continues. Washington commits more covert and "black" covert ops than overt ops that are accounted for, or which are certainly known by the general public anyway. Washington has more proxy wars going on and being covertly conducted, organized or orchestrated than it has for overt wars that everyone knows Washington is leader of, f.e.

Re. the Qaddafi son saying conditions are "normal", maybe Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya's article provides an explanation. It seems that the family does not all "see eye to eye", that there're tensions between sons and the father, who has, so far, maintained dominant control.

Definitely read his article. It's real education.

Re. Lockerbie bombing, 1988:

There are plenty of good articles on this subject at GR, but I'll only provide links for one or two of these. People wanting to check for more can simply Google GR. I'll also include a link for another very interesting article at FIRM or Firm Magazine, "The Firm: Scotland's Independent Law Journal". The latter article provides an explanation that is credible and what it says would only need to be proven. What it explains is that this might not have been a bombing at all. It could've been a very bad accident, and if it was as explained in the article, then the governments of the US and UK would be very and directly culpable or responsible.

"Key Lockerbie Witness Admits Perjury"
by Prof. Ludwig De Braeckeleer, Sept. 15, 2007

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6786

"Attack or a trick?"
by Steven Raeburn, Aug. 3, 2007

www.firmmagazine.com/features/324/Attack_or_a_trick%3F.html

The following page has a copy of the above article, but also follows it with another article that's related.

http://realmofscotland.com/scolandpage.aspx?Cat=13&menu=Lockerbie%20tria...

The following piece is one that was copied at GR and which GR provides a link to again this week, though the GR copy says Scotesman, instead of Scotsman and used 2006, instead of 2005, for the original publication.

"Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked"
by Marcello Mega, Aug. 28, 2005

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Police-chief-Lockerbie-evidence-was.26...

GR also provided a link for another related article over the past few days and it'll be found in the GR home page, if anyone wants to check the piece. There's very important information to know about the true story of the Lockerbie bombing and everyone should make sure to learn this information. It's a civic duty to do so.