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| Africa North |
| Fleeing Gadhafi bastion, bitter at the new Libya |
| 2011-10-05 |
| [MSNBC] Families flowed out of Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... 's besieged hometown Tuesday, exhausted and battered by weeks of hiding from shelling and gunbattles with no meat or vegetables or electricity -- but unbowed in their deep distrust of the revolutionaries trying to crush this bastion of the old regime. The fleeing residents were a sign of how resistance to Libya's new rulers remains entrenched among those who benefited from Qadaffy's nearly 42-year rule. Many of those fleeing Sirte said that the stiff defense against revolutionary fighters who have been trying to battle their way into Sirte for three weeks is coming not from Qadaffy's military units but from residents themselves, volunteering to take up arms. "This so-called revolution is not worth it," said Moussa Ahmed, 31, who sat in a line of cars waiting to go through a checkpoint of fighters searching those exiting the city. "But we can't say anything now; when we meet the revolutionaries we have to hide our feelings." The battle for Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, has become the focal point of the campaign by Libya's new rulers to break the last remnants of Qadaffy's rule. More than six weeks after the then-rebels swept into Tripoli and ousted the longtime leader, Qadaffy remains on the run, his whereabouts unknown, and his supporters remain in control not only of Sirte but also the city of Bani Walid and parts of the desert south. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... said Tuesday that the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... air mission over Libya can't end and the political process can't begin until Sirte is taken. Libya's de facto Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Monday that Sirte must fall before the transitional leadership can declare victory and set a timeline for elections. The fight has been grueling. After three weeks, revolutionary forces have managed to get just over a mile (two kilometers) into the city. Heavily armed Qadaffy loyalists are holed up in the Ouagadougou Conference Center, a grandiose hall built by Qadaffy in the city center for international summits, and in the city hospital, revolutionary commanders said. On Tuesday, fighters eased shelling to allow residents to escape, and hundreds of cars filled with men, women and kiddies lined up at checkpoints at Sirte's eastern exit. Mothers carrying babies in blankets stood by the side of the road, their children clutching their robes, as revolutionary fighters rifled through their cars, searching through mattresses, clothes and other belongings for hidden weapons. "We haven't had vegetables or meat to eat for over a month," said one of the mothers, Attiya Mohammed. "The water is polluted, and forget about electricity -- it's been out since the middle of August." The city was a war zone, she said, buildings pockmarked with bullet holes and parts of the main hospital demolished. Like many, she had been afraid to step outside her home. "The city was our prison," she said. "If you left your house you risked being shot and killed." There was a palpable dislike between those fleeing and the fighters searching through their belongings, though there was no visible harassment and families said they were well treated, some given food and water. During his rule, Qadaffy turned Sirte into virtually a second capital, pouring in investments and giving residents prominent positions. As a result, support for the regime ran high -- and many of those fleeing were dismayed at the fall of the old order. Many of the fighters besieging Sirte are from the neighboring city of Misrata, which rose up against Qadaffy early and was brutalized under a bloody, weekslong siege by his forces during the revolt that began in mid-February. As a result, there is little love lost between the two cities. One Misrata revolutionary at the checkpoint, al-Hussein al-Sireiti, said they find four or five cars a day with hidden weapons. "We also check for people with bullet injuries, because that means they likely were fighting for Qadaffy," he said. They also search for those on a list of known Qadaffy loyalists wanted for interrogation, he said. Among those fleeing, Fatima al-Qadaffy -- from the same tribe the ousted leader -- bent her head over her five-month old baby girl and sobbed softly. "They wanted a revolution -- so do it in Misrata and leave the rest of us alone," she said. Wearing a black headscarf, her face freckled from the sun, she said she had never met revolutionary forces before Tuesday as she exited Sirte. She told one fighter to stop shooting his rifle so near her family's car, but he refused. "He said Moammar used to do worse than this, but I never saw anything bad from the old regime. We lived in safety and peace always," she said. Halima Salem, 44, sat patiently in her son's pickup truck while he showed their papers to fighters at the checkpoint. The truck bed was filled with blankets, appliances and clothes. In the seat behind her, four birdcages were filled with colorful love birds and canaries chirping away oblivious of sound of shelling. "I couldn't leave them behind, they're like one of the family," she exclaimed, smiling at her birds. She said she had been reluctant to abandon her home because gangs have been looting houses -- she wasn't sure what side they were loyal to, if either. During shelling, she hid under the bed in her master bedroom, clutching the youngest children. Finally, after bad shelling the night before, her sons forced her to pack up. "How can it be that Libyans are doing this to us? Aren't we the same people?" she lamented, shaking her head. "I feel bad for our (former Qadaffy) army ... They were honorable men with high morals. And now this chaos." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 They have Democrats in Libya? May God have mercy. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2011-10-05 23:30 |
| #2 words: unconnected: it: takes : a : village : to: raise : an : idiot: Allan : Snackbar : |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-10-05 21:15 |
| #1 Have Affordable Living Standard For All : Create Equal Oppurtinities And All Promote Living Standards For Sense Of Community : Commitment : For All : Cities And Towns : Villages : Health : Safety : Benefit Commerce : Standards : All Walks Of Life : Have Benefits For All : Libya ! Allah O Akbar ! |
| Posted by: Hupons Hapsburg3853 2011-10-05 19:48 |