The Middle East Uprisings: video, links, and more

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Marek

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LIBYA UPDATE

Human Rights Watch says up to 200 people have been killed in past three days during rallies calling for ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/110219/libya-gaddafi-protests

Libyan security forces have reportedly killed up to 200 protesters demanding the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, in an attack labeled "horrifying" by the British foreign secretary.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch upgraded its death toll several times Sunday, saying most of those killed were involved in protests in the eastern cities of Benghazi, Bayda and Tobruk. The group called it one of the worst crackdowns so far in the wave of anti-government protests across the Middle East.

A group of 50 Libyan Muslim leaders on Sunday urged security forces to stop killing civilians.

"This is an urgent appeal from religious scholars, intellectuals, and clan elders from Tripoli, Bani Walid, Zintan, Jadu, Msalata, Misrata, Zawiah, and other towns and villages of the western area," the appeal signed by the group of leaders said, Al Jazeera reported. "We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in any way, to recognize that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him) ... Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!"

A doctor in Benghazi told Al Jazeera that he had seen 70 bodies at the city's hospital on Friday. "I have seen it on my own eyes: At least 70 bodies at the hospital," said Wuwufaq al-Zuwail. He added that security forces had prevented ambulances from reaching the site of the protests.

Residents in Benghazi, about 600 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, reported Saturday that there was no electricity in parts of the city and that tanks were stationed outside the court building.

Human Rights Solidarity, a campaign group, said that snipers on rooftops in Al-Baida — a city of 210,000 — had killed 13 protesters and wounded dozens of others. Police stations in the town were set on fire as protesters burned posters of Gaddafi, according to the Telegraph.
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Article is quite a bit longer
 
aria

aria

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There are lots of rumors flying around about what's going on in Libya. This recent Al Jazeera piece is a summary --but it leaves out the rumor that some tribes and even some members of the military have defected.

 
norton9478

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Bobak said:
There are lots of rumors flying around about what's going on in Libya. This recent Al Jazeera piece is a summary --but it leaves out the rumor that some tribes and even some members of the military have defected.

Click to expand...

In other news....

Ronald Reagan Surrendered.
 
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NeoTheranthrope

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Bobak said:
There are lots of rumors flying around about what's going on in Libya. This recent Al Jazeera piece is a summary --but it leaves out the rumor that some tribes and even some members of the military have defected.

Click to expand...

I love the Libyan State representatives explanation for the violence: "eBaums did it"
 
NeoTheranthrope

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In Libya: The State Security force troops are looting the banks and government buildings in Tripoli. The army is divided and various units are attacking each other; airforce units from the north are attacking ground units in the south. Mercenaries are shooting protesters. Protesters are overrunning the mercs and executing them as they go. East Libya is completely under protester control. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria...
 
aria

aria

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Libya is in the midst of a spectacular implosion.

It seems that Qaddafi may have been too confident in his own personality cult and control over his own military.

The big rumor going around official circles (as per Al Jazeera) is that Qaddafi may have left the country.
 
aria

aria

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The first few paragraphs from the latest full article posted by the NY Times:

The 40-year-rule of the Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi appeared to teeter Monday as his security forces retreated to a few buildings in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, fires burned unchecked and senior government officials and diplomats announced defections. The country’s second-largest city remained under the control of rebels.

Security forces loyal to Mr. Qaddafi defended a handful of strategic locations, including the state television headquarters and the presidential palace, witnesses reported from Tripoli. Fires from the previous night’s rioting burned at many intersections, most stores were shuttered, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas.

In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials — including the justice minister and members of the Libyan mission to the United Nations — announced their resignations. And protesters in Benghazi, the second-largest city where the revolt began and more than 200 were killed, issued a list of demands calling for a secular interim government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes.

Mr. Qadaffi’s security forces waved green flags as they rallied in Tripoli’s central Green Square Monday under the protection of a handful of police, witnesses said. They constituted one of the few visible signs of government authority around the capital. The ubiquitous posters of Colonel Qaddafi around the capital had been torn down or burned, witnesses said.

[more]
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I think this is going to get very violent.

Al Jazzy's still doing a great job. They just showed pictures of Libyan jets that have suddenly landed in Malta.
 
aria

aria

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The word by Malta's gov't (remember, Malta is the closest EU country to Libya):

As soon as the fighter jets landed, without authorization, they were taken into custody by the Maltese military and immediately announced they were Libyan Air Force colonels who are defecting because they were ordered to attack protesters. They also claim they saw their cohorts attack civilians and then made the decision to defect instead of following through on their mission --this does corroborate the rumors that the Libyans were using jets on the civilians. Of course, these colonels could be saying this to get out in a hurry too. Libyans who have been living in Malta and protesting outside the Libyan Embassy have all gone to the airport to celebrate the defectors as heroes.

Very dramatic stuff :)
 
OMFG

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Bobak said:
Libya is in the midst of a spectacular implosion.

It seems that Qaddafi may have been too confident in his own personality cult and control over his own military.

The big rumor going around official circles (as per Al Jazeera) is that Qaddafi may have left the country.
Click to expand...

I'd check to see if his home in NJ is in use.
 
M

Marek

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Bobak said:
The word by Malta's gov't (remember, Malta is the closest EU country to Libya):

As soon as the fighter jets landed, without authorization, they were taken into custody by the Maltese military and immediately announced they were Libyan Air Force colonels who are defecting because they were ordered to attack protesters. They also claim they saw their cohorts attack civilians and then made the decision to defect instead of following through on their mission --this does corroborate the rumors that the Libyans were using jets on the civilians. Of course, these colonels could be saying this to get out in a hurry too. Libyans who have been living in Malta and protesting outside the Libyan Embassy have all gone to the airport to celebrate the defectors as heroes.

Very dramatic stuff :)
Click to expand...

Amazing!
 
NeoTheranthrope

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Bobak said:
Libya is in the midst of a spectacular implosion.

It seems that Qaddafi may have been too confident in his own personality cult and control over his own military.

The big rumor going around official circles (as per Al Jazeera) is that Qaddafi may have left the country.
Click to expand...

OMFG said:
I'd check to see if his home in NJ is in use.
Click to expand...

Venezuela, according to the U.K.'s diplomatic corp. (my guess is that he's fallen ill and he's in desperate need of medical attention in a friendly country that doesn't have an extradition treaty)

Edit: officially denied by Venezuela
 
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NeoTheranthrope

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9 Libyan diplomats have stepped down, the Libya's own diplomat to India has condemned Kahdafi and the violence.
 
NeoTheranthrope

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The Libyan ambassador to the U.S. has stepped down, condemned Kahdafi (normally a shooting offense), and put forth a personal plea to President Obama to supply aid and establish a no-fly zone over Libya.
 
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