13 Libyan Mass Grave: Red Cross

[freedombecki]

Red Cross: 13 Mass Graves Uncovered in Libya

GENEVA -- The International Committee of the Red Cross http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/american-red-cross.htm#r_src=rampsays at least 13 mass graves have been found in Libya over the past three weeks. The Geneva-based Red Cross says its staff assisted in the recovery of 125 bodies found at 12 different sites in and around Tripoli. It says remains of 34 people were also recovered from a site in the Nafusa mountain village of Galaa in western Libya.


ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson said Wednesday that more mass graves are being found every week. Fox

​

 

[waltky]

First step toward re-building Libyan gov't.

Libya's interim leaders confront tough task: disarming militias
September 14, 2011 - The ability of transitional leaders to rein in the scores of militias that helped oust Muammar Qaddafi will signal how capable they are of governing the new Libya.

As Libyan fighters battle the last remnants of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime, Libya’s new transitional leaders are already confronting one of the major challenges that will come next: disarming the scores of militias that fought the war. Once the fighting is over, disbanding the militias will be key to ensuring independent armed groups do not become a destabilizing force in the new Libya. The ability of the National Transitional Council (NTC) over the next few weeks to rein in militias will be an indicator of whether it is up to the task of governing all of Libya or not.

“You need to have people feel safe and secure. You can’t have independent military organizations roaming the country,” says Zahi Mogherbi, political science professor at Garyounis University in Benghazi. “The NTC’s performance in this regard will solidify their legitimacy. And I think the legitimacy of the NTC will now be based on its performance.” Already, the NTC is running into trouble, as divisions deepen between rebel leaders. The rebel military commander in Tripoli was stridently displeased with acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril's plan, outlined Sunday, to bring the militias fully under civilian control – either by sending members back to their civilian jobs or incorporating them into the army or police force.

Militiamen eager to go back to families, jobs

Most of the fighters who have become known as Libyan rebels are civilians who, until the uprising began in February, had no idea how to operate an AK-47, much less how to fire an artillery gun or launch a Grad rocket. Many men are eager to go back to their families and return to work as lawyers, engineers, teachers, and myriad other professions. “Each one of us will go back to his own work,” says Khalid Tayer Faraj Hussien, a fighter with the Ali Hassan Jaber Brigade who has fought on the front lines in eastern Libya for months. He wants to go back to school after the fighting ends.

MORE

 

[JStone]

Islam, the religion of pieces.

 

[freedombecki]

Islam, the religion of pieces.

I was looking for pictures and videos of the mass graves in English. They're all in Arabic tongues, and I can't tell who's fighting whom. Also, the videos prefer the shooting part of killing, and after about 30 seconds of that, I'd had enough.

I think the Red Cross has its hands full, and their workers know the language over there.

I think Moammar Khadafi made a series of mistakes since before Lockerbie, and his chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Defiant1]

Islam, the religion of pieces.

I was looking for pictures and videos of the mass graves in English. They're all in Arabic tongues, and I can't tell who's fighting whom. Also, the videos prefer the shooting part of killing, and after about 30 seconds of that, I'd had enough.

I think the Red Cross has its hands full, and their workers know the language over there.

I think Moammar Khadafi made a series of mistakes since before Lockerbie, and his chickens are coming home to roost.

Thank God the previous administration was able to convince him to hand over his and Saddam's WMDs before this shit happened.

 

[freedombecki]

State department info says Saddam's good stuff went to Syria.

 

[waltky]

Libyan mass grave with over 1,200 bodies in it...

Libya transitional council believes mass grave found
September 25, 2011 -- Identification of the remains could take years; The grave was found August 20, government officials say; It is thought to contain 1,270 bodies

A mass grave thought to hold the remains of more than 1,200 victims of a 1996 massacre at Abu Salim prison has been found in Tripoli, officials with Libya's transitional government said Sunday. The suspected grave holds 1,270 bodies, according to Libya's National Transitional Council. It was located by revolutionaries on August 20, said Kamal el Sherif, a member of an NTC committee. "There is a lot more to be done to reach the actual truth of this massacre," said Dr. Salem Fergani, also a committee member. "To be honest, we were not prepared to deal with such human massacres, so we request the assistance of the international community. We need specialists in the field to help us in identifying the victims ... this is a national mission. The families of these victims have the right to learn the truth about their deceased sons."

Former guards at the prison cooperated in helping find the grave and provide details of the massacre, said Abdul Wahab Gady. He said he is a former prisoner who was at Abu Salim when the deaths took place. The bones are scattered around an area with about a 100-meter radius, Fergani said. Members of the media were taken to the site on Sunday and shown bones and clothing. Family members of the Abu Salim victims also turned up at the site. On June 28, 1996, prisoners rioting over poor conditions and restricted family visits seized a guard and escaped from their cells. "Five or seven minutes after it started, the guards on the roofs shot at the prisoners who were in the open areas," former prisoner Hussein Shafei told Human Rights Watch in an interview years later.

Security officials ordered the shooting to stop and feigned negotiations, he told the organization. But officials instead called in firing squads to gun down the prisoners. After the inmates agreed to return to their cells, they were taken to prison outdoor areas, blindfolded, handcuffed, and shot. At first, said Gady, the bodies were buried inside the prison walls, but moved outside the walls in 1999. The government of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi did not acknowledge the killings and denied any crime had taken place. Some families filed a complaint against the government in 2007, Human Rights Watch said, and Gadhafi's government offered them compensation in exchange for their silence. The families refused, calling it a bribe, and instead began holding protests each Saturday in Benghazi, one of the spots where the Libyan unrest began this year. It could take years to identify all the bodies through DNA, Fergani said Sunday.

Libya transitional council believes mass grave found - CNN.com