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Just call it the Neverland of Libya: Among the items rebels found during an Aug. 24 raid on embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddifis lavish and kitschy Bab al-Aziziya compound were a golden mermaid sofa with the face of Qaddafis daughter, Aisha, a merry-go-round made with giant teacups and a photo album published by MSNBC that is entirely devoted to former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Ms. Rice, whom he called "Leezza" and "my darling black African woman" in a 2007 interview with Al-Jazeera television, made a diplomatic visit to Libya in 2008, when she had a two-hour dinner with an adoring Mr. Qaddafi, according to the Washington Post. The US embassy had previously warned Rice in a cable later released by Wikileaks that Qaddafi avoids making eye contact but that he was eager to share with her his views on global affairs.
While the adulation of Rice is understandable, Qaddafi is know for his eccentricities: wearing flamboyant clothing, employing a team of female bodyguards, and insisting on sleeping in a tent during his world travels, among others. His latest eyebrow-raising move during the height of the rebel siege on Tripoli was to call his Russian friend Kirsan N. Ilyumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation, who has claimed to talk to aliens. What on earth did they discuss? Perhaps Mr. Ilyumzhinov has secret chess move that will get Qaddafi out of this jam or maybe the Colonels salvation will come from outer space.
Qaddafi
If this is supposedly FOR THE PEOPLE, why are they calling them REBELS?
The rising tensions, which have become increasingly public, could jeopardize efforts to rebuild the country and form a cohesive state after six months of civil war. Each side accuses the other of trying to monopolize a new government. On one side stand more secular technocrats, some of whom have long lived abroad or once had ties with Gadhafi's regime. On the other are conservatives, including the Muslim Brotherhood, who opposed Gadhafi for years on the ground in Libya and suffered during his rule. "There are fears that these tensions could hamper reconstruction or just cause it all to unravel," said a Western official in Tripoli who deals with members of the leadership of all stripes. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
The two sides are wrestling over a fundamental question facing Libya's new leaders since the uprising began in mid-February how to divvy up the powers of the nation after the downfall of Gadhafi's 42-year rule. Caught in the middle is Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council, the closest thing the former rebels have to a functioning government. Abdul-Jalil is the sole figure in the leadership who enjoys almost universal support, earning the deep respect of many Libyans for criticizing Gadhafi's regime even while serving as its justice minister. "Abdul-Jalil is trying to keep the peace, and it's a struggle between both sides, between the two powerful camps," said one official close to the NTC on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. "He's trying to maintain a balance between the two camps, and keep the international community happy. It's very difficult."
The disputes for now appear to be primarily over personnel, and not deeply rooted in ideology, although the dividing line is increasingly stark. The more secular camp is headed by Mahmoud Jibril, the U.S.-educated acting prime minister who has found favor among the revolution's Western backers. But Jibril, like a handful of others falling on this side of the fault line, also served briefly in the Gadhafi regime, and spent much his time during the civil war abroad, trying to drum up international support. One of the most prominent Islamist figures at the moment is Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, a former fighter in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group a militant organization that long opposed Gadhafi and now the commander of the Tripoli military council.
The Islamists, who control the main military force in the capital, the Tripoli Brigade, have tried to ramp up the pressure on Jibril, calling for his resignation. "We think that Mahmoud Jibril has lost the confidence of people on the ground in Tripoli, in eastern Libya, in Misrata, and in the majority of the western mountains," said Anes Sharif, a spokesman for the Tripoli military council. "He has been living for the last six months outside the country," Sharif said. "He is appointing people depending on their loyalty to him, not depending on their worth and their activities in the revolution. We think he's a project for a new dictator." On Friday, Jibril arrived in Tripoli nearly three weeks after the capital's fall and in his first public comments took a swipe at groups who he said have already started "the political game" before the rules have been set.
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Update at 8:29 a.m. ET: Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council, will address the Libyan nation shortly, Al Jazeera reports.
Update at 8:27 a.m. ET: A pro-Gadhafi TV website denies reports that theformer Libyan leader has been been killed or captured, Al Jazeera reports. "The reports peddled by the lackeys of NATO about the capture or death of the brother leader, Moammar Gadhafi, are baseless," saiys Al-Libiya television. Gadhafi "is in good health," it adds. Reports Gadhafi was killed or captured "are nothing but rumors." "It is not the first time they resort to this kind of disinformation," the report notes.
Update at 8:23 a.m. ET: Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Sirte, says it appears that the last hundred or so of Gadhafi loyalists tried to make a run for it and that 95% is under the control of the NTC forces.
Update at 8:14 a.m. ET: The Misrata Military Council, one of multiple command groups for revolutionary forces, says its fighters captured Gadhafi in Sirte, the Associated Press reports. Another commander, Abdel-Basit Haroun, tells the AP that Gadhafi was killed when an airstrike hit a convoy trying to flee. The spokesman for Libya's transitional government, Jalal al-Gallal, and its military spokesman Abdul-Rahman Busin, however, say the reports have not been confirmed. A NATO official also says the alliance could not independently confirmed, the AP reports.
Update at 8:03 a.m. ET:
And if Libya becomes just another al Qaida building block?
Tribes. Remember? Tribes are willing to submit when they are defeated as it goes with their belief system.
Gadhafi, 69, was killed Thursday by Libya's revolutionary army in his hometown of Sirte, where he had been in hiding since being driven from power by rebels in a bloody civil war. Danielle Pletka, a foreign affairs and defense policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said Gadhafi's death marks the end of the civil war but the beginning of a longer and more complicated process. The Transitional National Council, drawn from a small group that stood up to Gadhafi early in the war, faces "an enormous amount of groundwork" in preparation for elections, Pletka said. "The details of democratic governance are intensely complex and difficult," Pletka said.
Issues include determining the type of government Libya will adopt, the role of the nation's tribes, how to conduct elections and how to deal with those who were enriched by Gadhafi's rule. "All of those things are incredibly complex and can't be dealt with with a bullet," she said. Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Obama administration and international community must play key roles in stabilizing Libya. "The best we can do is to help the people who look like good guys to get organized and get them ready for the political and perhaps military tussle that will follow," Gelb said. "Don't think this is the end of the story."
For now, though, the NATO military effort could wrap up as soon as Friday. "It's clear that the NATO mission is coming to an end," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "I'll leave it to NATO to formally declare that." President Obama called for an "inclusive and tolerant and diverse Libya" that would be "the ultimate rebuke to Gadhafi's dictatorship," but acknowledged that is a long-term proposition. "We are under no illusions," Obama said. "Libya will travel a long and winding road to democracy."
Gadhafi, who ruled Libya with a dictatorial grip for 42 years, was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance. "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Moammar Gadhafi has been killed," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril announced in the capital, Tripoli. Libya Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam also told the Associated Press that Gadhafi's son Muatassim was killed in Sirte. Muatassim Gadhafi was his father's national security adviser. The transitional government also said another Gadhafi son, his onetime heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, was captured wounded by revolutionary fighters and is in a hospital.
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And if Libya becomes just another al Qaida building block?
Tribes. Remember? Tribes are willing to submit when they are defeated as it goes with their belief system.
Libya can very well become another Islamic republic, alot of those rebels fought in Iraq against US Troops. Gaddafi was very harsh on the Islamists in Libya.
Here's another
Jimmy Carter - Iran
Barack Obama - Libya
Here's another
Jimmy Carter - Iran
Barack Obama - Libya
Heres another:
Tipsycatlover-stupid retard with horse cock in throat
