Who is protecting the civilians from the Libyan rebels?

[Quantum Windbag]

Rebels in the mountains in Libya’s west have looted and damaged four towns seized since last month from the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, part of a series of abuses and apparent reprisals against suspected loyalists that have chased residents of these towns away, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The looting included many businesses and at least two medical centers that, like the towns, are now deserted and bare.
Rebel fighters also beat people suspected of being loyalists and burned their homes, the organization said.
The towns that have suffered the abuses are Qawalish, which rebels seized last week, Awaniya, Rayaniyah and Zawiyat al-Bagul, which fell to the rebels last month. Some of the abuses, Human Rights Watch said, were directed against members of the Mashaashia tribe, which has long supported Colonel Qaddafi.
The organization’s findings come as support for the war has waned in Europe and in Washington, where Republicans and Democrats alike have questioned American participation on budgetary and legal grounds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/world/africa/13libya.html?_r=1

 

[CitizenPained]

I predicted this, but Obama stopped taking my calls.

 

[uscitizen]

Damn Bush err Obama!

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I predicted this, but Obama stopped taking my calls.

I know the feeling.

 

[High_Gravity]

According to NATO they are bombing Libya to protect Libyan Civilians, so I guess the rebels are the civilians right?

 

[alexa]

Rebels in the mountains in Libya’s west have looted and damaged four towns seized since last month from the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, part of a series of abuses and apparent reprisals against suspected loyalists that have chased residents of these towns away, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The looting included many businesses and at least two medical centers that, like the towns, are now deserted and bare.
Rebel fighters also beat people suspected of being loyalists and burned their homes, the organization said.
The towns that have suffered the abuses are Qawalish, which rebels seized last week, Awaniya, Rayaniyah and Zawiyat al-Bagul, which fell to the rebels last month. Some of the abuses, Human Rights Watch said, were directed against members of the Mashaashia tribe, which has long supported Colonel Qaddafi.
The organization’s findings come as support for the war has waned in Europe and in Washington, where Republicans and Democrats alike have questioned American participation on budgetary and legal grounds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/world/africa/13libya.html?_r=1

This story is about 3 weeks old but it goes with what you are conveying. It also counters all they hype that proceeded the no fly zone. (If something similar has been posted on this my apologies. I have not been keeping up on this)

Human rights organisations have cast doubt on claims of mass rape and other abuses perpetrated by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which have been widely used to justify Nato's war in Libya.

-snip-

Rebels have repeatedly charged that mercenary troops from Central and West Africa have been used against them. The Amnesty investigation found there was no evidence for this. "Those shown to journalists as foreign mercenaries were later quietly released," says Ms Rovera. "Most were sub-Saharan migrants working in Libya without documents."

Others were not so lucky and were lynched or executed. Ms Rovera found two bodies of migrants in the Benghazi morgue and others were dumped on the outskirts of the city. She says: "The politicians kept talking about mercenaries, which inflamed public opinion and the myth has continued because they were released without publicity."

-snip-

Most of the fighting during the first days of the uprising was in Benghazi, where 100 to 110 people were killed, and the city of Baida to the east, where 59 to 64 were killed, says Amnesty. Most of these were probably protesters, though some may have obtained weapons.

Amateur videos show some captured Gaddafi supporters being shot dead and eight badly charred bodies were found in the remains of the military headquarters in Benghazi, which may be those of local boys who disappeared at that time.

-snip-

There is no evidence that aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were used against crowds. Spent cartridges picked up after protesters were shot at came from Kalashnikovs or similar calibre weapons.

The Amnesty findings confirm a recent report by the authoritative International Crisis Group, which found that while the Gaddafi regime had a history of brutally repressing opponents, there was no question of "genocide".

The report adds that "much Western media coverage has from the outset presented a very one-sided view of the logic of events, portraying the protest movement as entirely peaceful and repeatedly suggesting that the regime's security forces were unaccountably massacring unarmed demonstrators who presented no security challenge".

Amnesty questions claim that Gaddafi ordered rape as weapon of war - Africa, World - The Independent

I'm sad to say this does not surprise me. Here in the UK there was such a whipping up of anti Gadaffi sentiment - all of which these reports seem to counter - that is the rapes, genocide and the total innocence of the rebels.

I was watching news 24 at the time and early on I watched a Libyan saying how some people had come in the night and thrown fireballs at an army barracks. I assume they are the charred bodies spoken about above. I could not quite understand how innocent, peaceful demonstrators could do this. I also was concerned that nobody seemed to know who these rebels were.

Well it was really France first, then the UK - not so much the US this time and of course all the Arab countries originally agreeing.

Gadaffi may be a thug but what was the motivation for this and not in Bahrain or Syria? Oil, illegal immigrants coming to Europe when they are trying to have a resolution or just that no one liked eccentric Gadaffi.

We'll probably have to wait a bit longer till we find the truth and bear the consequences.