Libya’s Big-Oil “PM” Rolls Over for Western Masters

El-Keib obfuscates/defends Libyan support for terrorist militants in Syria.

Tony Cartalucci

March 9, 2012 – Libya’s Prime Minister, and British Petroleum, Total, and Shell-funded Petroleum Institute chairman Abdurrahim el-Keib, flatly denied allegations by Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin that Libya was directly funding, training, and arming militants in Syria. El-Keib’s denial stands in direct contradiction of reports like the London Telegraph’s “Leading Libyan Islamist met Syrian Army Opposition Group,” where it was revealed that “the new Libyan authorities had offered money and weapons to the growing insurgency against Bashar al-Assad.”

Images: Screenshots from the Petroleum Institute's "Partners and Sponsors" page, as well as el-Keib's profile page (inset). (click image to enlarge)

Additionally, VoltaireNet.org would confirm Abdul Hakim Belhaj, Tripoli’s military commander and leader of the US State Department-listed terror organization Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), was not just assisting Syrian militants but in fact leading them in NATO’s armed destabilization of Syria.
Clearly, Libya is assisting the US by admittedly training, arming, and providing foreign-terrorists to fight alongside Syrian militants, in yet another example of post US-engineered “Arab Spring” nations emerging as US client-states. Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, a US-funded activist leader installed upon a wave of destabilization triggered by US-backed activists, has likewise supported US efforts to isolate and topple the Syrian government. Marzouki announced that Tunisia would begin withdrawing recognition of the Syrian government and prepare to expel the Syrian ambassador from Tunisia.

During talks with Libya’s “PM” el-Keib, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would admit that the US was organizing the Syrian opposition into a front similar to what the US and NATO had assembled in Libya before commencing months of NATO bombardment and the eventual devastating sieges of the cities of Tripoli, Bani Walid, and Sirte.
Clinton would conclude:

“Just think, this time last year, the United States was working to build an international coalition of support for the Libyan people, and today, we are proud to continue that support as the people of Libya build a new democracy that will bring about peace and prosperity, and protect the rights and dignity of every citizen.”

Ironically, the eastern region of Libya has now declared a state of autonomy from Tripoli with the Al Qaeda flag flying above it, making what is in essence the “terror-emirate” of Benghazi. Meanwhile, widespread reports from Libya indicate that rebels involved in the NATO-backed overthrow of Qaddafi are now conducting a campaign of racist-genocide across the country in an atmosphere of general lawlessness. Such realities are devoid of Clinton’s vision of “rights and dignity for every citizen,” as well as a harbinger of things to come in the wake of foreign intervention in Syria.

Also see:
Crimson Satellite Libya News
Crimson Satellite Syria News

Libya’s new election law: NATO rebels consolidate political dictatorship

Gadaffi government beneficiaries excluded from office

By Derek Ford
Party for Socialism and Liberation

January 16, 2011

National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has warned against Gaddafi's children raising an insurrection.

A recent draft election law in Libya is causing outrage among varying sectors of Libyan society. The content of the legislation, posted online by the NATO-installed National Transition Council, focuses on the rules for the national assembly elections to be held in August.

Under the draft law, anyone with ties to Muammar Gaddafi or the previous sovereign Libyan government will be banned from running in the elections, including those who“benefited monetarily” from the government. The provision also bars from participation academics who wrote and published about Gaddafi’s “Green Book.”

The vague legislation is based on the myth that only a small section of Libyans supported the Gadaffi government. It is worth recalling that in fact the largest demonstrations during the eight-month NATO assault on Libya were in support of the government, not the rebels. In other words, in the new “democratic” Libya, only politicians acceptable to the NATO rebels will be eligible to run for political office.

The legislation is also problematic because it eliminates any non-violent avenues for supporters of the former sovereign government and the Green Resistance to participate in reconciliation after the devastating war. Resistance organizations have been regrouping in the southern Sahel region, which provides easy access to several neighboring countries.

Journalist Franklin Lamb, who is currently in Libya, wrote recently, “There is clear and growing pro-Gadhafi political and military activity here and it is why NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the other day warned against the Gadhafi children raising an insurrection.” (Counterpunch, Jan. 13-15)

The Libyan Liberation Front had previously been planning on running in the August elections.

The draft legislation also appears to continue the NTC’s attack on women’s rights in Libya. The draft law may set a quota of 10 percent on women’s representation in the national assembly. This would mean women would be limited to 20 seats out of 200, and has been strongly condemned by women’s and human rights organizations in Libya. It is possible that the language in the draft law needs to be clarified and that the intent is to reserve (but not limit) women to 10 percent of seats. However, it is telling that women in Libya have protested the language, interpreting it as a limitation.

Under the Gaddafi government, there were no restrictions on women’s participation in social, economic or political life.

Libya: NTC Announces Undemocratic Election Laws

World Socialist Web Site
by Will Morrow
13 January 2012

Libya’s self-appointed Transitional National Council (TNC) last week released draft laws governing elections scheduled later this year for a “General National Congress.”

The Congress is supposed to elect a new government to replace the TNC, and draft a new constitution to be put to a referendum. The deeply anti-democratic draft electoral laws make clear that the new governing body, like the NATO-installed TNC, will be carefully vetted by the US and European imperialist powers and will represent different regional and tribal elite cliques against the interests of the Libyan people.

The draft legislation features provisions preventing people nominating themselves as candidates for the Congress. Libyan workers are blocked from participation by the requirement that candidates must have a “professional qualification.” Virtually everyone who worked at any level of Moammar Gaddafi’s former government is barred, unless they can demonstrate “early and clear support for the February 17th revolution.” Those with an academic degree in Gaddafi’s “Third Universal Theory” or Green Book—previously required by many people to advance their careers—are ineligible.

Other statutes reportedly disqualify people who allegedly benefited monetarily from the regime or received diplomas or university degrees “without merit.” Massaoud El Kanuni, a Libyan lawyer specialising in constitutional law, told the Wall Street Journal: “That criteria could be used against three-quarters of the country. How are we going to follow a path of national reconciliation if so many people are excluded from [the country’s] future?”

The electoral laws underscore the fraudulent character of the efforts to provide a democratic veneer to the NATO intervention. From the beginning, the US and European powers aimed to oust the Gaddafi regime and install a pliant administration to secure control of the country’s lucrative oil reserves and bolster their geostrategic position in North Africa.

The TNC largely comprises ex-Gaddafi regime figures, Islamist elements, CIA assets and tribal leaders. On December 17, the Guardian’s Tripoli correspondent reported: “The TNC refuses to say who its members are, or even how many there are. Although it appointed a cabinet last month, policy decisions are taken inside what amounts to a black box. Meetings are held in secret, voting records are not published, and decisions are announced by irregular television broadcasts. Typical was last week’s announcement, which came out of the blue, that the oil and economy ministries would be moved to Benghazi, and the finance ministry to Misrata.”

These moves sow the seeds for the further fragmentation of Libya, as rival regional and tribal cliques vie for power and control over the country’s wealth.

Different militias that served as proxy forces for NATO during its regime-change campaign have carved up Tripoli into zones of influence. Military checkpoints separate brigades from eastern Libya, Misrata, Zintan and different ethnic minorities such as the Berbers, with each outfit flying its town or tribal flag in the areas it controls. Islamist brigades, including one led by former Al Qaeda ally Abdel Haqim Belhaj, who claims authority over Tripoli, are also prominent. Firefights have erupted between militias in recent weeks, including a clash on January 3, which killed four people.

The TNC has attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the militias to integrate into the so-called Libyan National Army. The army is little more than another militia, comprising an estimated 200 fighters from eastern Libya. According to the New York Times, CIA asset Khalifa Hifter has recently “emerged as the army’s most influential officer,” though Yousef Al-Manqoush, a former Gaddafi military commander who retired in 1999, is the official head of the force.

The militias function as mafia-type outfits. A revealing incident occurred on December 10, when Libyan National Army troops failed to capture Tripoli’s main airport from a militia from the small western town of Zintan. The militia is desperate to control the airport so it can secure a cut of the billions of dollars in previously frozen Libyan government assets. “The glittering prize immediately in prospect is a consignment of several billion dinars, printed in Germany, which is due to be flown into Libya on board five cargo planes,” the Guardian explained. “Whoever controls the airport when the cash arrives will be able to levy a hefty security fee for delivering it to the country’s central bank.”

Ongoing militia clashes may provide a pretext for the TNC to postpone the General National Congress elections, planned for July, and the subsequent vote on a new constitution in 2013. On January 3, TNC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil declared that the violence threatened a slide into civil war, warning: “If there’s no security, there will be no law, no development and no elections.”

Behind the scenes, the scramble for control over Libya’s oil continues. Tripoli and Benghazi are nests of intrigue, with the rival imperialist powers vying for energy contracts.

Bloomberg last week published an article entitled, “Italy Last Among Libya Friends for Potential Oil Concessions.” It welcomed statements issued by Ali Tarhouni, who served as the TNC’s minister of oil and finance between March and November last year. Tarhouni declared that the US and France did not come across as “someone who is basically grabbing” and are “playing it right,” while Italy “will take time to figure it out.” The former minister pointedly listed Libya’s “friends” in the following order: France, the US, Britain and Italy. “We are indebted to the French, and I cannot find the right words to say it,” he declared. “If everything else is the same, of course we will remember our friends.”

However, the TNC’s current oil minister Abdul-Rahman Ben Yezza is a former executive with Italy’s oil corporation ENI, which was the dominant foreign oil firm operating under Gaddafi. Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib issued a statement in late December declaring that “contracts signed between ENI and the former regime are going to be reviewed and re-examined to meet Libya’s interests before being executed,” adding that ENI had to prove its loyalty to Libya by “playing a significant role in the reconstruction of the cities destroyed by Gaddafi’s forces.” Yezza was reportedly involved in the subsequent discussions that resulted in Kib disavowing his criticisms of ENI and insisting that his comments on reviewing oil contracts had been misinterpreted.

Libyans Continue to Resist NATO-Installed Regime

Chaos reigns, human rights violations abound

Libyan woman from Tawargha protests in Martyr's Square, Tripoli, Nov. 5 (Editor's Note: Notice that the mural in the square depicts white Europeans, not Libyans, carrying the Idris flag)

Party for Socialism and Liberation
by Derek Ford

NOVEMBER 26 — One month after the official “liberation” of Libya was declared, the authority of the National Transition Council remains tenuous at best and the country remains in a state of chaos. There have been signs of renewed resistance and intense factional struggles within the forces that comprise the NTC.

Resentment against rebel militias continues to build across the country. Libyans are angered over the mob-like rule imposed by NTC militias that regularly loot homes and businesses. At military checkpoints, rebels arrest anyone who cannot produce proper identification.

Conditions in the prisons run by the NTC are inhumane, according to reports from international agencies. The U.N. human rights office has found evidence of torture in the prisons, where NTC fighters take revenge on anyone they suspect of supporting the resistance.

A leaked report by Ban ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, indicates that some 7,000 detainees are currently being held in NTC jails with “no access to due process.” The Independent broke the story on Nov. 24. The report affirms that torture in the facilities is widespread. A large number of the prisoners are dark-skinned sub-Sarahan Africans, and there are cases where these prisoners are singled out because of their skin color. Women and children are also among those held. (The Independent, Nov. 24)

The life of Dr. Abuzaid Omar Dorda, once Libya’s prime minister and permanent representative to the U.N. under Gaddafi, has been in grave danger since his capture on Sept. 11. Prison guards broke both of his legs during an attempt on his life, which also caused internal bleeding. He remains untreated from those injuries.

Meanwhile, there are factional struggles erupting between the multitude of brigades that comprise the NTC military forces. On Nov. 12, quarreling units exchanged gunfire 15 miles outside of Tripoli, sending panic-stricken residents running from their homes. There is also evidence that Al-Qaeda forces are among those who have been fighting alongside NATO, as the Al-Qaeda flag was hoisted earlier this month above the Benghazi courthouse that was used as rebel headquarters throughout the year.

Signs of renewed resistance

Just 90 miles south of Tripoli in Bani Walid, residents remain defiant to the new government. In the town’s main hospital, which is under the control of a former NTC fighter, a portrait of Gaddafi lies at the floor of the entrance. The majority of the hospital’s visitors walk around the portrait, so as not to disrespect the former leader.

One NTC fighter told Reuters that “There are shootouts every day with Gaddafi loyalists.” (Reuters, Oct. 26) There have been reports that Warfalla tribe members were hoisting the green flags that symbolize the resistance and marching on Nov. 16. Anti-Gaddafi graffiti in the town has been covered up and painted over with warnings of resistance, including the slogan “the Warfalla tribe hasn’t used its power yet.” Nearly one-sixth of the Libyan population belongs to the Warfalla.

On Nov. 23 there were armed clashes between NTC troops and the Green Resistance in Bani Walid. Reports indicate that 7 people died, most of whom were NTC fighters.

Throughout the west, from Tripoli to Al-Zawiya, there have been clashes between the resistance and NATO forces. On Nov. 11, the resistance launched an offensive against what is known as Camp 27. During the fighting, resistance forces managed to free 300 prisoners. There has even been fighting in the rebel stronghold of Misrata.

Resistance groups have been formally organizing in the Sahel region in the south and have officially formed the Libyan Liberation Front. The region stretches across the borders of Niger, Chad, Sudan and provides easy access to Mali. There are reports that LLF is gathering weapons and providing training in the region. (Counterpunch, Nov. 4-6)

The LLF will likely find sympathy amongst the countries bordering the Sahel. In a recent soccer game between Tunisia and Algeria, the players and fans took a moment of silence to honor Muammar Gaddafi. During the game, fans held up a large composite photo of Gaddafi.

In addition to organizing militarily, the LLF is organizing formal political opposition to the NTC. They plan on running in the promised elections next summer.

Imperialists capture Saif al Islam Gaddafi

On Nov. 19, NTC forces announced that they had captured Saif al-Islam Gaddafi outside of Sabha and Ubari. The verification of his capture by video and cell phone footage came as a surprise, as the NTC had previously reported that they had captured him numerous times and killed him once.

When the plane transporting Saif al-Islam landed in Zintan, an angry crowd of resistance supporters flooded the tarmac and tried to storm the plane.

The International Criminal Court has wanted to try Saif al-Islam for alleged crimes committed during the February rebel uprising, and has had a warrant out for his arrest since June.

There are several problems with this situation. The first is that the alleged crimes for which he is to be tried have been thoroughly disproven by numerous human rights organizations. There was never any massacring of civilians; what happened in Libya was a civil war. The second problem with the ICC’s intervention is that the agency only has jurisdiction over its member nations’ territories and citizens. Libya was not and, at the time of this writing, is not a member.

The Libyan Liberal Youth, a resistance group, issued the following statement online:

“This war has not been about the Gadhaffi family, it’s about the majority of Libyans rejection of foreign invasions, massacres, and intrusion into Libyan affairs.”

Also see:
Urgent Action Petition Campaign for Saif Gaddafi
Terror and Revenge Engulf NATO’s Libya

Terror and Revenge Engulfs NATO’s Libya

Al Qaeda flag is paraded alongside the Idris flag in Benghazi. (arabnewsblog.net)

Terror and Revenge Engulfs NATO’s Libya
“It is clear that the current period is cascading into paroxysmal revenge attacks and political cleansing.”

Source: CounterPunch
by FRANKLIN LAMB

BENGHAZI — The “new Libya” has entered its own “Terror” which is spreading inexorably, aided by NATO member states including American, French and British SAS units known locally as “disappearance squads”. This is one of the rapidly developing consequences of the UN’s rush to “protect Libya’s civilian population” last spring.

And it is why human rights investigators are arriving in Benghazi, Libya this week.

“Approximately 1,085.92082238 kilometers or roughly 600 miles from Cairo to Benghazi” is what the lovely travel agent who works a couple of doors down from the Swedish Café off Tahir Sq reported as she wanted this observer to take a fancy high rise double decker luxury bus to Benghazi where I was headed from Cairo. In the end I settled for sharing a dump truck at one-third the cost across the Egyptian and Libyan desert to the Courthouse in Benghazi. It didn’t seem such a bad idea following meetings in nearby countries, especially considering alternative routes which would have involved flying to Tunis, then another flight to Jerba and then the six hours jammed service ride to Tripoli. I had been there and done that more than once and needed to leave right away to meet some people who were being held in one of Benghazi’s teeming jails.

Until the NTC announced changes yesterday, anyone bearing an American passport did not need a visa to enter Libya, so grateful has been the NTC for all the financial help that American taxpayers, largely unknowingly, have supplied to NTC officials in addition to presenting them with a country with vast oil reserves and zero national debt.

One of the fortunate language usages in this part of the world is the liberal transliteration tolerances applied to Arabic which helps those challenged by the language. As is widely known there are many ways to write Arabic words in roman characters and most are accepted. But one has to listen carefully in Libya these days to grasp the important distinction between certain English words when referring to the fate of increasing numbers of supporters of the Gadhafi regime. In the current atmosphere one often hears that someone “has disappeared” which, depending on one’s political views is usually good news and it means the person is in hiding or left the area or fled the country to safety. Alternatively, it might be said that a person “is disappeared” meaning that she or he was caught by the new regime and is gone, probably, forever without a trace for loved ones to pursue.

Following meetings with Libyan evacuees (disappeared) from NATO’s nine months of bombing who are now present in nearby countries and from meetings inside Libya with incarcerated former officials and some of their family members as well as fugitive opponents of the new “government” it is clear that the current period is cascading into paroxysmal revenge attacks and political cleansing.

Those increasingly being targeted by “disappearance squads” are family members and associates, even former domestic employees such as gardeners, handymen, and household staff of former regime affiliates. Homes, cars, furniture, of former regime affiliates are being systematically confiscated. Torture has become the normal means to elicit information regarding the whereabouts of individuals thought to still be supporting the former regime. The reason, according to one former Libyan official who barely escaped one of the French squads and who now resides in Egypt, “is the same reason drones are so popular with your US military, torture works. Not 100% but it’s better than the other options.”

There appears to be a Tell Tale Heart paranoia settling in among some NTC elements who believe that if there is one Gadhafi supporter left in Libya it might mean the return of his ideas for Libya’s role via a vis the West and its re-colonization of Africa plans, control of Libya’s natural resources and its relations with the rapidly changing Middle East.

Even Libya’s NATO-managed NTC members are worried that they may be investigated by the International Criminal Court after its prosecutor said allegations of crimes committed by NATO in Libya would be examined “impartially and independently.” Some western lawyers currently in Libya who are here to help victims of NATO crimes are oddly being approached by members of the new regime for discussions relating to the possibility that the ICC may come after them. This is also one of the reasons why rumors that Saif al Islam is about to surrender to the ICC are false. Saif is being advised to wait and rest because the ICC case will collapse as more facts of NATO crimes surface. Former Libyan officials in hiding are also well advised to stay safe if possible as time may be on their side.

Government officials of countries bordering Libya are being advised to allow sanctuary for supporters of the former Libyan government and to refuse extradition requests because activity currently taking place in The Hague may well pre-empt a war crimes investigation.

Tunisia is today under great pressure from NATO not to change its mind and not to decline the NTC extradition request for Libya’s former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi. NATO is concerned because American lawyers recommended last month that Baghdadi apply for U.N. political refugee status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to try to prevent his extradition from Tunisia. On 11/11/11 the UN acknowledged receipt of Dr. Baghdadi’s petition.

Other reasons the NTC and NATO are concerned is that there is currently being undertaken in the Hague an encompassing internal legal review of all incidents in which NATO bombing or other NATO or NTC actions caused civilian casualties. An American led team is nearing completion of its six month investigation which is expected to be forwarded to the ICC and made public soon

A main reason former interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril resigned recently, and others will, is the pressure he has been under from Islamists and many others who remember his record as the former regime’s Minister of Justice and Jibril’s concern that he may be investigated himself by the ICC for many decisions he has made over the past eight months that are now coming to light. Following his statement about how Muammalr Gadhafi was killed after he was taken into custody alive, which constituted a clear war crime, Jibril is now claiming that it was not him who gave the order to assassinate Gadhafi or even his former friend, General Younnis, but rather as he explained at a news conference yesterday, amid snickers from assembled journalists, that “a third party maybe a State, or a President or leader in any way who wanted Gaddafi killed, so as not to reveal the many secrets that only Gaddafi could have known.” Jibril did not have to mention that Gadhafi knew many secrets about himself and other NTC officials and he is not alone among NATO and NTC officials in fearing an ICC investigation.

It is this atmosphere that is significantly fueling the Terror across Libya.

Franklin Lamb is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

Also see:
Washington Post Admits NATO/NTC Crimes in Sirte
Tanzania Not Ready to Recognize NTC

CORNERED IN “FREE” LIBYA

Karlos Zurutuza
IPS

“We’ve walked all the way here to tell everybody that we are being treated like dogs,” said 23-year old Hamuda Bubakar, among a couple of hundred black refugees protesting at Martyrs Square in Tripoli. “I’d rather be killed here. I wouldn’t be the first, or the last.”

The refugees came to protest early this week from the barracks of Tarik Matar, a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Tripoli. “We’ve already spent more than two months in those horrible barracks,” said Aisha who preferred not to give her full name.

A few days back, she said, “guerrilla fighters from Misrata (90 kilometres east of Tripoli) entered our place and took seven young guys with them. We still know nothing about them.” Several women at the camp have been abducted and raped in recent weeks, she said.

“Raise your head, you’re a free Libyan”, the group chanted before a stage set up for the recent celebrations. That’s the very slogan that became almost an anthem for the rebels who rose against Gaddafi.

Tempers flared amid the group of armed soldiers guarding the central square. “I should kill you all for what you did to us in Misrata,” shouted a young man in camouflage fatigues. The protesters are from Tawargha, 60 km south of Misrata, that was known as a Gaddafist base.

The armed men at the square, and angry honking soon split up the group.

“Not only do they call us Gaddafists, they hate us for the colour of our skin,” said Abdulkarim Rahman. “All blacks in Libya are going through very hard times lately.”

Abdurrahman Abudheer, a volunteer worker at one of the barracks that used to house construction workers for new apartment blocks, and that are now home to refugees, estimates there are about 27,000 Tawarghis scattered between Tripoli and Benghazi.

“Just in this camp there are over 200 families, all from Tawargha,” said Abudheer. A flashy billboard at the entrance to the camp in the ghostly district Fallah still advertises the “upcoming construction of 1187 houses” by a Turkish company. But now even the grey rows of corrugated iron shacks look more comfortable than those naked and incomplete concrete structures.

The number of refugees is growing by the day, but so is the number of Tripolitanians like Abudheer who show up to help.

Amnesty International expressed concern in September over “increasing cases of violence and indiscriminate arrests against the people from Tawargha.” It said tens of thousands of former residents of Tawargha may be living in conditions similar to those in Fallah, or worse.

“Many families arrive after spending days living on the beach,” said Abudheer. “Most of them are afraid to even walk down the street.”

The scene is similar in Tarik Matar, five minutes drive from Fallah. The most recent census at this camp figures 325 families from Tawargha.

From the room she shares with eight members of her family, Azma, a refugee from Tawargha, showed a portrait of her brother. On Sep. 13 Abdullah was taken from the car he was travelling in with his three children and his sister at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Tripoli.

The last they know of what happened to him is in the autopsy report Azma keeps with her: “Died from several injuries caused by solid and flexible objects throughout the body, especially in the forehead and chest.”

Inevitably, the families of the seven young men recently dragged away from this camp fear a similar fate for them.

“We are asking for more security and for those from Misrata to be able to return to our houses without fear of reprisal,” said Mabrouk Mohammed, a former physical education teacher who coordinates entry of food and supplies to the complex, mostly from private initiatives. But return to Tawargha is a forgotten dream for most.

Abdullah Fakir, head of Tripoli’s Military Council, had told IPS they would increase security at camps where the Tawarghis are staying. But with militias from Misrata showing up at the camps often, nobody feels secure.

Washington Post Admits NATO/NTC Crimes in Sirte

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article discusses the damage inflicted by NATO upon the residents of Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte. NATO has resorted to starvation tactics in Sirte, cutting off basic supplies and dropping several bombs a day to try and force the citizens there to flip loyalties. With each “final” assault failing, it’s clear that Sirte, as the rest of Libya, is overwhelmingly pro-Gaddafi. The Post whitewashes NATO’s rebels, calling them “ragtag,” and includes an obviously false quote attributed to “Asma’s husband.”

– Nina Westbury, Creator and Editor of Crimson Satellite 

Gaddafi home town largely destroyed
by Mary Beth Sheridan, Saturday, October 15, 4:09 PM

SIRTE, Libya — After weeks of intense fighting, Moammar Gaddafi’s home town appeared Saturday to have been largely destroyed, with most of its population fled and holes the size of manhole covers blown in apartment buildings and the ousted leader’s showcase convention center.

Revolutionary forces are now battling to defeat the last of the pro-Gaddafi fighters in the strategically important coastal city 278 miles southeast of Tripoli. On Saturday, the thud of tank rounds and the whine of Katyusha rockets filled the air, and black smoke rose above a contested central neighborhood. But the Gaddafi fighters held on, setting up sniper lairs in a densely packed residential district, revolutionary fighters said.

For Libya’s interim government, capturing the city is paramount and would effectively end the eight-month civil war. But the damage wreaked in Sirte raises the question of whether its residents will go quietly into the post-Gaddafi future — or retain a smoldering anger that could fuel an insurgency.

Under Gaddafi, Sirte grew from a sleepy fishing village to a city of 100,000, favored with some of the country’s finest buildings and public services. Many residents were staunch supporters of the former Libyan leader.

One of them, Sadina Muhammed, said Saturday that she and other residents “will love Gaddafi until death.” She fled Sirte a week ago, after a rebel rocket smashed into her house in the embattled city.

“My family’s home was completely ruined,” she said, standing at a checkpoint outside the city with her 18-year-old daughter, whose arm was in a sling from the blast.

At a field hospital closer to the city, a black-robed resident of Sirte complained that the revolutionaries were also looting. “They take things in the house. If they don’t find something, they will destroy the house,” she said. The woman, who gave her name only as Asma, left for a nearby village two weeks ago.

The ragtag anti-Gaddafi fighters are motivated but undisciplined and untrained, and journalists have spotted a number of them looting. They have battled Gaddafi fighters who have used civilian homes and institutions as cover.

A drive through some of Sirte’s “liberated” neighborhoods revealed the pounding the city has taken. In one area, block after block of small mustard-yellow apartments were peppered with small-arms fire. Artillery fire had blasted holes in the walls, and front doors were ripped off their hinges. The burned-out carcasses of a truck and car littered one empty street.

At the nearby Ouagadougou convention center, a complex where Gaddafi once hosted Arab and African leaders, the beige walls were charred black, and windows were shattered.

Gabriele Rossi, the emergency coordinator in Sirte for the aid group Doctors Without Borders, said the city appeared to have sustained some of the greatest damage of the war. “The part we have seen is almost completely destroyed,” he said.

Revolutionary forces blame the pro-Gaddafi fighters for some of the damage, saying they have also used heavy weapons and have spurned entreaties to surrender.

But the attacking forces clearly feel no need for restraint in bombarding the Gaddafi loyalists. That’s especially true of the many fighters from Misurata, a city to the west scarred by a bloody siege by Gaddafi’s troops in the spring.

The revolutionaries have been firing purloined antiaircraft guns and artillery at apartment buildings where pro-Gaddafi snipers have holed up, causing heavy damage.

Asked why his side used such weapons instead of conducting more surgical strikes, one commander, Bashir Bin Hameda, responded: “We’re not the Special Forces. We’re just teachers, doctors and engineers.”

Hameda said he usually runs the company cafeteria at a steel plant.

Another fighter, Mohamed Nijar, said he used the antiaircraft gun mounted on his pickup truck to attack snipers because “it works.”

The pro-Gaddafi forces now seem to be battling impossible odds. But many of them appear to believe they have no way out, and so are fighting to the death. Some may also have been influenced by propaganda disseminated by Gaddafi’s media before he was toppled.

“The TV told us these people kill and cut off parts of the body. So we were afraid of them,” said Asma’s husband, who identified himself only as Ahmed, referring to the anti-Gaddafi forces. He, however, had come to believe that a lot of the revolutionaries were “good people,” he said.

Doctors fear thousands of civilians may be trapped in the small areas of the city still being contested.

“We are extremely concerned for those people that are inside [Sirte] and cannot get access to health care,” Rossi said.