The Dailymotion web site has produced the following video compilation of the fight against Libyan tyranny. (Caution: Brief scenes of graphic violence and its aftermath appear throughout.)
As ever more Libyan officials, soldiers and officers, tribal leaders, and city after city peel away from the vicious regime of Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator
appears determined to drench the country in yet more blood. How determined the international community is to add more than mere gestures to its words of condemnation against the slaughter going on in Tripoli and other remnant Gaddif strongholds remains an open question. What is certain is that any action will not be speedy. Which means thousands more may be killed before Gaddafi and his loyalists are overthrown.
There were reports of widespread killings Friday and throughout the hours before dawn Saturday in the capital. Snipers and other gunmen fired rifles and machine-guns at protesters. A government tank force recaptured part of the air base in Misurata, Libya's third largest city east of Tripoli. There was no way fatalities and injuries could be confirmed. I was told in three brief phone calls made to family members in Tripoli early Saturday that they had heard shooting - including automatic fire - throughout the night. Checkpoints that include parked tanks and armored personnel carriers are everywhere, most stores are closed, and the city is said to be barricaded to keep outside protesters from entering, although none of my contacts said they had personally seen those barricades.
The government is said in various social media posts to have lost control of some cities in the west. All of the eastern half of the country, including Libya's second-most populous city of Benghazi, has fallen to protesters, where there have been massive celebrations. At last count, more than a dozen ambassadors, Libya's U.N. delegation, the justice and interior ministers, numerous top military officers and the dictator's go-to man in Cairo, his cousin Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, have resigned. Whole army units in the east have defected to the protesters.
But in three combative speeches this week, one by Gaddafi's son and heir-apparent, Saif al-Islam, and two by the dictator himself, it was made clear that they plan to win or die fighting to the last bullet. That might sound like the typical idle threat of any autocrat seeing support steadily crumble around him. But one of Gaddafi's youngest sons, Khamis, commands a brigade of highly trained soldiers who could provide the ghastly topper to the dictator's 41-year reign.
After more than a week of condemnations made cautious by worries about U.S. citizens who were not fully evacuated from Libya until mid-Friday, the Obama administration stepped up its challenge to the regime, imposing unilateral financial sanctions that target against senior officials, closing its embassy in Tripoli, and ending the limited military programs begun after the previous embargo was lifted.
Welcome as these actions are, as too are the moves by Britain and the Swiss to freeze Gaddafi's assets in their jurisdictions, they are not enough to stop the man from massacring his own people. Behind the scenes, we are told, the U.S. is in consultation with its allies and other nations about what can be done multilaterally. The trouble with multilateral action is that coming to agreement over what, how much and who takes time. During the wait, the Libyan opposition could suffer far heavier casualties than it already has.
Unilateral military actions, on the other hand, unless undertaken for strictly humanitarian reasons, raise all manner of troubling issues. They almost always contravene international law. The United States has too often in its history engaged in unilateral military action, propping up or installing authoritarian regimes and enraging populations whose aspirations and lives these regimes have mercilessly crushed. Not exactly a proper model for 21st Century behavior even though it has plenty of right-wing advocates. Additionally, the let-us-sell-you-stuff and drill-your-oil treatment given Gaddafi by the Bush administration, and by the governments of Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi and Nikolas Sarkozy speak volumes to their lack of moral standing in this matter.
Nonetheless, in this instance, the cause is just. But even a narrowly targeted military intervention runs risks. Striking military bases in Libya could mean wiping out units in the process of defecting. If the decision were made to make Libya a no-fly zone, as the French and many others have proposed, the civilian toll from taking out the country's anti-aircraft defenses could be high.
Nonetheless, standing by while protesters armed only with rocks and cellphone cameras are gunned down by machine gun-toting loyalists and mercenaries is simply unacceptable. As President Clinton once said after leaving office, his biggest regret was not having acted preventively against Rwandan genocide. President Obama, President Sarkozy and other world leaders should push the Security Council hard - which means pushing China and Russia - to approve a no-fly zone immediately. The earliest that challenging bit of arm-twisting could come to fruition is Monday.
During the two days between now and then, however, the Obama administration, working with the French, its many contacts in the Egyptian military, willing members of the Arab League and whoever else can be brought aboard, should be delivering plane loads of medical supplies to the Tunisian and Egyptian borders where under-resourced medical teams are already providing free care to all comers. Direct deliveries to Benghazi, Misurata and perhaps other cities are also in order.
It is hard to imagine that the erratic, ruthless megalomaniac who rules Libya can survive the growing assault on his government. While the International Criminal Court should be the preferred destination for Gaddafi when he is toppled and captured, it would not be at all surprising if he were to be found hanging upside down in the public square like another oppressor of Libyans, Benito Mussolini. But before he either goes on trial or gets vigilante justice, however, he seems hellbent on doing what Il Duce did: murder large numbers of Libyans. Whatever the logistical difficulties, however sticky the diplomatic maneuvering, whatever image problems may need to be overcome, action should be taken to stop the killing.
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Sites where you can obtain more information:
17 February Libya
Al Jazeera English
Eyes on Egypt & Region Liveblog #128