Warning

Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Massacring Protesters: Really?

The First Straw and Big Question Assessed
September 10, 2011
last edits, Sept. 29

The Order to Kill Demonstrators: Generally Accepted
Huge neon question marks have by now been affixed, usually to the less-visible  back sides, of most of the constructed accusations of the Libyan propaganda war. Human Rights Watch and others have repeatedly found against African mercenary claims, Amnesty International and others have found no basis for the general mass rape charges  (adding Viagra to the mix seems to done the field in). Even the US military acknowledged there was no evidence of aerial bombardment of Libyan cities and protesters as widely alleged, when there really should have been some. The emotionally potent charge of Children shot by Gaddafi snipers in Misrata might sound compelling, but anyone with the two shown x-ray images can see they're the same, fake, image (see link).

But one crucial accusation, the first and perhaps tallest construct, looms over the rest with no flashing sign yet, remaining generally accepted, even among such critics: the government order to shoot at peaceful demonstrators simply for daring to protest. The charges of doing so from the air are rightly ridiculed, but few go as far as I will here and directly question whether it was done from the ground either.

It's not a patently ridiculous claim, and one supported by numerous injured civilians we were shown. No one can deny that people who are described as protesters were injured and killed by live fire, at different times and places, often vague. Some were even cut in half (by anti-aircraft guns it's said) in pictures I've seen. At first, I myself accepted the basic accusation, thinking Gaddafi just didn't play the Arab Spring game. If his populace was to be weaponized against the "revolution" by the usual Western conspirators (as I'm sure he'd suspect after following events of the past decade) he'd move to destroy their weapons. You simply kill some, and hopefully send the others running in fear. It surely wouldn't have been the first time an unfree state used such sheer force to stay that way.

But while there is plenty of precedent, and proof of injured and killed people to support the accusation, what's never been scientifically proven (supported by clear video evidence, for example) is the exact circumstances of this violence - where were these civilians at and what were they doing when damaged so? The question is a complex one, and perhaps impossible to settle decisively. I've been considering this question but haven't until now created a dedicated post to best address it in one spot. Now that it's up, you can see why - it's a doozy of a post.

The Government Story: Defending Bases
We all know the official story in the international community, almost universally accepted at the moment: the insane and ruthless col Gaddafi ordered his citizens slaughtered for simply defying his rule, but damnit, now we would defy it too. They were simply protesting in some peaceful protest place when it happened. They did nothing to provoke or necessitate the violence they suffered. Troops fired indiscriminately, killing women and children, people not even protesting. They had snipers shooting those who tried to retrieve the dead, and so on. They did so consistently enough it couldn't be the actions of rogue commanders, but had to be an order from on high, presumably from Muammar Gaddafi himself.

This primordial sin, almost universally perceived worldwide, was the basis of Gaddafi's forfeiture of legitimacy in the eyes of world leaders. The exact death toll was always vague, but presented as alarmingly high and likely requiring some intervention. (note: the exact death toll is not clear, is important, but is not addressed here. This is about the qualities of death, not quantities.)

But below is, first, a video I made a while back, and then some text, that seek to first explain and then explore the Libyan government's own version, which hardly anyone's heard except maybe in passing derision.

In the video, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim can be seen at a February 28 press conference explaining their view, as opposed to that of "the media and the UN." At the beginning, there were "genuine, Libyan, peaceful protesters" with what he called "legitimate demands" for "much-needed political improvements." Some of them also waved the old monarchist flag while insisting that Gaddafi step down, which the government would not call a legitimate demand. But they weren't shot for anything they said, Ibrahim asserted, legitimate or not. This only happened after the protests were "hijacked" by violent Islamists, including members of al Qaeda, into a physical attack on Libya's government and people.
"[The Islamist-led "protesters"] immediately moved to attack and acquire weapons from police stations, army camps, and munitions depots. [...] the fights between the security forces and the armed individuals caused the deaths of hundreds of people. We never denied that hundreds of people were killed in the last few days. But those people were from both sides, and as a result of armed individuals attacking police stations and army [barracks] [...] the army and the security forces were not trained to deal with such a dramatic turn of events."
Also in the video, the leader's son Seif al-Islam Gaddafi says a total of 159 people, presumably on the civilian side alone, were killed in the rebellion's first days. "Most of them died when they attacked military sites," he said. This is from a July interview with Russia Today, in which he again denied any order to kill protesters, and explained the cause of the shooting so:
"The guards fired. That's it. The gurads were surprised by the attack of the people, and they started firing. They don't need an order to defend themselves and to defend their bases and camps."
As he rightly noted, this is standard for any country in the world, should armed and angry mobs attack a secure installation. The idea seems to be to avoid enemies, foreign or domestic, from killing your forces, sabotaging your hardware, or worse yet stealing your hardware. Because then it can be used to attack more bases in furtherance of a violent civil war, as the Libyan government alleges happened repeatedly in their country from the early days onward. The explanation fell on deaf ears (or hard-of-hearinng ones - see below).

Just for one example of an even softer response, protesters filmed themselves firing their guns into a military base around Feb 21, and suffering no violence themselves. But they did cheer with gunshots in the air as an ambulance took out someone injured inside. (see video study hereA documentary by R. Breki Goheda, based on the government's version with detailed information, shows this same camp (perhaps near Misrata), before it was finally taken by the armed civilian gang. Inside the opened gates, we can see in the distance soldiers standing at the alert, clustered with vehicles. Goheda's narration says they "refused to open fire at protesters," and instead only "opened fire into the air as the attackers were advancing in the barrack." It's said the protesters won there, as they seem to have everywhere else with a strange confidence against a bewildered enemy, in what Goheda artfully termed an "organized and coincident process." 

The Video Record: No Proof Either Way
Secretary of State Clinton said on February 28, in support of vigorous action against Libya, "we have seen Colonel Qadhafi’s security forces open fire on peaceful protesters again and again." Unless she and some associated "we" have access to secret videos and photos the rest of us don't, she's simply incorrect. We have seen it reported and alleged time and time again, but that's just not the same thing. 

The first problem I noticed in comparing Tripoli's explanation and that of the rabble forces was a lack of video proof either way.

The proof of the government's side might have been base security camera tapes, but these aren't likely available to them after each of the facilities was taken over. Whereas if the "protester" version was true, there would not likely be any lack of such proof; they'd end up with the tapes from the bases. And more importantly, the crowds had many, many iPhones and other cameras everywhere they went, and aside from their proud excursions into racist snuff films, we see in their  recordings people protesting, and then civilians injured and dead. There should be several videos, probably dozens, showing the crucial middle part - some of those hundreds of peaceful protesters visibly knocked down by government bullets. Instead we have three that I know of, discussed next. (see:  Video Study: Protesters Being Shot, Anywhere)

While the government's got no video of these base attacks either, one protester video at least provides a decent support for Tripoli's claims of repeated armed attacks. It's widely illustrated that on consecutive days, February 17-20, protests and/or funeral processions in Beghazi turned somehow into violent clashes with deaths on both sides. It probably didn't help that these kept happening next to the Al-Fadhil bin Omar Katiba barracks, Benghazi's main military base in the city's center.

On the third day, February 19, we have video of two injured "protesters," one apparently just deceased, the other being carried up a street from somewhere to the west-southwest, away from the setting sun. The spot it's filmed was identifiable in satellite imagery, and proves the injured man was being carried down al-Hijaz street, away from the Katiba's valued north gate four blocks back. (see map at left, and the post February 19's death toll  in Benghazi for more details). Keep that north gate in mind - it comes up again in the conquest by "protest" of that base on the following day. 

To be sure, some of Muammar Gaddafi's and the Libyan government's claims, freely mixing al Qaeda, foreigners, mass drugging, mass rape, cannibalism, and CIA manipulations, are questionable at best. But the part about a violent and apparently orchestrated turn of events is well supported. Any government would probably have responded at least as harshly as Libya's did. 

No Proof, but Evidence: Exceptions to the Rule?
Seif al-Islam said "most," not "all," of the killed civilians were involved in attacks. We don't know what "most" means from their point of view, but there do seem to be exceptions to the rule. 

There are two instances I'm aware of (and I admit my knowledge there isn't exhaustive) of apparently unarmed civilians shot dead on camera. These both happened during a funeral march on a certain street in al Baida on February 17, and were captured by three cameras, one from street level and two from above.  I've analyzed the videos and collectively, they show two unarmed people shot down in the street, at different times, some distance from a line of armed police/soldiers at the end of the street.   

No other gunmen are visible from these rooftop views or from the ground view (except maybe a couple), so the presence of security men in the area, some would argue, is enough to demonstrate the pattern alleged. But some evidence supports my strange hunch that anti-government snipers on rooftops - apparently next to the cameras filming - were responsible. 

There's video 2's strange camera move to consider - popping from behind a possible sniper nest to film the crowd again just as the shot is fired. And there's the possible rifle on that same rooftop filmed by a another camera (video 1 as listed). And then consider the line of sight. Each of the two protesters were shot as they came into camera view, which is also the line of fire for any sniper in the same location.

But my theory, even though better illustrated than I thought it would be, is not proven. But these possible sniper clues hover above all three of the videos and both filmed victims of unprovoked shooting that I know of. I will leave this space open for any other excepions to, or refutations of, "the rule" that I run across or have suggested. Evidence of apparent state brutality like these videos is not proof, but it is worth a look, and I challenge any reader who thinks I must be wrong to please dig around for anything to support that hunch.  

Defiance of the Order as Evidence of the Order
One of the more powerful illustration of the alleged commandment to massacre was the repeated allegation of government soldiers executed for refusing to follow it. We only know of this because their bound and executed bodies were then found by protesters with a magical knowledge of just why they'd been slain - "because they would not commit the brutality commanded to them."

On February 23, a total of 130 soldiers were reported by a sham Human Rights  group as executed like this and for this reason across Eastern Libya. There was no evidence to support that, and enough against to disprove it in at least 27 cases. First, 22 soldiers executed by rebels, as their own video proves, were boldly blamed on the regime for "refusing to fire on civilians," and included in the 130. Ironically, their rebel-issued death sentence has been translated as based on the fact they DID shoot at the armed people attacking their base (apparently Labraq airbase).

And another, more horrific case of fobbed-off rebel brutality, presumably also included in the same 130, concerns another five "soldiers" found charred in the conquered barracks in Benghazi. This find occurred on February 21, right after "protesters" there had burned to death five innocent men from Chad. That's 27 so-called mutinous soldiers executed. The oher 103 we just don't know the details, but the patterns illustrated so far do not line up with what the rebels asserted.

Evidence by executions, claimed by rabble forces, when the killings are demonstratably carried out by them, clearly does nothing to support their own claim. In fact, it goes strongly and ingeniously towards disproving altogether the legend of the order to cut down peaceful protesters.

Maj. Gen. Younes, Deadly Force, and the Benghazi Katiba
In his Russia Today interview, Seif Gaddafi explained how his reaction to news of massacres in his country was to get ahold of the man in charge of internal security - the interior minister, Maj. Gen. Abdel Fateh Younes.
"My father called the general Abdel Fatah - he's in Benghazi now - he's one of the leaders of the rebels. He called him, and I called him, and the calls are recorded. We told him many times: "don't use force with people." He told us: "but they are attacking the military sites. It's a very difficult situation."
Younes apparently won that dispute, and by the 20th, as Benghazi teetered on the brink, the secretary himself rolled a major reinforcement in personally, ready to negotiate or fight. Instead he defected, marking a major turning point in the war no one even knew was a war yet.

He was sent to re-enforce the Al-Fadhil bin Omar barracks. Many sources agree the base was decisively takend Feb 20, following an attack by a suicide car-bomber who'd blended into the fourth day of funeral processions-turned-to-battles there. After he destroyed the valued north gate with a truly powerful explosion (also not seen on any public videos), the insurgents were able to enter the base full-force. They reportedly killed an unknown number of soldiers, beheading at least one, before Younes had even arrived. The remainder, holed-up in various buildings, were spared and allowed to leave only by the bargain Younes struck that night.

The French terrorism and intelligence groups CIRET-AVT and CF2R made a joint investigation in Libya and issued a report in May, 2011. Speculating on reasons for the lack of protester shooting they saw evidence for, they offer a little conspiracy theory about the eventual star defector:
The government, surprised at the escalation of the insurgency, did not want to start a blood bath, so as not cut themselves off from the tribes, nor to create the problem of vendetta (revenge.) It is not inconceivable that the interior minister (Abdel Fatah Younis) deliberately gave orders to do nothing, so the insurgency could take hold, from the perspective of his imminent departure for Benghazi.
That is, perhaps Seif was lying and such an order was issued, but blocked by Younes. Either way, if there was such an order from on high, it didn't get sent down the chain, judging by the evidence - and lack thereof - for its execution.

They did get the Weapons
The first thing that really struck me as odd about the first days of the civil war is how non-violent protesters, whom I believed were being shot dead in droves, were able with just anger, and despite the heavy losses, simply take military control, even briefly, of half of the cities in the country. I sensed we were missing something there, and the things I've found since are starting to reveal what that was.

The "protesters" did, starting on February 19 at the latest, acquire heavy weapons of war from military bases they somehow conquered, despite just protesting. For just one important example, the Katiba in Benghazi remained in protester hands thanks in part to Younes' defection. But as they made off with many many more weapons, it was civilians doing the driving and handling, not military professionals. These were happy just to be allowed to leave the scene alive, in the opposite direction.


Some of the hardware taken from the Katiba is seen at left from a Russia Today news video - tanks, Grad rocket launchers, and more. Other weapons taken from Zintan to Zawiyah, Misrata to Dernah, were shown in other videos made by protesters, and largely included in my own video up top.

Goheda's video explains that "rebels stormed most of the military camps in the country," along the way seizing "different types of weapons, including: 250 tanks, 72 armored vehicles, 112 artillery, 176 anti-aircraft machine guns, 254 rocket launchers, 222 light machine guns, 3,628 rifles, and a large quantity of ammunition." I can't vouch for all of that, but it sounds about right considering the small samples we've been able to see of rebel arsenals coming together all across "Free Libya" in those early days and weeks.

Every time a new city center saw its display of rebel-held weaponry, the "freedom fighters" would trumpet that the military there had defected, bringing their weapons along. We see claimed defectors in original uniforms and such in a few videos, and some later in rebel non-uniforms. The people holding the weapons are usually clear amateurs so excited to be armed like Rambo they can't help but fire into the air incessantly. Consider this video analysis by C.J. Chivers; not a person on the crew running this artillery piece in Misrata knew they were standing ten times too close to that wall for safety. At least two rebel fighters were injured by the sloppiness, including one whose femoral artery was severed and who likely died soon after. (But they did the job - the place they were blasting was like swiss cheese, and had several very destroyed government soldiers and a mysterious charred boy inside.)

Brutality and the Boys in Blue
Libya's Internal Security Organization, being the usual force to control and deal with crowds and riots, would have been the main people expected to fire on protesters on, before, and after the "Day of Rage" that brought "peaceful protesters" out to tear down the state. It was Internal Security who held that line in al Baida, and were blamed for the shootings of the 17th and many others. But according to Goheda's video, they were given orders "not to open fire under any circumstances." Other than the al-Baida videos discussed above, I've seen no evidence to counter that.

Another video I made:
Instead, as we can see there, the brutality was generally against them. Several among the dead at in the "al Baida massacre" wear the blue camouflage, along with another black-skinned ISO cop, tortured horribly and shown off as an African mercenary in Az Zintan. Not included in the video, another ISO soldier, by his blue jacket, was killed and badly mangled in some town, his limp and disjointed body then hoisted up joyously in the gate of some official building by a meat hook under his chin. (this is visible here)

The CIRET-AVT/CF2R report cited above also discussed the three weeks in which az Zawiyah, just west of the capitol, remained in protester hands unmolested. “During the three weeks, the police received written orders not to do anything against the insurgents, not to shoot, not to confront them. The police also had to evacuate their own buildings due to the attacks by the rioters. […] The local authorities and the police complained openly about the absence of orders from Tripoli…” As for what happened during those weeks, I have a great analysis here, and the report added:
[A]ll public buildings were pillaged and set on fire. [...] Everywhere, there was destruction and pillaging (of arms, money, archives). There was no trace of combat, which confirms the testimony of the police [who claim to have received orders not to intervene] [...]

There were also atrocities committed (women who were raped, and some police officers who were killed), as well as civilian victims during these three weeks. [...] The victims were killed in the manner of the Algerian GIA [Armed Islamic Group]: throats cut, eyes gauged [sic] out, arms and legs cut off, sometimes the bodies were burned. [...]
Another Official Story Assessed: The UNHRC Report
The United Nations Human Rights Council sent a three-person fact-finding mission to Libya in May to investigate the alleged crimes of the regime and/or rebel forces. They issued a report (the Advance unedited version is still the only one available - PDF link) on June 1 that came out at least somewhat more reasonable than what the rebel-fed Media had so far patched together. They explain how the charge of Gaddafi's protester massacre was their primary focus:
The catalyst for establishment of this Commission of Inquiry was concern over the use of force against demonstrators in mid to late February. The Human Rights Council in Resolution S-15/1, expressed “deep concern at the deaths of hundreds of civilians,” referring also to “indiscriminate armed attacks against civilians” and “extrajudicial killings.”[p3]
What they found confirmed, to their satisfaction but not mine, that there were apparently orders to kill peaceful protesters. From their conclusion:
99. The Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the Government forces engaged in excessive use of force against demonstrators, at least in the early days of the protests, leading to significant deaths and injuries. The nature of injuries inflicted in several locations (with high proportions shot in the head or upper body) is indicative of “shoot to kill” operations. From the common style of response in many parts of the country, it would appear likely that the forces were given orders to engage in the harsh crackdown of demonstrators. Such actions represented a serious breach of a range of rights under the ICCPR including the right to life, the right to ... [p 37-40]
The question, again, is "under what circumstances did these killings happen?" The report does acknowledge the government disputed the prevailing story: "The particular circumstances, leading up to the use of force by security forces against demonstrators, have been contested by the demonstrators and the Government." The latter said what I've related above, and "protestors have reiterated the peaceful nature of their demonstrations." The facts, as I note here, do not clearly support that, but the commission accepted it anyway.

"In the early days of the protest there was little evidence to suggest that the protestors were engaged in other than peaceful assembly," the mission noted. "Little" evidence is a relative call. There's a decent amount and it's consistent. There is even less evidence that those "protesters" who were killed were engaged in anything other than starting an armed insurgency.

The report's relation and refutation of the government story:
96. The Commission was told that when the demonstrations erupted, instructions were given to security forces to withdraw from police stations and security premises. The Government has stressed that the live ammunition was only employed in response to demonstrators’ violent actions. The Government also noted that demonstrators attacked police stations, destroying approximately 17 stations several of them in various cities and towns of Libya, and that demonstrators took up arms against the security forces. The Government was thus of the view that any use of force had been justifiable.

97. The majority of information collected by the Commission, however, indicates that the Government forces used live ammunition against unarmed peaceful demonstrators in many instances.
Generally they just catalog the numbers of dead as reported, focusing on the shoot-to-kill clues, presuming peaceful actions only on the victims' parts, and accepting every report possible to suggest government forces fired "indiscriminately," often killing people who weren't even involved in protests. The whole way what's missing is any proof their basic presumption of peaceful victims. Since this has not really been established, the report, at least in this regard, is an exercise in faith-based "investigation."
It is accepted by both the Government and the demonstrators that Government forces used significant force, including the use of firearms and other weaponry against persons participating in demonstrations in various locations within Libya during the period studied by the Commission. 
Adding "participating in demonstrations" makes this statement untrue. Attacks to secure weapons are not "demonstrations." Scratch that phrase and what they say here is true.

They acknowledge in Misrata, "on 21 and 22 February, demonstrators attacked Revolutionary Committee offices, police stations and military barracks, taking arms and weapons from these locations." But as they heard it, this was only after days of brutal attacks on completely peaceful people who were suddenly, when angry, able to actually take over and remove weapns from military bases - with sheer Arab Spring enthusiasm, we're to presume.

In al Baida, "at least 40 persons were killed during peaceful demonstrations between 16 and 19 February," they noted. Problem is, police station were burnt there as early as Feb 15, anti-government snipers might have been behind any of these killings (and apparently are behind the recorded ones), and by about the 19th, the city and surrounding military bases - including Labraq (or al-Abraq) airbase - were completely in the hands of the "peaceful protesters."
93. On 18 February, at the demonstrations near Al-Abraq Airport (east of Al-Bayda town), the Commission received information that 11 persons were killed by security personnel of Khamis Katiba, including the Commander of Husein al-Jiwiki Katiba. According to several sources, the Commander was killed when he refused to shoot at demonstrators, and was shot as a result of his refusal to shot at demonstrators. 
Yeah, you'll get "several witnesses" when, for example, several people involved in a killing agree to a cover story. The big clues is the old "killed by his own forces for being a good guy" schtick. It was a lie in the "al Baida massacre," and in the burned soldiers in Benghazi thing, and probably here.

Why do they know it was the Khamis brigade that killed an officer and 11 of their own? Why were they "demonstrating" at the airbase to begin with? The people involved themselves told the media, if not the UN, that they went there, on the 18th, to capture or kill "African mercenaries" they thought were coming to kill them. They took it militarily on about the 20th, after a couple days of fighting, executed some prisoners, and kept 156 black Libyan soldiers alive long enough to be proven not mercenaries. That some of their own were killed in the process should be no surprise, to us or them, prepared as they were for martyrdom.

The claim of government orders to kill demonstrators weren't just on the word of rebel sources but also, the report explained,"corroborated through information collected from some security personnel."
One member of security personnel, currently in detention, stated that he was among 250 soldiers deployed by the regime to “contain demonstrators” in Benghazi on 17 February. Interrogation records provided to the Commission by the Benghazi General Prosecutor’s Office state that members of the security forces were given orders, by their commanding officers, to use force against demonstrators. In at least one transcript, there is an admission of involvement by a member of the security forces in the random shooting of protestors in Benghazi on 20 February.
February 20 is the day Benghazi fell, as the Al Fadhil bin Omar Katiba was overrun. The report did pass on that "government opponents assumed control over the Katiba premises in Benghazi," but made no mention of the suicide bomber that allowed that, or of the soldier killings inside. And it even has the date wrong, citing the 19th when the decisive brutality that took 60 lives, by their own numbers, occurred on the 20th, mostly following the suicide bombing and the pitched battle within the walls. Why on Earth was anyone firing randomly that day, when a concerted militant force was attacking the base and hacking off heads? 

His "admission" to doing this is just not credible. This claimed evidence from the inside is quite likely the result of forced confessions, and the commission's inability to spot that (or to admit they did) is telling.

The report is deeply flawed. But it formed the basis of explaining why the intervention the UN's top member nations were already deeply invested in was not completely unjustified. In fact, they seem relatively in tune with the existing mission in an accompanying press release, again of June 1:
The team, led by Professor Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian jurist and war crimes expert, calls on the Government to immediately cease acts of violence against civilians in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, and to conduct “exhaustive, impartial and transparent” investigations into all alleged violations.
Even if this statement had been issued on February 18, it would have been poison advice to a besieged government. But here it was June, and they called for a current, one-sided cease-fire. There was no mention of the fact that by then the "civilians" were trying their damndest, with half the nation's stolen hardware, and with eager NATO air support, to attack the capitol and everything between. Mr. Bassiouni, like the power structure pushing this war through, was in effect calling for Libya's government to surrender abjectly to the armed insurgency.

This bold move of dubious propriety was based, it would seem to most, on the team's exceptionally clear findings that the government had proven itself brutal to the point of falling outside the normal rules of respect for nations the United Nations was supposed to ensure.

But the reality wasn't really as clear as all that, was it?

17 comments:

  1. Ah, that figure eleven pops up for the number killed at Al Bayda.
    As I mentioned elsewhere ,the Australian journalist of Fairfax media, reporting for The Age, filed from Al Bayda on 26 February 2011 Libyans call on the world to act
    He quotes EMAN Saleh Benguish, a female anaesthetist at the Freedom Hospital in al-Bayda,(who whips out a phone image of the 10 or sometimes 8 year old girl):
    In the video, which Benguish says she took herself when Mabrouk's body was brought to the hospital last Sunday , a part of the girl's skull has been removed.

    ''This was an anti-aircraft gun that they used, not a normal soldier's gun,'' Benguish says. She says the girl had been standing on a balcony of her fourth floor building.

    Next up is Omar Khalid Ali, the hospital's chief general surgeon. ''Last weekend, this hospital was covered in blood. Such a terrible mess I have never seen before in my life.''.....according to Ali, at least 63 people were killed, while the hospital treated 400 wounded

    You Tube footage fails to show any of this - that is indeed a battlefield, as described, so where is the visual evidence???

    One of the people involved in organising that demonstration [February 17] was Amal Hasmi Agluo, a 24-year-old teaching assistant who spent most of her teenage years living in Wales (UK!).....
    The speaker who received the loudest applause [At 6pm on Thursday 24 February, al-Bayda People's Congress] was Amal Hasmi Agluo.

    Veiled, revealing just her eyes, she said the thing that had offended people most in the past week was Gaddafi's frenzied address to the nation on Monday
    [21st].
    Koutsoukis wrote (from where?) on 22 February:Other reports said that in addition to Benghazi and Tripoli, fighting had broken out in the eastern cities of Al-Bayda, Ajdabiya, Darna and Tobruk.

    Koutsoukis' piece for the Sydney Morning Herald, of the same date,The deep-seated anger that gave Libyan people courage quotes the anaesthetist differently:
    "...the girl's skull above the eyes has been removed by a bullet.
    LAST SUNDAY is the 20th February, which is at complete variance with the alleged hospital records at the Swiss website about this young girl being killed earlier in that week.
    So, what are we to believe, if anything, about Roquia??

    Nice quote here from Omar Khalid Ali, the Al Bayda Hospital chief surgeon:
    "''I honestly believe this man is a paranoid schizophrenic. If he had nuclear weapons, I think he would use them against his own people. " (!!!) Like a nuclear bomb...smart that.

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  2. I've been confused-that was maybe the girl we saw, with head missing above the eyes? That was messed up. The date is important - on the 17th protesters were not known to have heavy weapons (but might have). They took a full load of pro gear in Shahet on the 19th, however, including plenty AA guns. Then we can be sure armaments considerations work against both camps,

    This leaves only motive and presence - neither side has motive but to frame the other, and no motive (accident) is far more likely with novices who just stole their weapons. And by the 20th, I'm not sure if the airport was taken fully or if the government was still holding on barely. It was over by the 21st for sure.

    All indicators suggest a rebel kill there much more likely. But they're not the "bad guys," so it must not be so, right?

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    Replies
    1. They took a full load of pro gear in Shahet on the 19th, however, including plenty AA guns. :

      epic score in the history of the city of Shahat on 18-2-2011

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymS7pJWdIhM

      @ 0.33 car tires brought in @ 2.19 how to suffocate people

      Delete
  3. I hadn't found the time to read this article completely yet, it's realy a great one.

    It's probably the best summary of the real known facts from the beginning of the war that I've read yet. I hope it's not to extensive for "beginners".

    ReplyDelete
  4. Could have sworn I responded earlier. Ah well.

    It is a big piece, definitely, and I don't expect most to read it end-to-end. I still doubt I've rooted out all the typos hiding in there, and I put the thing together...

    A summary version might be nice, but I definitely consider this the main thing. One can skim the headings for a segment that sounds interesting, for a sampling. It's an idea you have to get immersed in a bit before it sinks it that it might be true. So I say' let's get immersed and swim around a bit.

    Thanks for the feedback, and good point.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Even Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations said: "The evidence was not persuasive that a large-scale massacre or genocide was either likely or imminent."

    He also sth. else, which makes clear that the resolution 1973 was drafted on lies, but unfortunately I am not finding the document right now. I fear, that they (CFR) have removed it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.wsws.org/de/2011/mar2011/rech-m31.shtml

    http://www.n-tv.de/politik/dossier/Gaddafi-hat-keine-Chance-article2889771.html

    http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/voelkerrecht-contra-buergerkrieg-die-militaerintervention-gegen-gaddafi-ist-illegitim-1613317.html

    http://www.silviacattori.net/article1645.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. http://www.ag-friedensforschung.de/regionen/Libyen/icc3.html

    http://www.luftpost-kl.de/luftpost-archiv/LP_11/LP13911_250811.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  8. https://www.awxcnx.de/gedanken-libyen-krieg.htm

    ".....Wie es begann
    In der englischen Wikipedia findet man im Artikel 2011 Libyan Civil War eine etwas andere Darstellung der ersten Proteste und Reaktionen des Gaddafi Regimes, als in unseren Medien.

    Am 15./16. Februar gab es Proteste von einigen tausend Demonstranten in Benghazi, Darnah, Al Bayda und Az Zintan.

    Hundreds gathered at Maydan al-Shajara in Benghazi, and authorities tried to disperse protesters with water cannons.

    Die Sicherheitskräfte sind also mit Wasserwerfern gegen die Demonstranten vorgegangen. Das ist in einer Muster-Demokratie durchaus üblich. Wir erinnern uns: bei den Protesten gegen G8 in Heiligendamm wurden 9 Menschen durch Wasserwerfer verletzt, 7 davon haben (teilweise) ihr Augenlicht verloren. Dieses Bild von den Protesten gegen Stuttgart21 ist auch bekannt:
    Zurück nach Libyen: Bei den Auseindersetzungen zwischen Demonstraten und Polizei am 15. Februar in Benghazi wurden 38 Personen verletzt, davon 10 Sicherheitskräfte. In al-Baida wurden Polizeistationen angegriffen und in Brand gesteckt. Am 16. Februar 2011 wurde in Darna ein Waffendepot der Armee von der Libysche Islamische Kampfgruppe angegriffen und erobert. Libyschen Militär war zu dieser Zeit noch nicht im Einsatz.

    Am 17. Februar, dem "Day of Rage", wurden weitere Verwaltungs- und Regierungsgebäude in Brand gesteckt sowie eine weitere Polizeistation. Am 18. Februar mussten sich die Sicherheitskräfte aus Benghazi zurückziehen, da die Rebellen erbeutete Waffen einsetzten.

    Friedliche Proteste kann man das nicht nennen. Amnesty International bemängelt die einseitige Darstellung der Ereignisse in westlichen Medien: "die Rebellen werden als friedliche Protestler dargestellt und die Sicherheitskräfte des Regimes massakrieren unbewaffnete Demonstranten, die keine Gefahr darstellen."

    "...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."

    Im weiteren Verlauf der Ereignisse dokumentieren Menschenrechtsorganisationen immer wieder Verbrechen auf beiden Seiten.... "

    https://www.awxcnx.de/gedanken-libyen-krieg.htm

    ReplyDelete
  9. Toni! Thanks for all these links, and many, many other comments. Some I will check, some I know, some will help my German readers (I get a lot). Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  10. An early source for revolutionary lies was Abdulla Darrat, the Executive Director of the Libyan-American Scholarship Fund and co-founder of EnoughGaddafi.com

    Mr. Darrat attended the University of Texas-Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Architecture. After working with a number of architecture firms and being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Morocco, Mr. Darrat returned to pursue higher education. He graduated with Distinction from The Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2010, where he received a Master in Urban Planning. Mr. Darrat currently works for a nonprofit affordable housing developer in New York City.

    He was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! on February 22th.
    “Gaddafi Cares More for Himself and His Power than He Cares for Anybody in Libya”: Libyan American Activist Abdulla Darrat on Bloody Crackdown on Protesters

    Many of the early lies seem to originate from this broadcast.

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    Replies
    1. I think so. During the events of the last year in Libya, the LASF suspended its activities to allow its supporters to focus their energies on humanitarian concerns. aka overthrowing the Gaddafi government.
      More about MrAbdulla Darrat and his cohorts,eg. Yasmeen Ar-Rayani a 20 year old student at Columbia University whose father founded LLHR, here at Feet in 2 Worlds....Young Libyan Americans Driving Diaspora Opposition Movement
      As soon as the protests started in Libya he saw another gap: Western media’s inability to connect with Libyans fighting their regime. He and his network, with their social networking prowess, began to act as middlemen between their sources in Libya and Western media outlets.

      Without any independent media on the ground, the biggest challenge was confirming reports coming in from Libya. The strategy they adopted was to wait until they heard the same stories of atrocities from numerous sources. “So we would get multiple reports of ‘they’re shooting us with 50 caliber bullets,’ so we’d report that, then we’d get video, a few days later the video and photographs would begin to trickle out slowly,” Darrat said. Another challenge was the hesitancy of Libyans to talk to the media, for fear of reprisals from Qaddafi’s government which used widespread phone-tapping.

      A network evolved between Libyan American activists and those in the diaspora who had supported Egyptian and Tunisian protesters. Darrat reached out to individuals behind the powerful Jan25Voices Twitter stream, which served as an indispensable source for people seeking information about the Egyptian demonstrations. “We imagine ourselves as an extension of people on the inside, with our connections to friends and family we could fill the gap and get the media wheels rolling,” he said.

      Like Ar-Rayani, Darrat has been doing a combination of Internet activism, distributing petitions and organizing protests in U.S. cities to promote solidarity with the Libyan uprising. During one weekend in February, while Qaddafi made it clear he would stubbornly hold onto his rule in the face of the protests, Darrat and over 30 other young people hunkered down in a house in Washington D.C. that became a control room of sorts for the Libyan diaspora opposition movement.


      None of the three youth (sic) interviewed for this article have ever been to Libya - and probably never will.

      see also North Africa's Hip Hop Protest Music, Feb 11 2011. Khalas (Enough) co-founder Abdulla Darrat talks about the influence of hip hop in this latest round of protests.

      Biography here

      Delete
    2. http://www.twf.org/News/Y2011/0314-CSIDletter.pdf
      Mansour O. El-Kikhia University of Texas at San Antonio/Letter to President Obama about Libya - Sign Libya Appeal/2/22/2011/ 7:18 PM

      http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,DEU,,3df4bed31c,0.html
      The League was founded in 1989 by Soliman Bouchuiguir, Hussein Raiani, Mohammad Zayyan, and Mansour Kikhia. Mansour Kikhia, former Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, had defected to the US in 1980 and, in December 1993, was kidnapped in Egypt and subsequently transported to Libya, where he is believed to have been executed. The current Secretary-General of the League is Hussein Raiani.
      http://libyanleague.org/

      Delete
    3. Letter from the Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington DC to warmonger and Langley man Obama....The regime’s orders to its armed forces to use planes, helicopter gunships, heavy caliber machine guns and similar weaponry against unarmed protestors quickly prompted mass defections from the Libyan armed forces to the side of the protestors. The regime’ssubsequent use of mercenary forces against the civilian population has only escalated the level of violence.

      not much activity on its website - job done?

      Lies, signed up for by either ignorant lazy people or corrupt ones.

      Delete
  11. One of the main sources for the allegations that Colonel Qaddafi was killing his own people was the Libyan Human Rights League (LLHR).
    The LLHR was pivotal in getting the U.N. Human Rights Commission to suspend Libya and for getting the U.N. Security Council in New York City to pass U.N. sanctions against Libya.
    This organization is also a member of the French-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) that is tied to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

    On February 21, 2011 the LLHR got 70 other NGOs to send letters to the U.N. Secretary-General, President Obama

    On the basis of their letter and without any evidence or proof about the LLHR’s accusations that Qaddafi had killed 6000 Libyan civilians the U.N. Security Council was manipulated by Washington and its allies into creating a no-fly zone.

    Dr. Sliman Bouchuiguir, the head of the LLHR and a Swiss citizen, has actually admitted that it was Mahmoud Jibril that was the source of the accusations. Jibril would subsequently form the Benghazi-based Transitional Council and become its prime minister.

    What is not known is that Mahmoud Jibril, a cabinet member of the Jamahiriya’s government, was Sliman Bouchuiguir’s friend for years.

    Five individuals, who would become ministers in the Transitional Council, were also members of the LLHR and also Bouchiguir’s friends.
    This includes Ali Tarhouni.

    During the same period as these allegations, Aly Abuzaakouk and these individuals were also renegotiating Libya’s oil contracts under favourable terms for the U.S. and the E.U. for when the regime change would take place in Tripoli
    http://theglobalrealm.com/2011/12/03/libya-deja-vu-in-syria-using-human-rights-organizations-to-launch-wars/

    In fact, the boss and mentor JTrack Wadah Kanfhar was none other than Mahmoud Jibril
    (the 'J' in 'JTrack' stands for 'Jibril').
    http://www.4thmedia.org/2011/09/27/wadah-khanfar-al-jazeera-and-the-triumph-of-the-televised-propaganda/

    http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-libyan-state-barqa-owned-by-bernard.html
    New Libyan state - Barqa - owned by Bernard Henry Levy - declares its existance

    ReplyDelete
  12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=607btsXpX3E#!
    Libyan FM official phones Al Jazeera
    Khaled Al Ga'aeem, under-secretary of Libya's foreign ministry, phoned Al Jazeera on Monday night. This is a translation of part of the subsequent conversation, which aired live.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EXALI60hg&feature=related
    Message From Libya]TELL THE WORLD WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US!!!!!.flv

    Mohammed Abdul-Malek, a London-based opposition activist who has been in touch with residents, said that snipers have taken positions on roofs in an apparent bid to stop people joining the protests.

    11:16pm: Ali Ojli, Libya’s ambassador to the US, is on air live now on Al Jazeera English
    Ojli calls for international action “to stop the killings”.

    Several witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press news agency said that pro-Gaddafi gunmen were firing from moving cars at both people and buildings.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ORD6U6Caxd8#!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDfVWc7Gbkk&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmSKHo_R-V0&feature=related


    http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3144216.htm
    BARBARA MILLER: Muammar Gaddafi's son said the number of those killed was significantly lower than the figure of over 200 being reported by some protesters and by Human Rights Watch. Seif al-Islam acknowledged that many ordinary Libyans had taken to the streets, but he said the unrest was being fuelled by agitators.

    SEIF AL-ISLAM (translated): We have arrested tens of people, tens of Arabs and a number of Africans that were used to create problems and those people were paid, they were poor and they were paid. These people were used to create chaos.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Esam Omeish, head of the political committee of the Libyan Council of North America, a group formed to support the Libyan uprising said he and other anti-Kadafi activists met with members of President Obama’s security council several times to lobby for intervention, but he worried that others opposed to military action would drown them out.
    http://www.shabablibya.org/news/libyan-americans-feel-caught-in-the-middle

    Asma Saad of Irvine is a founder of the Southern California Libyan Task Force, a newly formed anti-Kadafi organization. She said she had heard from many Arab American friends who support the Libyan rebels but not the NATO airstrikes, especially since some civilian casualties have resulted.

    Just the racial card and calling for Nato help could cause this Outrageous Revolution :

    shot, hanged and otherwise killed through lynching dozens of captured soldiers and suspected foreign “mercenaries
    http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE19/025/2011/en/8f2e1c49-8f43-46d3-917d-383c17d36377/mde190252011en.pdf

    Nato has been bombarding pro-Gaddafi forces in Libya for six months now, since 31 March 2011 in Operation Unified Protector.
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/06/05/libya-nato.html

    the total number of Libyan personnel was estimated at 76,000
    Updates on Libyan war/Stop NATO news: August 23, 2011 : 20,000 Sorties, 7,541 Attacks
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=729_1309000579

    ReplyDelete

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