Links to sites with updates:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-26">AJE Live Blog March 26 (today)
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard
http://feb17.info/">feb17.info
http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks">Libya Alhurra (live video webcast from Benghazi)
http://www.libyafeb17.com/">libyafeb17.com
Twitter links:
http://twitter.com/#!/aymanm">Ayman Mohyeldin, with AJE
http://twitter.com/#!/bencnn">Ben Wedeman, with CNN
http://twitter.com/#!/tripolitanian">tripolitanian, a Libyan from Tripoli
http://twitter.com/#!/BaghdadBrian">Brian Conley, reporter in Libya
http://twitter.com/#!/freelibyanyouth">FreeLibyanYouth, Libyan advocate
http://twitter.com/#!/LibyaFeb17_com">LibyaFeb17.com twitter account
http://twitter.com/#!/ChangeInLibya">ChangeInLibya, Libyan advocate
Useful links:
http://audioboo.fm/feb17voices">feb17voices
http://www.google.com/search?q=time+in+libya">Current time in Libya
http://www.islamicfinder.org/cityPrayerNew.php?country=libya">Prayer times in Libya
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=736676&mesg_id=736676">Day 36 part 2 here.
A young girl is forced to wear a burka in Benghazi
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/24/qatar-planes-libya-high-stakes">Qatar's decision to send planes to Libya is part of a high-stakes game
In an air-conditioned room down an alley in the old market of Qatar's capital Doha, enthusiasts of "damah" gather most evenings. The ancient board game, rarely played in recent years, is now being revived by local enthusiasts. It is, afficionados say, a contest of strategy and finesse – and thus an apt metaphor for the high-stakes manoeuvring by the tiny Gulf state and its hereditary leader, 59-year-old Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in recent weeks.
For a country the size of Belgium with a population of 1.7 million, Qatar has been playing an extraordinarily high-profile role. This weekend four Qatari fighter jets are set to join the allied forces already off the Libyan coastline. The combat deployment is the first by an Arab or Muslim-majority country and thus of critical diplomatic significance.
Then there is the key role played in the "Arab spring" by al-Jazeera, the satellite TV channel set up by the emir in 1996. Broadcasting from Doha, al-Jazeera is now the dominant Arabic-language news outlet in the region and increasingly recognised around the world. Al-Jazeera English is gaining fans.
"Al-Jazeera were the first on to the events in Tunisia. Its reports from there were watched by the Egyptians. Then its reports from Egypt were watched by everyone else. It has been a very important catalyst," said Hugh Miles, author of Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World. Others have gone further and described the successive uprisings as "fundamentally driven" by the TV channel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/24/libya-morality-intervention-united-europe">Libya: the morality of intervention
Could we leave Colonel Gaddafi's victims to die in full view of our TV cameras? I think not. It is quite understandable that the UN's courageous decision to resort to force in Libya should upset our pacifist conscience. Instigated by the UK and France, and backed by the US and other countries, this decision, though necessary, raises major moral and political questions about European integration.
The moral issues relate to the use of violence by states. The question of a just war, which has bothered us since antiquity, may well be addressed with theoretical discourse and historical references, but it remains a source of hesitation and uncertainty that we cannot simply dismiss. These moral uncertainties obviously have a political impact. This is perhaps because European integration is far from complete. The Libyan crisis highlights the need for the EU to grow stronger and gain greater coherence, in keeping with the promise of the Lisbon treaty.
Video of the convoy sent to take Benghazi, taken from a dead soliders cell phone (shows how massive the operation was):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwWwOeZqz6MSky News went with Gaddafi minders to find a "civilian town bombed" only they were never shown any such thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5KJavfiQoTNC presser talking about various details of the revolution (thanks to Waiting for Everyone):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=730234&mesg_id=731532Videos to bring the Libyan Revolution into context:
The Battle of Benghazi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0vChMDuNd0BBC Panorama on Libya Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyaPnMnpCAABBC Panorama on Libya Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzwQvcx62sLatest indiscriminate shelling in Misurata:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wop3C4zrPXIhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x677397">Text of the resolution.
How will a no fly zone work? AJE reports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEwehTtK2kCanada: http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110317/cf-libya-canada/20110317/?hub=WinnipegHome">Canada to send six CF-18s for Libya 'no-fly' mission
Norway: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFOSN00509220110318">Norway to join military intervention in Libya
Belgium: http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/monde/2011-03-18/la-belgique-prete-a-une-operation-militaire-en-libye-828970.php">Belgium ready for a military operation in Libya
Qatar and the UAE: http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/776/?SID=e80884adc09a37d26904578a9b5978cb">Run-up for Western world’s next military commitment ... with unusual support
Denmark: http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/51229-denmark-ready-for-action-against-gaddafi.html">Denmark ready for action against Gaddafi
France: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19libya.html?src=twrhp">Following U.N. Vote, France Vows Libya Action ‘Soon’
Italy: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE72G2HE20110317">Italy to make bases available for Libya no-fly zone-source
United Kingdom: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12770467">Libya: UK forces prepare after UN no-fly zone vote
United States: http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/nations-draw-up-plans-for-no-fly-zone-over-libya-1.2765122">Nations draw up plans for no-fly zone over Libya
Jordan: http://www.smh.com.au/world/military-strikes-on-libya-within-hours-20110318-1bzii.html?from=smh_sb">Military strikes on Libya 'within hours'
Spain: http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/19/2801s627320.htm">Spain Expected to Join NATO No-fly Zone Enforcement over Libya
"One month ago (Western countries) were sooo nice, so nice like pussycats," Saif says in a contemptuous sing-song tone.
"Now they want to be really aggressive like tigers. (But) soon they will come back, and cut oil deals, contracts. We know this game." -
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2058389,00.html">Saif Gaddafi
(Yeah, Saif, as if you weren't "cutting oil deals, contracts" with western states. Who are the 'tigers' now? Bombing your own people.)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/25/world/middleeast/map-of-how-the-protests-unfolded-in-libya.html">Click here for updated map
Military Installations
Oil Map
http://bit.ly/fe3P">Google Earth DL here to see positions of army and patrolling route of mercenaries
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=212059469427545728757.00049c4df2474b6543347&ll=31.203405,30.058594&spn=96.173452,183.867188&z=3">MAP of Protests across the Middle EastMohammed Nabbous, killed by Gaddafi's forces while trying to report on the massacre in Benghazi
"I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid to lose the battle" -Mohammed Nabbous, a month ago when all this beganI'm struggling to come up with something to say about this man. I was not aware of the Libyan uprising until I saw Mo's first report, begging for help, posted here on DU. I was stricken. Here was a man giving everything he had to explain a situation that clearly terrified him, I would not call him a coward in that moment, but you could see the fear in his eyes, and desperation in his voice. For 30 days Nabbous would spend many hours covering the uprising in Benghazi. For many nights I would go to sleep with the webcast of Benghazi live on my computer screen, looking to it occasionally to be sure it was still 'there.' Mo treated the chat room as if we were his friends, and in some way, we were. I never signed up to LiveStream to thank him for all his work and it seems somewhat shallow to do so now, given that I was a lurker for so long. Ever since I took over posting these threads "Libya Alhurra" has been linked as a source of information. It wasn't until last night, when I posted, and twitter posted on Mo's adventures out into Benghazi to try to determine the truth of the situation, that Mo's webchannel became a hit, over 2000 people were watching him stream live. This was curious to him because he'd done many reports like this in the past but he appeared somewhat bemused that the view count exploded as it did. Last night Mo became a star. This is a man who first started out with a webcast replete with fear and desperation finally overcoming that aspect of himself and losing that fear, to become someone who was a fighter for the resistance just as much as those who held the guns. Reporting on the front lines of Benghazi became his final act, and for that he should never, ever be forgotten. I'm so sorry Mo that I never got to know you better.
Mo's first report, which many of you may remember, begging for help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EXALI60hg Mo's last report, a fallen hero trying to spread the word to the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecu_iWLn-rgMo leaves behind a wife who is with child, she had
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/23/a_bright_voice_from_libyas_darkness">this to say about the No Fly Zone and R2P UN resolution:
We started this in a pure way, but he turned it bloody. Thousands of our men, women, and children have died. We just wanted our freedom, that's all we wanted, we didn't want power. Before, we could not do a single thing if it was not the way he wanted it. All we wanted was freedom. All we wanted was to be free. We have paid with our blood, with our families, with our men, and we're not going to give up. We are still going to do that no matter what it takes, but we need help. We want to do this ourselves, but we don't have the weapons, the technology, the things we need. I don't want anyone to say that Libya got liberated by anybody else. If NATO didn't start moving when they did, I assure you, I assure you, half of Benghazi if not more would have been killed. If they stop helping us, we are going to be all killed because he has no mercy anymore.