Sunday, May 1, 2011

Updated Facts on Libyan Crisis: Week of May 1, 2011

May 2, 2011

According to Al Jazeera, the UN Staff left Tripoli after a mob attack. Western embassies and UN offices have been targeted after a NATO bombing reportedly killed Ghadaffi's son and grandchildren. Al Jazeera also reports that doubt has been cast on the claim that Ghadaffi's son has been killed. NATO says that it is stepping up attack is on Libyan targets. NATO plans to step up attacks on the palaces, headquarters, and communications centers that Ghadaffi uses to maintain his grip on power in Libya. (New York Times).

NATO officials and western leaders are defending the increasingly aggressive air strikes in Libya after the Libyan government said one barrage had killed four members of Ghadaffi's family. The US, British, and Italian embassies were attacked and burnt by mobs in the Tripoli. (Washington Post) Ghadaffi, tanks shelled Misurata, amid fears that Ghadaffi will use chemical weapons against NATO and Libyan rebels (Washington Post).


May 1, 2011.

NYT reports that three of MG's grandchildren were killed. Cannot believe that Ghadaffi's grandchildren were killed. I am really sad about that. I was telling a friend that I hoped Ghadaffi had the sense to move his grandchildren to somewhere safe. They are just children. Of course, the same can be said for children killed by his forces fighting the rebels. I mourn for them as well. I am a mother and I am soft-hearted, what can I say. On that topic, here is what has happened to rebel families according to NYT:

     "The pro-Qaddafi forces resumed shelling and firing rockets into the city in the morning and again late at night. At least 15 people were reported killed, including at least five rebel fighters, an old man who was struck by shrapnel, and a young father of four children.  The young man’s children and his wife were all wounded. They huddled at a Red Crescent clinic, unaware he was dead. “It is not easy to tell them,” said Absalom Essid, who stood at the door to the room where the dead man’s wife was being treated.   At another clinic, the wounded included a baby girl who appeared to be about 10 months old and suffered a broken leg. She was teary-eyed with a pacifier in her mouth as doctors prepared to set the bone."

Al Jazeera reports that the Libyan government announced the death of Ghadaffi's youngest son, Seif al-arab Ghadaffi, in an airstrike. At least one missle fired by NATO hit the Ghadaffi Tripoli home in the al Garghour neighborhood. (Note to self, are they suicidal? I am sure they are not living there, unless MG totally insane).

It does seem NATO's mission has crept, and that it no longer has anything to do with protecting civilians. I agree with Libya Spokesman Ibrahim Moussa on this.

According to the NYT, (link here)

     "Earlier Saturday, NATO officials had rejected an offer by Colonel Qaddafi to call a cease-fire and negotiate as false. The proposal was delivered in a rambling and often defiant speech, broadcast over Libyan state television, in which Colonel Qaddafi insisted he would never leave Libya."

WMB


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