A Canadian friend of Libya who is committed to supporting the LIbyans' fight for their basic rights and freedoms. I have many good friends in Libya, but I also do this for the many Libyans who welcomed us with kindness on our two trips to Libya. And, I do this to help get rid of the brutality they've suffered from four four decades.
Free Libya
John Leeson
Article by Manar Omar (Co-authored by Tarkowski Tempelhof) on who composes the various parts of what was the Gaddafi opposition during the 6 months of the Revolution
With the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi, Libya has a whole new political spectrum that covers a formal transitional government to remnants of the monarchy. Each will play some telling role over the next few months as the North African country struggles to redefine itself. Here's the basic breakdown.
An in-depth look at the planning by underground "rebels", no-longer-loyal Gaddafi loyalists, NATO, western countries' intelligence... and a caterer to plan the downfall of Gaddafi and liberation of the Libyan people, or
"How Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime was delivered by a caterer, on a memory stick."
The full & fascinating story here
(See also "The Tripoli Uprising" elsewhere on this blog)
From Transparency International, an organization fighting international corruption, and for transparency and accountability, some thoughts about the New Libya
http://blog.transparency.org/2011/08/31/looking-to-a-new-libya/
From TIME Sat. Sep 3:
In the initial days after Libyan rebels overran Col. Muammar Gaddafi's forces in eastern Libya last February, one of the most prevalent emotions on the street was shock. "We thought 90% of the people were with Gaddafi," Camilla Esbak remarked in the rebel stronghold of the Green Mountains. "So we never expected this." For years, most Libyans had been hesitant to voice opposition, they said, even to their children and close friends, fearing the pervasiveness and brutality of their dictator's security network. And when the revolution finally came, they marveled that so many of their neighbors had shared their opinions all along.
And yet, as rebels have begun to sift through the buildings and archives of Gaddafi's internal security apparatus over the past week, Libyans are also finding confirmation that they had every reason to be paranoid....
Full story here: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2091711,00.htm
See also this story:
http://thenextweb.com/me/2011/08/30/how-far-gadhafi-went-to-monitor-libyas-in...
Abubaker Karmos was the one employee of the Libyan Embassy in Canada who quit early on after the Feb. 17 Revolution started. He is now the Libyan interim charge d'affaires in Ottawa.
He was interviewed on CBC Radio's "The House" on Sep. 3.
http://www.cbc.ca/thehouse/past-episodes/2011/09/03/canada-to-extend-its-miss...
Following that interview, the show talks to the government's House Leader, Peter Van Loan. In the first view minutes, he talks about Canada's continuing role in supporting Libya.
And an amazing story it is...
By: Nicholas D. Kristoff
HE was my confidential source in the Libyan military this spring, an officer who passed on secret information about disaffection in the ranks of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. And then as the Libyan revolution spread, he made bombs and smuggled weapons into Tripoli to help overthrow the Qaddafi government.
But then Salem al-Madhoun, 47, was arrested three weeks ago, captured after the Qaddafi forces detected his Thuraya satellite telephone transmissions. I received an urgent message about his capture, and I assumed that by now he must have been tortured and executed. On arriving here in Libya, I set out to comfort his widow.
That proved unnecessary...
Life was hard, and continued getting harder in Tripoli during the 6 months of fighting. Those who came out to protest in the early days were shot, imprisoned and kidnapped. People largely stayed quiet and "out of sight", as normal life disappeared. Shops closed, food, cooking gas and gasoline became in very short supply -- and expensive.
Meanwhile, residents watched -- and frequently cheered-- NATO bomb their city.
What was it like to live in Tripoli?
This blog, written over the last 7 years by an American woman, married to a Libyan and living in Tripoli has written of life in that city. This year, after the Internet was cut off in early March, she decided to keep writing her journal, and has now posted her story.
Read it all here, month by month
An excellent, gripping account of how Tripoli (and Gaddafi) fell:
"The Tripoli Uprising
One night late last month, in a sweltering apartment deep in the heart of Tripoli, a group of men gathered around the television to watch the evening news. The program was carried on Libya al-Ahrar, a Doha-based news channel beaming into Libya in support of the revolution. At precisely 8:30 p.m., after the breaking of the Ramadan fast and as locals were streaming to the mosques, the message these men were waiting for came: "Truly, we have granted you a clear victory," the newscaster said, before signing off for the night.
...
The men watching the television were part of a group of 62 underground revolutionaries who had been preparing for this day for weeks. Malik Jamal Abargo, a 20-something port worker, was one of them. He grabbed his Kalashnikov and rushed into the streets with his comrades. "My heart was pounding," he says. "I thought that I might become a martyr."
...
The sight of the small crowd chanting slogans against Muammar al-Qaddafi in the street prompted shouts from the mosque. Soon its speakers issued forth a thunderous chant: Allahu akbar!
Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
"The Mad Dog's Madhouse"
by Sarah A Topol
At Al Razi Hospital, the only mental hospital serving western, central, and southern Libya, humor is the only medicine available in excess. Ahmed Kara, a senior consulting psychiatrist, laughs and laughs about life in Libya, before, during, and after the revolution. His average day, however, would make most Western psychiatrists cry: Today he's seen around 40 outpatients, distributed medication at the pharmacy, and now he's talking to the press -- though every 15 minutes he's interrupted by people asking him to sign off on a prescription or update them on a case. He jokes that due to the staff shortage, he might end his day by washing the dishes.
...
Mostly, Kara's interested in the original madman, the maniac he lived under for most of his 53 years. For Kara, unlike many Libyans, Muammar al-Qaddafi is a specimen better found and kept alive to be observed quizzically, like an exotic murderous butterfly.
"I'm dying to study this man's personality," Kara confides to me. "I have a theory about him."
...
"Such a character, such a personality, doesn't come into the world so often, maybe one every 60 to 100 years," he says almost with glee. "If we apply whatever classification we have, he doesn't fit the diagnosis. It must be something else; we don't see too many of these people.
Photo: Getty Images
