Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Sayf al-Islam, has warned that civil war could hit the country. His comments came in a lengthy TV address to the nation broadcast as anti-government protests spread to the capital Tripoli. Despite criticising protesters, he also held out the promise of significant political reforms.
He admitted that the police and army had made "mistakes", but said the death toll was far lower than reported. He said opposition groups and outsiders were trying to transform Libya into a group of small states. If they succeeded, he said, foreign investment would stop and living standards would drop drastically.
Sayf Gaddafi also criticised the foreign media for what he termed their exaggeration of the extent of the violence in Libya.Earlier reports said Col Gaddafi had fled Libya, prompting crowds to come out on to the streets of Tripoli to celebrate, but his son told state TV viewers that his father remained in Libya "leading the battle".
Overall, he blamed everyone from foreigners, exiles, drug addicts, Islamists and the media for the crisis. But didn't take any responsibility for it himself, or put anything onto the government. Was weird though, he offered to change the national anthem/flag to keep people happy, then went to say that they would fight "to the last bullet".
Anyone fancy taking bets on which was this one will go?
(Also - was Gadaffi CIA backed when he came to power?)
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:44 am
by wub
Reuters have just announced that the main government building in Tripoli is on fire, but they haven't gotten around to updating their homepage with it yet.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:44 am
by DRTY
copy cats
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:47 am
by wub
It does make you wonder why they all seem to be waiting until it happened somewhere else before doing it. Like Egypt was the cool kid who started smoking weed in school, and all his mates around him are now clamouring for a toke.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:52 am
by DRTY
yeah it is kinda weird, I guess they've seen that people do actually have the power to change things, so are going right ahead and doing it!
I don't know much about Libya/Egypt etc though so can't comment on it politically. I know Egypt have badman sharks though.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:01 am
by Swissdub
they all just need to have a smoke together
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:56 pm
by nicenice
Worlds up in arms it seems.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:42 pm
by firky
The King of Bahrain has been invited to the Royal Wedding. Why don't they just ask Peter Suttcliffe too?
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 2:08 pm
by gnome
I can see the government killing a lot of people and no uprising/reform coming from it. That's how I think it could go.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 2:51 pm
by Motorway to Roswell
wub wrote:It does make you wonder why they all seem to be waiting until it happened somewhere else before doing it. Like Egypt was the cool kid who started smoking weed in school, and all his mates around him are now clamouring for a toke.
Tunisia was rioting before Egypt.
Apparently there was a funeral march for the people who died in a previous protest and the military/police opened fire on them with mortars, heavy machine guns and even a missile launcher. Snipers on the rooftops too.
Witnesses said troops had used machine-guns, mortars, large-calibre weapons, and even a missile, against the mourners.
Opposition supporters said the attack was unprovoked, although security sources suggested some protesters had thrown firebombs at a government compound.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:02 pm
by wub
Motorway to Roswell wrote:
Tunisia was rioting before Egypt.
Hence why I said;
wub wrote:Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and now Libya. Biggup your revolutionary chest.
Using heavy weaponary against mourners though? Hardcore.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:16 pm
by Motorway to Roswell
wub wrote:
Motorway to Roswell wrote:
Tunisia was rioting before Egypt.
Hence why I said;
wub wrote:Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and now Libya. Biggup your revolutionary chest.
Using heavy weaponary against mourners though? Hardcore.
Fair enough. Didn't see that.
Yeah. I can't see it going well in Libya. They've made no effort to keep the peace or try to halt violence. They've just gone out and started mowing people down.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:23 pm
by badger
DRTY wrote:yeah it is kinda weird, I guess they've seen that people do actually have the power to change things, so are going right ahead and doing it!
not that weird really - it's happened throughout history. a phrase i remember hearing when i did history at school in relation to european revolutions was "when paris sneezes the rest of europe catches a cold" - same thing here but with the middle east
Motorway to Roswell wrote:I can't see it going well in Libya. They've made no effort to keep the peace or try to halt violence. They've just gone out and started mowing people down.
that was an absolute fucking disgrace. repressive tactics in the face of unrest is expected (but never acceptable) but that was an utterly disgusting display of power. the metro this morning said that they'd been drafted in mercenaries from chad who are responsible for most of these atrocities
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:24 pm
by wub
Motorway to Roswell wrote:
Yeah. I can't see it going well in Libya. They've made no effort to keep the peace or try to halt violence. They've just gone out and started mowing people down.
It was only a matter of time before the revolutionary wave that's gone across the region hit a country that was going to turn round and just say fuck off. Egypt went about 2 days when they could have potentially kicked off, but once the demonstration reached a certain size it was more and more unlikely to happen.
Libya have opted to nip it in the bud with maximum force from the getgo.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 6:54 pm
by wub
Two Libyan pilots defect to Malta, say they had been ordered to bomb protesters. If front line military personnel are fucking off, Gadaffi doesn't really stand much hope.
Re: The Libya situation
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:51 pm
by adamjames
wub wrote:Two Libyan pilots defect to Malta, say they had been ordered to bomb protesters. If front line military personnel are fucking off, Gadaffi doesn't really stand much hope.
Let's just hope that the rest can think for themselves and not follow blindly.
Some hope left here.