Libya's Interim Prime Minister: Ghdaffi is Dead

The Prime minister for Libya's interim government announced today that Libyan strongman Mummar Ghdaffi has been killed by rebel fighters in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.

Qaddafi died of wounds suffered during his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, according to a spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).

"Qaddafi is dead. He is absolutely dead ... he was shot in both legs and in the head. The body will be arriving in Misrata soon," media spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News.

Earlier, a man who claimed to have witnessed the attack told the Associated Press Television News that he struck Qaddafi with his shoes after he was shot.

Footage aired on Arabian TV showed a captured and wounded Ghdaffi bleeding as he was pinned against a truck's hood before being jostled and shoved by rebel fighters who were firing into the air and shouting "Allahu Akhbar! [God is Great]".

Now, before we get all warm and fuzzy [dare I say hopey-changey? NANESB!] lets not forget that an exiled Libyan Jew who was working to restore a Tripoli synagogue was threatened by masked men brandishing rifles earlier this month. There is also the matter of Libyan rebels arbitrarily rounding up and detaining black men and as many as 20,000 Russian-made shoulder-launched missiles in Ghdaffi's military arsenal that are now unaccounted for.

Still, the Libyan dictator's demise comes as not only good news to a number of Libyans, but also the family members of those killed in Lockerbie, Scotland when Libyan agents blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. Five Bulgarian nurses who were working in Libya before being detained by the Ghdaffy regime in 1999 and accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV in a show trial also welcomed the news of Ghdaffi's demise. In 2007 Mummar Ghdaffi's son admitted that the nurses were tortured in order to obtain a confession.


Exit question- what exactly is the status of Ghdaffi's all 'Grrrl' bodyguard squad? Were they captured or die with their leader in Sirte? I get the feeling the smarter of the Ghdaffi 'Grrl Power' squad are currently referred to as 'Rebel/Interim Government spokeswoman'.

UPDATE: This slideshow from Al-Bawaba offers some insight into the women of Ghdaffi's inner circle- both Arab and European- leading up to the civil war, including the bodyguard squad.

Libya Update- Rebel Fighters Rounding Up, Detaining Black Migrants; China Circumvents Arms Embargo on Ghdaffi Regime?

Migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa found themselves unable to leave Libya during the 6 month old uprising are now finding themselves in dire straits as the rebel-led interim government takes over.

Rebels who took up arms against Libya's Mummar Ghdaffi have begun arbitrarily rounding up and detaining black migrants from sub-Saharan Africa after taking control of Tripoli from the fugitive dictator. As cities like Benghazi and Ras Lanuf fell to rebels, armed civilians began rounding up black residents- in some cases, beating and robbing then before turning them over as rebel fighters began taking over local government offices.

At the start of the uprising, rumors were circulating that the Ghdaffi regime was hiring mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to aid the regime's security forces in dealing with protesters and rebels. However, many more Africans from countries like Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and neighboring Niger have also worked in civilian jobs throughout much of the Ghdafi regime.

Aladdin Mabrouk, a spokesman for Tripoli's military council, said no one knows how many people have been detained in the city, but he guessed more than 5,000. While no central registry exists, he said neighborhood councils he knows have between 200 and 300 prisoners each.

In February, witnesses reported African fighters shooting at protesters or being captured by anti-Gadhafi forces. Witnesses have described scores of mercenaries being flown in to put down the rebellion, although many of the fighters already were in Libya.

As a result, people with roots in sub-Saharan Africa and black Libyan citizens have been targeted by rebel forces in the messy and confusing fight for control of the country.

In the Khallat al-Firjan neighborhood in south Tripoli, Associated Press reporters saw rebel forces punching a dozen black men before determining they were innocent migrant workers and releasing them.

The Gate of the Sea club near Tripoli's fishing port became a lockup Monday night, when residents rounded up people in the surrounding area.

Guards at the club said they looked for unfamiliar faces, then asked for IDs. Those without papers or whose legal residences were distant cities were marched to the club.

This week, an armed guard stood by a short hallway that led through two metal gates onto a soccer field surrounded by high walls. There was no roof, so the detainees clustered against the wall to get out of the heat.

Even prior to the uprising, Ghdaffi was known to recruit foreign fighters from sub-Saharan Africa

ELSEWHERE: According to recently unearthed documents, Chinese arms companies attempted to circumvent the UN sanctions and sell an estimated $200 million in arms to the waning Ghdaffi regime.

The documents suggest that Beijing and other governments may have played a double game in the Libyan war, claiming neutrality but covertly helping the dictator. The papers do not confirm whether any military assistance was delivered, but senior leaders of the new transitional government in Tripoli say the documents reinforce their suspicions about the recent actions of China, Algeria and South Africa. Those countries may now suffer a disadvantage as Libya’s new rulers divide the spoils from their vast energy resources, and select foreign firms for the country’s reconstruction.

Senior rebel officials confirmed the authenticity of the four-page memo, written in formal style on the green eagle letterhead used by a government department known as the Supply Authority, which deals with procurement. The Globe and Mail found identical letterhead in the Tripoli offices of that department. The memo was discovered in a pile of trash sitting at the curb in a neighbourhood known as Bab Akkarah, where several of Col. Gadhafi’s most loyal supporters had lavish homes.

The document reports in detail about a trip by Col. Gadhafi’s security officials from Tripoli to Beijing. They arrived on July 16, and in the following days they met with officials from three state-controlled weapons manufacturers: China North Industries Corp. (Norinco); the China National Precision Machinery Import & Export Corp. (CPMIC); and China XinXing Import & Export Corp. The Chinese companies offered the entire contents of their stockpiles for sale, and promised to manufacture more supplies if necessary.

The hosts thanked the Libyans for their discretion, emphasized the need for confidentiality, and recommended delivery via third parties.

“The companies suggest that they make the contracts with either Algeria or South Africa, because those countries previously worked with China,” the memo says.

The Chinese companies also noted that many of the items the Libyan delegation requested were already held in the arsenals of the Algerian military, and could be transported immediately across the border; the Chinese said they could replenish the Algerian stocks afterward. The memo also indicated that Algeria had not yet consented to such an arrangement, and proposed further talks at the branch offices of the Chinese companies in Algiers.

Appendices stapled to the memo, and scattered nearby, show the deadly items under discussion: truck-mounted rocket launchers; fuel-air explosive missiles; and anti-tank missiles, among others. Perhaps most controversially, the Chinese apparently offered Col. Gadhafi’s men the QW-18, a surface-to-air missile small enough for a soldier to carry on his shoulder – roughly similar to a U.S. Stinger, capable of bringing down some military aircraft.

While Algeria reportedly hadn't consented to such a deal, rebels and the interim government remained suspicious after Ghdaffi's wife and three of his children were able to seek asylum in neighboring Algeria.

Towards the beginning of the uprising, Libyan rebels were able to use seized radar equipment at the airport outside of Benghazi to track C-130 and IL-76 cargo planes- some bearing registration codes used by the Algerian military- flying into and out of Ghdaffi loyalist strongholds.

Libya Endgame? Reports of Ghdaffi's Death Circulate As Rebles Encircle Tripoli

Rebels seeking to oust Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffi have advanced to the outskirts of the capitol city of Tripoli while managing to cut off fuel and supplies not even a week after seizing the Western coastal city of Zawiyah.



Aided by NATO airstrikes and ferrying in weapons and supplies by tugboat, rebels surrounded the capital and began an assault on Ghdaffi's remaining stronghold on Sunday. Amid reports circulating that he had been killed, the defiant Libyan leader made a brief audio statement in state-run TV claiming that the rebel 'rats and vermin' in Tripoli 'have been eliminated'.



Rebel forces announced that they had captured one of Ghdaffi's sons, Seif al Islam Ghdaffi, in a raid that thrust into downtown Tripoli. The rebels had also been arming themselves after forces loyal to Ghdaffi abandoned checkpoints and arms depots in the suburbs around the city.



The rebel assault on the capital began on Saturday night at the Ben Nabi mosque near the heart of the city. As worshippers inside the mosque barricaded themselves and used the loudspeaker system to chant antigovernment slogans, loyalist troops converged and opened fire on the building. Rebels and local residents then moved in and attacked the Ghdaffi loyalists with machine guns and molotov cocktails, driving them back. From there, the rebels moved into Green Square and in a largely symbolic maneuver, raised the pre-Ghdaffi royal flag of Libya (below) that the rebels have adopted during the months-long uprising.



Green Square is where Ghdaffi held military parades and state-sponsored rallies throughout his rule.



From there, the rebels reportedly withdrew- but not before sending text messages and using mosque loudspeakers to call for a general uprising against the Ghdaffi regime. One rebel spokesman said that a small number of fighters and several caches of arms on the roads into and out of Tripoli were smuggled into the city in the days and weeks before the uprising.



Both the rebels and many international observes note that the rebel encirlcement of Libya represents an unprecedented challenge to Ghdaffi's 41 year rule, and that the collapse of his regime is only a matter of days if not hours.

Kinetic Military Action Figure Update- Al Qaeda Looting Ghdaffy's Arsenals? Libyan Official Defects; Rebels, Qatar Bartering for Oil

LIBYA: NATO continued airstrikes against forced loyal to Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffi outside the eastern oil city of Brega, striking a convoy that was heading towards rebel positions as well as armour and surface to air missiles in Ghdaffi's hometown of Sitre. The city of Brega has changed hands between rebels and Ghdaffi loyalists no less than three times in the last month.

The faction of the Libyan military loyal to Ghdaffi have also adapted the rebel's tactics of mounting machine guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns on pickup or flatbed trucks. Not only does this give them a greater degree of mobility, but it also raises a problem for NATO pilots, as they would be much more difficult to distinguish from simlar rebel vehicles.

Amid reports that US and Egyptian special forces are covertly training rebel fighters in Eastern Libya [How covert is it if I'm reading about it on front the front pages of the International Business Times- I mean, really?- NANESB!] a senior Algerian security official has raised concerns that al-Qaeda has been exploiting the unrest in Libya to obtain weapons from Ghdaffy's arsenal for use elsewhere.

The senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a convoy of eight Toyota pick-up trucks left eastern Libya, crossed into Chad and then Niger, and from there into northern Mali where in the past few days it delivered a cargo of weapons.

The weapons included Russian-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and ammunition, he said.

He also said he had information that Al-Qaeda's north African wing, known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had acquired from Libya Russian-made shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles known by the NATO designation SAM-7.

"Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya) with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity" the official told Reuters "AQIM, which has maintained excellent relations with smugglers who used to cross Libya from all directions without the slightest difficulty, will probably give them the task of bringing it the weapons," said the official.

On top of that, a 2007 US raid against al Qaeda in Iraq yielded records on at least 600 foreign al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. Of those, an estimated 20% came from Libya- almost all of them from cities in the east that are now in rebel hands.

BBC Map showing first few days of NATO airstrikes

QATAR: The Liberian-flagged Suezmax tanker Equator arrived in the rebel-held eastern Libyan port of Marsa al Hariga on Tuesday, the first traffic since anti-Ghdaffy demonstrations began a few weeks ago.

The tanker's arrival comes shortly after the rebels announced a deal with the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar where the oil would be marketed by Qatar in exchange for food, medicine (and the rebels hope weapons and ammunition as well). The 'barter' arrangement means that Qatar is able to circumvent international sanctions against Libya.

UNITED KINGDOM: Former Libyan Foreign minister Moussa Koussa flew to England from Tunisia last Thursday and announced his defection from the Ghdaffi regime.

As head of Libya external intelligence, Mr Koussa was an MI6 [British intelligence]asset for almost two decades. He was charged with conducting negotiations over Libya's giving up its weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

He was notably uncomfortable in making public statements on behalf of the regime in recent weeks. One Libyan official said that Mr Koussa had deliberated timed his statements to present a "rational" argument in the immediate aftermath of Col Muammar Gaddafi's rambling statements on national television.

With his arrival in the UK, Scottish prosecutors have sought to interview Koussa regarding the Libyan regime's role in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people. At the time, Khoussa was head of Libya's Bureau for External Security (the Mathaba) which was implicated in the Lockerbie bombing as well as a 1986 bombing attack on a Berlin disco that killed 3 (including two American soldiers) and injured more than 200. Aside from the terrorist attacks against foreign interests, operatives from the Mathaba (often with Libyan diplomatic credentials) would also harass and threaten exiled Libyan opposition figures.

Since the uprising began, Ghdaffi has lost his interior minster and justice minister to the side of the rebels.

Libyan 'Kinetic Military Action' Update, Now with Kung Fu Grip!- Downed US Pilots Rescued by Marines; Ghdaffi Arming 'Volunteers'

We're bombing a new Muslim dictator with a smaller coalition and no Congressional approval. This is, indeed, change we can believe in.
- Jim Geraghty, National Review

You thought this was a war with Libya? Don't be silly! It's a 'kinetic military action'. Then again, one man's 'kinetic military action' is another man's 'man caused disaster'.

BENGHAZI: Two Aviano, Italy-based U.S. Air Force Pilots were uninjured after their F15E crashed in rebel held territory outside of Benghazi earlier this week. Within a half hour, Marines on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge deployed two Harriers, two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters and two V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (pictured above) to rescue the downed pilots in what the USMC called a 'tactical recovery of personnel'. At least one of the pilots had reportedly made contact with some of the Libyan rebels before the Marines showed up.

The cause of the crash is thought to be a malfunction, as the F15E was reportedly well beyond the range of ground fire. The two pilots, who's names haven't been disclosed, are undergoing evaluation in Germany.

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffy is said to be distributing arms to 'volunteers' in the capital city of Tripoli, according to a Pentagon report.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," Vice Admiral William Gortney said on Friday.

"I'm not sure... if they are truly volunteers or not and I don't know how many of these recruits he's going to get, but I find it interesting that he may now feel it necessary to seek civilian reinforcements."

Advertisement: Story continues below The official said Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground" following seven days of coalition air raids.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunition stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Gortney said.

ELSEWHERE : Call it a coalition of the unwilling, I guess. NATO has tentatively agreed to take over part of the multinational operations against Libya, but attacks on ground targets will continue to fall under the command of the USA- which has indiacted it eagerness to relinquish that role.

Meanwhile, rebels in Eastern Libya have appeared to borrow a page from Ghdaffi's playbook, arbitrarily detaining and interrogating suspected Ghdaffi loyalists.

For a month, gangs of young gunmen have roamed the city, rousting Libyan blacks and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa from their homes and holding them for interrogation as suspected mercenaries or government spies.

Over the last several days, the opposition has begun rounding up men accused of fighting as mercenaries for Kadafi's militias as government forces pushed toward Benghazi. It has launched nightly manhunts for about 8,000 people named as government operatives in secret police files seized after internal security operatives fled in the face of the rebellion that ended Kadafi's control of eastern Libya last month.

"We know who they are," said Abdelhafed Ghoga, the chief opposition spokesman. He called them "people with bloodstained hands" and "enemies of the revolution."

Any suspected Kadafi loyalist or spy who does not surrender, Ghoga warned, will face revolutionary "justice."

The roundup by the Libyan rebels seems to primarily target black immigrants in Libya, as there were reports of the Libyan dictator hiring black, french-speaking mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to crush the protests and uprising that began several weeks ago.

However, long before the uprising many West Africans had also found work in Libya as construction workers and day laborers.

Libyan Rebels Attempt to Advance While US, Coalition Airstrikes Target Libyan Air Defences

Coalition airstrikes against Libyan military targets began over the weekend in what's being called Operation Odyssey Dawn. Although Pentagon and NATO officials sounded optimistic at the early success in taking out Libyan air defences and Libyan rebels seemed to be regrouping, a defiant Mummar Ghdaffi promised to drag out the conflict for as long as possible.

Although the rebels claimed they were able to shoot down some of Ghdaffi's fighter planes in skirmishes, aircraft manned by pilots loyal to the Libyan ruler have largely enjoyed air supremacy over the rebels. On top of that, it's thought that only 10% of the rebels have any kind of military experience.

(Proposed No-Fly zone map courtesy of globalsecurity.org)

Participants in Operation Odyssey Dawn so far include the USA, the UK, France, Italy and Canada with ships or aircraft from Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Qatar and Norway ready to participate in enforcing the no-fly zone over the next few days. After strikes against military targets in Benghazi, Sirte, Misrata, Zuwara and Tripoli, more than a dozen French aircraft started off the second day of Odyssey Dawn by patrolling the proposed no fly zone without incident over the weekend. Rebels based out of the stronghold of Benghazi have begun pressing back south on the highway to Ajdabiya after the road was cleared by coalition aircraft on Monday, hoping to retake one of the cities they lost to troops loyal to Ghdaffi last week.

Meanwhile an Algerian TV station is reporting that Ghdaffi's 6th son and commander of the feared Khamis Brigade was killed when a rebel Libyan pilot crashed his aircraft into the brigade's barracks in a suicide mission on Saturday. The Ghdaffi regime denies the report that Khamis Ghdaffi, 27, was killed in the attack while other sources indicated it was a British cruise missile that slammed into the Khamis Brigade headquarters.

Forces Loyal To Ghdaffi Counterattack, Bombard Rebel Positions

[Map: AFP]

Mummar Ghdaffi's forces struck back at rebel-held cities in the eastern part of Libya with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery this week, retaking the oil port of Ras Lanuf and have made it as far east as Ajdabiya- some 100 miles south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Earlier in the month, the Libyan rebels- increasingly made up of soldiers who had defected from the Libyan Army- had made their way westward from Benghazi to the outskirts of Tripoli before being steadily pushed back eastward to their stronghold by Ghdaffi's forces.

Since then, the beleaguered Libyan rebels have been requesting assistance from outside the country- including arms and the possible imposition of a no-fly zone against Ghdaffi's Air Force.

In rebel-held eastern Libya, patience for diplomatic niceties is running short. At a checkpoint near the contested town of Ras Lanuf, Saluhaddin Sultan, 38, a rebel who used to work as a kitchen worker at an oil plant, gestured angrily and said: "Why aren't the Americans doing anything? They just watch and talk. Gaddafi has heavy weapons and he is killing us."

There was a personal reason for his anger. His brother-in-law and nephew, also fighters, had died a day earlier when their car was hit by one of Gaddafi's jets.

"We are fighting for our revolution, but we cannot protect ourselves from the planes," he said.

A couple of miles along the road from the checkpoint were two deep craters on the road edge, from another bombing raid which had killed a family in their car as they fled the fighting.

Jalal Elgallal, a Benghazi businessman educated in Britain who supports the revolution, added: "I lived in Britain for years, I admire Britain - as most Libyans do - and I would expect Britain to help the underdog. If we get a no-fly zone he can't bomb us, and our fighters could march on Tripoli and end this.

"We need your help to get rid of Gaddafi. Just think about what he has done to you in the past - Lockerbie, Yvonne Fletcher, terror attacks.

"This is your chance too to get rid of him. We could get rid of him quickly with some foreign help, otherwise doing this could cost tens of thousands of lives."

In Cairo, the Arab League called for the United Nations Security Council to establish and enforce a no-fly zone during an emergency meeting last week.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have also supported a Libyan no-fly zone while President Obama has been ambivalent at best and Germany and Russia have expressed doubts.

The British and Lebanese have put forth a proposed resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would present a 'menu' of options the international community could use to curtail the activities of Ghdaffi's regime and military. However, it's thought that Russia and China- permanent members of the UN Security council- are likely to oppose any external military intervention against the Libyan regime.

Not Another Obligatory Libya Update!

Despite the antipathy between Israel and the Arab world, an Israeli remix of one of Mummar Ghdaffi's defiant speeches set to a thumping techno soundtrack by an Israeli DJ seems to have gained traction among Arabic netizens.

Pretty catchy, isn't it? The dual small screens showing the dancing girl don't hurt, either.

Apparently a few months before the uprising, the US Government had stealthily consented to selling at least 50 refurbished M113 armoured personnel carriers to the Libyan military.

Congress balked, concerned the deal would improve Libyan army mobility and questioning the Obama administration's support for the agreement, which would have benefited British defense company BAE. The congressional concerns effectively stalled the deal until the turmoil in the country scuttled the sale.

As all military exports to the regime were suspended last week and President Barack Obama told Gadhafi he should step down, the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls informed Congress that the troop transport deal had been returned without action — effectively off the table, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the deal's sensitive details.

State Department spokesman Mark C. Toner said the proposed license was suspended along with the rest of "what limited defense trade we had with Libya."

The Gadhafi regime's desire to upgrade its troop carriers was so intense that a Libyan official told U.S. diplomats in Tripoli in 2009 that the dictator's sons, Khamis and Saif, both were demanding swift action. Khamis, a commander whose army brigade reportedly attacked the opposition-held town of Zawiya with armored units and pickup trucks, expressed a "personal interest" in modernizing the armored transports, according to a December 2009 diplomatic message disclosed by WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website.

Currently, the majority of Libya's military arsenal currently comes from either Russia or France.



Meanwhile, forces loyal to Mummar Ghdaffy used tanks rockets, artillery and airstrikes to lauch a fierce counterattack on rebel forces approaching the capitol from al Zawiyah, about 30 miles to the west of Triploi. Armor from forces loyal to Ghdaffy is reportedly probing the depleted defences of the city and firing randomly at homes on the outskirts before attempting to make their way to the rebel-held city center.

There have also been reports of Serbian mercenaries piloting Libyan aircraft bombing rebel positions, although Belgrade has denied this early on. Libyan rebels who claimed they managed to down two aircraft over Ras Lanuf insisted that the pilots they captured were in fact Syrian.

The insurgents told the relatively reliable Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, as translated by the Lebanese news portal Iloubnan.info, that the government is using mercenary pilots from Syria, Algeria, Ukraine, Serbia and Romania to fly air force warplanes because Libyan pilots are no longer considered reliable.

The loyalty of Libyan Air Force pilots was put into question when two Colonels from Libya's Air Force disobeyed orders to bomb protesters in Benghazi and instead flew off to the island nation of Malta with their French-made Mirage fighters and sought asylum. [Let it be noted that the Maltese have a sense of humor, at least- the two Mirages are listed as being for sale on the Malta-based classified ad site Maltapark- NANESB!]



Despite the unreliability of some of the Libyan pilots, Ghdaffi's forces hold the edge in air supremacy over the rebels. This has led to calls for a 'no fly zone' similar to what was imposed on Saddam Hussein's Iraq between 1992 and 2003. The USA, UK and NATO are reportedly exploring a 'range of options' regarding the situation in Libya and defense ministers from the USA and Europe will discuss the possible ramifications of establishing a no-fly zone across Libya in order to prevent Ghdaffi from bombing his own people. Canadian and British officials have talked of openly arming Libyan rebels opposing Ghdaffi while the Obama administration has proposed arming the Libyan rebels using Saudi weapons and resources. Already, NATO has stepped up surveillance flights over the country.


Exit question: Assuming they survive, once Ghdaffi bites it, who's going to get custody of his all-girl bodyguard squad?

Libyan Evacuation: Ferry Bring Americans to Malta, USAF Flying Egyptian Nationals Home.

While some 200 Americans being evacuated from Libya had to wait for a ferry to Malta last week, President Obama dispatched US Air Force C130s to Tunisia in order to aid in the evacuation of Egyptian workers trapped in Libya since an uprising against the Gahdaffi regime and ensuing crackdown

President Obama announced today that he had approved the use of military planes to transport Egyptian refugees from the Tunisian border back to Egypt.

Defense officials says the operation will be run by Africa Command (Africom) which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. One of the officials says Africom will use between two and four C-130 aircraft based in Germany to carry out the flights between Tunisia and Egypt. C-130’s are smaller aircraft compared to C-17’s so it looks like they could be making a lot of trips.

The flights will operate between Tunisia and Egypt. A Department of Defense official said that USAID would charter additional civilian aircraft to evacuate foreign nationals who are fleeing strife-torn Libya via the Tunisian border. Spain and German are sending aircraft and warships to aid in the evacuation of foreigners (mostly Egyptians) while India and South Korea have dispatched Naval vessels to evacuate their citizens.

You know what? I hope I don't come off like I'm against using US Air Force aircraft and personnel to evacuate foreign nationals from the escalating and increasingly bloody clusterfuck in Libya, because I'm not....

Simply put, It's the right thing to do......

I'm sure there were some logistical concerns as well. But with that said, how come these assets weren't made available to the American citizens who needed them first?

Food for thought.

US Repositions Naval Assets in Mediterrenian As Ghdaffi Steps Up Attacks on Rebel Strongholds

And at this point, I think 'Rebel Strongholds' could mean pretty much everywhere in Libya outside of Tripoli and environs.

As forces loyal to Ghdaffi continued airstrikes against weapons depots and military facilities in rebel-held territory, the US Navy began to move ships off the coast of the strife-torn North African nation. The USS Mount Whitney is already in the Mediterranean while the USS Enterprise is making its way through the Suez Canal after being diverted from the pirate-infested waters near the Gulf of Aden [complete with detained pirates on board- NANESB!]. Secretary of Defense William Gates has also ordered 400 Marines currently stationed in the continental United States to be deployed to the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, which is also making its way through the Red Sea towards Libya.

The US, NATO and the United Nations are discussing possible actions against the Libyan regime, including a naval blockade or establishing 'no fly zones' similar to Iraq before 2003. Canada has dispatched the Halifax-based frigate HMCS Charlestown to the Mediterranean to take part in the international buildup against the Libyan regime. British prime minister David Cameron ordered contingency plans for the UK to enforce a yet-to-be-established no fly zone over Libya in coordination with other NATO members. Cameron also hinted that the UK is considering arming Libyan rebel groups if Ghdaffi continues his crackdown on opposition protesters.

Last week, President Obama signed an executive order placing sanctions against Ghdaffy and his associates while the European Union placed an arms embargo and travel ban against Libya. Already, international observers say that the former Soviet republic of Belarus has violated the arms embargo.

Elsewhere, A council of top Libyan dissidents remained divided on the prospect of foreign intervention, saying that while some groups were considering a request for foreign air strikes under United Nations auspices, the group ultimately opposed foreign military intervention in the crisis.

Libya on the Brink? Reports of Defections From Libyan Military As Ghadffi Orders Crackdown on Protestors

Reuters is reporting that two Libyan Air Force colonels fled the country on Monday after disobeying orders to bomb antigovernment protestors. The Maltese Foreign Ministry confirmed that two single-seat Mirage F1 fighters from the Libyan Air Force landed at the island country's international airport outside the capital of Valetta. Upon disembarking, the pilots then identified themselves and requested asylum according to local news reports.

The asylum request came amid reports of Libyan soldiers siding with antigovernment demonstrators in Libya's 2nd largest city of Benghazi and the capture of African mercenaries flown in by the Ghdaffi regime. On Sunday afternoon, Libyan security forces loyal to Ghdaffi and mercenaries opened fire on a funeral procession for demonstrators killed in earlier clashes in Benghazi.

Libyan military jets have reportedly begun indiscriminate aerial bombardment of targets in Tripoli and Benghazi. In the capitol of Tripoli, the Austrian Army is reporting that the airspace over the city is closed after sending a C-130 transport as far as Malta to evacuate European nationals from Libya. However, the attempt was delayed upon finding that only a handful of European nationals were able to reach the airport at Tripoli.

Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffi appeared briefly on TV Monday to quell rumors that he had fled to Venezuela. Communications in and out of Libya appear to have been cut, including mobile phones and social networking sites like Facebook. Foreign journalists have also been banned from Libya, although even prior to the unrest in that country, the movement and activities of foreign reporters were tightly controlled and monitored by the Ghdaffi regime.

The following is a capsulized version of developments in Libya in the last week or so:

Feb. 15-16:

- Police in Benghazi use force to disperse a sit-in protesting against the regime.

- Protesters demand the release of a lawyer representing the families of 1,000 prisoners gunned down in a Tripoli prison in 1996.

- At least two protesters reported killed by security forces in Al-Baida.

Feb. 17:

- Eight reported killed in clashes between demonstrators and security forces; calls go out on Facebook to turn the day into A Day of Rage against Gadhafi's regime.

- At Zenten several people arrested and a police station and public building torched.

- Feb. 18: Death toll is estimated to pass 40. Clashes reported in the east, notably Benghazi, where a radio station was burned down.

- The "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" hangs two policemen trying to disperse the crowd.

- Social-networking site Facebook blocked in Tripoli.

Feb. 19:

- Death toll passes 80, says Human Rights Watch (HRW).

- At least 12 reported killed as the army fires on a Benghazi crowd storming a barracks.

- Clashes spread to Misrati. Feb. 20:

- HRW says the death toll is at least 223; a hospital official is quoted saying it is 200.

- Authorities arrest dozens of Arab nationals from a "network" they say aims to destabilize Libya.

- Witnesses in Benghazi say Libyan security forces backed by "African mercenaries" have been shooting at crowds "without discrimination."

- Dozens of lawyers join a sit-in outside a Tripoli court, protesting against repression.

- Libya warns European Union president Hungary's ambassador to Tripoli that the bloc must stop fanning pro-democracy protests if Libya is to continue to co-operate against illegal immigration.

- Attempt by saboteurs to set fire to oil wells is foiled.

[Hat tip: Pundit Press]