Mean while, in Libya
I thought I'd give everyone the general Mother Jones updates from Friday/today since I haven't seen them on my dash today:
UPDATE 38, Friday. Feb. 25, 9:43 a.m. EST/ 4:22 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): The brutality continues as anti-Qaddafi protesters fight on:
In an act of desperation, Libya state television announced shortly before Friday prayers that Qaddafi will offer a 150 percent increase in wages for all government workers and $400 to every family.
The announcement had no apparent effect, and tens of thousands took to the streets across Libya following Friday prayers. The worst violence occurred in Tripoli, where Qaddafi forces are still clinging to power. Al-Arabiya reports that gunmen open fired on protesters in several areas of the capital.
Sheik Yousef Qaradawi, a relatively moderate Muslim cleric admired in the Arab world for his encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic law and feared by some commentators in the West for his anti-Israel views, gave a Friday sermon in Qatar that was broadcast live by Al-Jazeera. Qaradawi said (reported via Sultan AlQassemi), "We are expecting good news from Libya. I can almost see the victory in my eyes now....I believe in this victory because I believe in God." Qaradawi also advised revolutionaries to take pity on mercenaries that Qaddafi has reportedly hired from neighboring African countries. "They are poor," Qaradawi said. "Give them the security to leave."
Qaddafi's son, Seif Qaddafi, was asked in a Friday interview with CNN Turk television whether his family had a "Plan B." He replied defiantly that his family plans to "live and die in Libya."
Navy Pillay, the UN high commisioner for human rights, said Friday that Qaddafi's bloody crackdown is "escalating alarmingly" and "thousands may have been killed or injured."
Activists have launched new radio stations and newspapers in eastern Libya, where anti-Qaddafi forces have gained the upper hand.
UPDATE 39, Friday, Feb. 25, 11:10 a.m. EST/6:10 p.m. in Tripoli (Nick Baumann): The New York Times' Kareem Fahim and David Kirkpatrick have a dispatch from what are increasingly looking like the front lines of a war between Libyan revolutionaries and Qaddafi's mercenaries. Lede: "Rebels seeking to overturn the 40-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi repelled a concerted assault by his forces on Thursday on cities close to the capital, removing any doubt that Libya’s patchwork of protests had evolved into an increasingly well-armed revolutionary movement." Highlight [emphasis added]: "Tawfik al-Shohiby, one of the rebels, said that in the early days of the revolt one of his relatives bought $75,000 in automatic weapons from arms dealers on the Egyptian border and distributed them to citizens’ groups in towns like Bayda." Read up. Also:
The entire Libyan mission at the United Nations mission in Geneva, Switzerland quit on Friday morning.
Paul Schemm of the Associated Press has an interesting piece on how the citizens of Benghazi, the city where the uprising started, are governing themselves.
UPDATE 40, Friday, Feb. 25, 1:56 p.m. EST/8:56 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): From Mother Jones: Qaddafi's son, Saif, authored a 2007 doctoral thesis praising democracy and human rights. No, it's not a joke.
UPDATE 41, Friday, Feb. 25, 2:57 p.m. EST/9:57 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): A flurry of news from Washington, brought to you by Twitter:
Josh Rogin retweets Chuck Todd: "RT @chucktodd: "Pretty much everything that was on the table short of a no-fly zone is being enacted by US govt re: #libya"
From Reuters: "White House says U.S. has decided to move forward with unilateral sanctions against #Libya, will be coordinated with European allies"
And from @SultanAlQassemi, via Al Arabiya: "Breaking - Al Arabiya: AP: Washington suspends US embassy activities in Tripoli #Libya"
UPDATE 42, Friday, Feb. 25, 3:35 p.m. EST/10:35 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): Here's the State Department's full statement on suspending embassy operations in Libya:
Given current security conditions in Libya, coupled with our inability to guarantee fully the safety and security of our diplomatic personnel in the country, the Department of State has temporarily withdrawn Embassy personnel from Tripoli and suspended all embassy operations effective February 25, 2011. The safety of the American community remains paramount to the Department and we will continue to provide assistance to the greatest extent possible through other missions.
UPDATE 43, Friday, Feb. 25, 4:10 p.m. EST/11:10 p.m. in Tripoli (Nick Baumann): The Guardian has the scoop on UK officials telling Qaddafi loyalists to "defect or face war crimes trials." This is important. First, it shows the UK believes Qaddafi is definitely going down, and puts a lot of pressure on his key people. It also demonstrates that the West hopes to hold Libyan officials accountable for the deaths of civilian protesters. Hillary Clinton, William Hague, and Catherine Ashton—the top foreign affairs officials for the US, the UK, and the EU, respectively—are headed to Geneva on Monday to argue that the International Criminal Court should prosecute Libyan leaders. Between this and the unilateral US moves mentioned in Update 41, it's pretty clear that the West is finally, ever-so-slowly, moving to do at least something about the horrible violence and massacres in Libya.
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