On Sunday, Muammar Qadaffi's son, Saif El-Islam, gave a lengthy address to the nation with a level of geo-poilitical candor that one never hears from Western politicians. He explained the dire consequences of a civil war and likely East/West split of the nation, particularly as concerns its extensive oil reserves:
Saif El Islam Gadaffi addresses the nation - Part 2 of 3
Interestingly (at 13:30), he mentioned that the British foreign minister had contacted him... That would be William Hague, who earlier had falsely confirmed that his father was heading for Venezuela.
He then reminds the Lybian people that if civil war should ensue, look forward to the return of imperialism. He has a point: after all, Qadaffi in 2007 made a deal with the devil - British Petroleum, which had until then regarded December 7, 1971 as its day of infamy in Libya. Perhaps the "over $1 billion" for the concessions was still not a deal to BP's liking. And, considering BP's history with deals of this nature...
It could be that the Empire is up to its old tricks, though in this case they are hedging their bets with the "reformer" son. The son, in compliment, hedges his bets. After all, look at the company he keeps...
What is so deeply worrying is that he has tentacles deep in the heart of the British establishment. He has extremely powerful friends in Britain, among them Prince Andrew and the Rothschilds as well as Peter Mandelson.
There are many reports of hired mercenaries doing the killing. In the interest of epistemic caution, however, we should leave the question open as to who has hired these mercs. They are said to be everything from Ukranians, Italian mafia, and Sub-Saharan Africans speaking English and French...
Mercenary Ukrainian pilots are flying Libyan MiGs to fire on protesters in Tripoli,Italian mafia helping Moammar Gadhafi
According to a STRATFOR diplomatic source in the region, Ukrainian pilots are flying Libyan MiGs to fire on protesters in Tripoli.
The source claims the Italian mafia is also assisting the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and that boats operated by Italians have attacked demonstrators in Benghazi and Tripoli.
The source's information indicated that the Egyptian army has prevented a convoy of trucks carrying aid to Libya from crossing the border, as the Egyptian military is unhappy with potential regime change in Libya.
Witnesses say African mercenaries have been captured in Libya
What we do know is that they do not speak the local Arabic. Often, they speak English or French.
East of the country, mercenaries were hunted down by protesters with police help.... In Al Baida, Derna and Benghazi the family members of local police officers are taking part in the protests. Even in the army’s core, there are renown soldiers resigning across Benghazi and Sirte....
Today, these three towns were surrounded by mercenary troops. One of my sources in Benghazi told me that some of them were captured by protesters. That’s how we know that they’re from Chad or Mauritania. They’re dressed in military uniforms and they sometimes wear yellow helmets. They’re dressed like Gaddafi’s soldiers but they are black”.
In the video, the captured man answers questions being asked by the mob of protesters in Arabic.
A protester: “Who is giving you orders”?
The man: “They come from up high. I swear, I swear…orders, orders”.
A protester: “They told you to fire at us”?
The man: “Yes, yes”.
The mob begins to fight. Numerous voices begin to shout “no, don’t do that…make him talk. We cannot act like they do”.
Ghanain Mercenaries for Libya?
Ghanaians are being offered US$2500 dollars per day to go fight in Libya on behalf of the Gaddafi regime, according to rumors circulating in Accra.
It should be noted however, that there is a great deal of skepticism coming from the commenters on the above story...
OOOOH PLEASE! THEY ARE NOT EVEN COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO CONFRONT THEIR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR WAHALA AT IVORY COAST, TALK LESS OF GOING TO THE FAR AWAY LIBYA TO FIGHT. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Lybia denies use of mercenaries
Khaled Al Ga’aeem, under-secretary of the Libyan foreign ministry, phoned Al Jazeera on Monday evening. He was put live on air.
Here is a rough translation of the conversation that followed.
Al Jazeera: With us now is Khaled Gaeem, under-secretary of the foreign ministry. What’s your comment on what happened today in Libya?
Khaled Al Ga’aeem: "Good evening, the reason I am calling is to seek the truth and only the truth. I want stress two facts to the viewers in the Arab nation [world] - and especially to Libyans inside and outside Libya. And I take personal and full responsibility, and I am ready - not only to resign from my post - but also set myself on fire in the Green Square - if it is confirmed that there were mercenaries from African states coming by planes and if it is confirmed that there was aerial bombardment. And, by the way, I asked the British ambassador to be a witness and to bring a media crew tomorrow morning to tour all Tripoli to look for find any aftermath of aerial bombardment or discriminate bombardment. I will bear full responsibility and I will pay with my life as a price for it..."
So the case of Lybia illustrates why the blocking of foreign media has its disadvantages...
Lybia Conquered in the Dark
But then Mubarak would tell you it is a catch-22 situation.
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Update 3/6 12:57 PM: Foreign Secretary William Hague is reporting that the SAS troops as well as the diplomat “have now left Libya.” He insisted that the British government would send more diplomatic teams to East Libya “in due course.”
Sometimes no really means no.
That’s what the British military learned today when, after a solid week of Libyan rebel leaders insisting that they didn’t want any foreign intervention in the ongoing efforts to oust long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi, they decided a great idea would be to dispatch a unit of their special forces, the SAS, to Benghazi to “offer help.”
