Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

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Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Apparently he was on a peace mission, guess it didn't go off quite as planned.

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Gaddafi's stolen poo poo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhoGNlWsObg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxmjS4s1Nls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o5wQZLvVLc

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Aug 23, 2011

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:16

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# ? May 24, 2024 10:45

Arkane: Dec 19, 2006; by R. Guyovich

More Chance from the Rixos:

quote:

It's been very quiet for the past hour, probably because it's iftar. #Rixos4 #Libya #Rixos #cnn

Hotel still under #Gadhafi control, even as celebrations spread nearby. #Rixos4 #Libya #Rixos

Iftar...it's the month of Ramadan, so Muslims do not eat during the day. After the sun sets, they have a huge meal usually in a communal setting, referred to as iftar.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:20

Nuclear Spoon: Aug 18, 2010; I want to cry out
but I don’t scream and I don’t shout
And I feel so proud
to be alive

Xandu posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhoGNlWsObg

yesssssssssssssssssssss

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:20

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Nuclear Spoon posted:

yesssssssssssssssssssss

That guy is a badass.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:22

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Lindsey Hilsum tweeted something intereting:

quote:

Met a group of hotel workers from Niger held 'for their own safety' by rebels in #tripoli. They were not accused of being mercenaries.

Hopefully that actually means they are being held for their own safety, not rounded up more nefarious reasons.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:22

Rip Testes: Jan 29, 2004; I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.

Super special time for the Rebels with it being Ramadan and Laylat al-Qadr.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:26

Fog Tripper: Mar 3, 2008; by Smythe

Arkane posted:

From Matthew Chance:

eta, here he is:

Hasn't been in government for a while, currently a pastor in Washington, DC.

Looks like a mix of Billy Dee Williams and Cheech Marin.

Fog Tripper fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Aug 23, 2011

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:28

pylb: Sep 22, 2010; ^{"The superfluous, a very necessary thing"}

Here are some photos from NATO ship Chevalier Paul, providing support from a couple days ago :

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:30

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

The looted gold sniper rifle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o5wQZLvVLc

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:31

Sir John Falstaff: Apr 13, 2010

Brown Moses posted:

Apparently he was on a peace mission, guess it didn't go off quite as planned.

He appears to be president of this organization, although the website is rather vague on what their goals and methods of achieving them are, beyond "peace in the Middle East."

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:34

farraday: Jan 10, 2007; Lower those eyebrows, young man. And the other one.

Rebels may be moving on the Rixos hotel at this point,lets hope the loyalists just run for it or surrender.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:36

Arkane: Dec 19, 2006; by R. Guyovich

UNCONFIRMED:

quote:

FF are moving to the Rixos - many of them seem to be in Nasr forest (Tripoli Zoo) & Rixos perimeter already

Hopefully that is true

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:37

Amused to Death: Aug 10, 2009; google "The Night Witches", and prepare for

If anyone wants some more hilarious reading:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=26155

quote:

Surpassing previous mass media fabrications, both in scale and boldness, yesterday morning's Al Jazeera mise-en-sc�ne will surely go down in history as one of the most cynical hoaxes committed by corporate media since the manipulated pictures of Iraqis topplying Saddam Hussein's statue after the US invasion in 2003.

On the morning of August 22nd 2011, Al Jazeera aired a 'live' report from Green Square in Tripoli,which claimed to show the capture of the Libyan capital by rebel forces. Scenes of jubilation and euphoria enveloped Al Jazeera's reporter Zeina Khodr as she declared: " Liya is in the hands of the opposition''

The images were immediately reproduced throughout the global media complex, with headlines trumpeting the 'end of the Gaddafi regime' and editorials throughout the corporate media world speculating about the post-Gaddafi future of Libya.

Gaddafi's sons were said to have been arrested, and more defections were announced. The Libyan capital was, we were told, now in the hands of the rebel forces. For many, it seemed a fait accompli.

In fact, the Al Jazeera pictures from Green Square were an elaborate and criminal hoax. The report had been prefabricated in a studio in Doha Qatar . This information had been passed onto Libyan intelligence and the Libyan people had already been warned about the qatari psyops a couple of days previously on Rayysse state television.

The Al Jazeera hoax was intended to create the impression that Tripoli had fallen so as:

(1) to break the Libyan resistance by creating panic and chaos in the Libyan captial.

(2) to provide cover for the massacres of civilians that would occur in the days following the declaration of rebel victory.

In other words, the media would provide cover for the war crimes and crimes against humanity that are necessary in order to subjugate the Libyan Jamhahirya to Western corporate interests.

I really would like to know what it's like to live in the world when your perception of reality is well, unrealistic.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:39

Xandu: Feb 19, 2006; It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

You guys thought the rug was epic?

http://www.channel4.com/news/intense-fighting-reported-near-gaddafi-compound

Video near the bottom of a bunch of cars destroying Gaddafi's giant flag in his compound.

edit: There's supposedly footage of them breaching the compound somewhere on Channel 4's website, but I can't find it.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:39

Sir John Falstaff: Apr 13, 2010

Amused to Death posted:

If anyone wants some more hilarious reading:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=26155

I really would like to know what it's like to live in the world when your perception of reality is well, unrealistic.

This article (titled "NATO SLAUGHTER IN TRIPOLI: "Operation Mermaid Dawn" Signals Assault by Rebels' Al Qaeda Death Squads") by GlobalResearch.ca was posted a while back (or maybe it was in the D&D thread).

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:42

Xandu: Feb 19, 2006; It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

That globalresearch.ca website used to be seriously linked to all the time when LF was still around.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:44

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Video of rebels entering the compound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EdIyDcqpXY
Personally it's hard to imagine the attack on Tripoli working out better. Instead of the expected bloodbath it's taken a few days, with minimal damage to the cities infrastructure, so overall it's been a great success.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:44

farraday: Jan 10, 2007; Lower those eyebrows, young man. And the other one.

Sir John Falstaff posted:

This article (titled "NATO SLAUGHTER IN TRIPOLI: "Operation Mermaid Dawn" Signals Assault by Rebels' Al Qaeda Death Squads") by GlobalResearch.ca was posted a while back (or maybe it was in the D&D thread).

That was by me in D&D, unless it got reposted here.

It's sad, really, how absolutely broken some people's mental landscape is.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:44

Xandu: Feb 19, 2006; It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

Did they find anybody in the compound? It makes sense Gaddafi would have fled already, but I figured someone important would be in there.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:45

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

farraday posted:

It's sad, really, how absolutely broken some people's mental landscape is.

Try posting on the Guardian live blog, half the people there post that stuff endlessly, and the other half up vote their comments.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:45

Golbez: Oct 9, 2002; 1 2 3!
If you want to take a shot at me get in line, line
1 2 3!
Baby, I've had all my shots and I'm fine

Sir John Falstaff posted:

This article (titled "NATO SLAUGHTER IN TRIPOLI: "Operation Mermaid Dawn" Signals Assault by Rebels' Al Qaeda Death Squads") by GlobalResearch.ca was posted a while back (or maybe it was in the D&D thread).

Something I've learned from all this: The side that feels the need to use terminology like "death squads", "rats", and other pointless hyperbole is always the losing side.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:46

Sir John Falstaff: Apr 13, 2010

Xandu posted:

That globalresearch.ca website used to be seriously linked to all the time when LF was still around.

Someone seriously linked to Global Research in the D&D thread recently too (that's what the YouTube video is from).

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:48

Burt Sexual: Jan 26, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Switchblade Switcharoo

farraday posted:

That was by me in D&D, unless it got reposted here.

It's sad, really, how absolutely broken some people's mental landscape is.

"NATO helicopters strafed civilians in the streets with machine guns to open the way for the jihadis." Haaa. Come on guys try to be a little believable.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:49

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Let's see what my favourite pro-Gaddafi tweeter is saying

quote:

Okey sorry for delay tweets. i had to install Progamm TOR in order to be able to have internet. you know what this means.
first of all aj footage and rt footage of green square and babzizia are fake . Tripoli streets are full green .
For a proof of my words in some hours reporters from Rixos will be taken on a goverment tour like last night. dont worry situation control.
if there were rebels in the green square as aj says i personally could take those 50 out. its a joke video.
Gadafi spoke in the radio. everything is fine. in Janjour and tanjoura only some fights.
There is fear of capret bombing in Tripoli tonght from B-52.
Oh forgot to tell you that benghazi declared themselfs an emirate. and will dissban NTC and sharia will be impossed.

Paul Danahar of the BBC is also tweeting

quote:

Was written in #Gaddafi compound in #Tripoli. I'm watching people vent 42 years of fury on any symbol they can find of the man
The sound of gun fire in the compound is deafening. I�m watching lines of men walk past me hands full of vases, plates and paintings
Just watched man tying a large torn painting of Gaddafi in a gold frame to the back of his car to drag through the streets of #Tripoli
Life saved today by swig of water.Man stopped me insisted i drink.i drank stepped forward, tracer fire flashed 2 feet in front of me
Ran with everyone else in compound.#gaddafi forces started attacking as darkness fell. 3 bullets whistled just above my head
Now back safe. On way man said to me �my life started today, we threw this bastard out" He had lived his whole life under #gaddafi
On way back man told me "today i am free because we kicked this bastard out" had lived whole life under #gaddafi

Ian Woods too:

quote:

Finally back on twitter after 2 days silence because of no internet. Extraordinary day in Tripoli...watch all the reports on Sky News at 9
Been in west of city for past two days. Saw early stages of the assault on Gaddafi compound before returning to edit a story.
For a week I was very dubious about predictions it would be all over by end of August. I was wrong. The speed of the rebels astonishing.
Real concern for colleagues at the Rixos. I should have been there. The attack on Zawiyah was the only thing that stopped me getting there

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Aug 23, 2011

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:54

farraday: Jan 10, 2007; Lower those eyebrows, young man. And the other one.

Jibril is being dishonest as hell here. So they received unconfirmed reports, told people they were unconfirmed, which spread through official channels as confirmed reports, all the way to the ICC.

So obviously the false reports were from Saif's supporters and can't simply have been a mistake they gleefully reported without confirming.

And then they were shocked it turned out not to be true as per earlier? When they never got the confirmation they were apparently saying they had been waiting for?

He's dissembling madly to avoid saying we screwed up.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:55

Xandu: Feb 19, 2006; It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

farraday posted:

Jibril is being dishonest as hell here. So they received unconfirmed reports, told people they were unconfirmed, which spread through official channels as confirmed reports, all the way to the ICC.

Yeah, it would be plausible, except that I saw him being interviewed last night on al-Jazeera, where he confirmed the report.

edit: I am okay with him defending it as part of a propaganda strategy, but at least be honest about that.

edit2: nevermind, it was actually Mustafa Jalil who confirmed the report, still part of the NTC though.

Xandu fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Aug 23, 2011

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:56

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Jibril needs to get some serious PR training to handle gently caress ups like that.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 20:56

Engage!: Apr 21, 2011

I really don't get what the people denying the rebels are in Tripoli are hoping to achieve. I mean, what's the point of lying when they're just going to look more and more foolish over the next few weeks?

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:07

Sivias: Dec 12, 2006; I think we can just sit around and just talk about our feelings.

Really makes me wonder if those kind of people are actually certain of what they're saying. Like they truly believe it despite real information to the contrary. Delusion is such a strange concept to understand.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:08

Wreckus: Dec 15, 2007; From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.

Brown Moses posted:

The looted gold sniper rifle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o5wQZLvVLc

Well he WAS the final boss...

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:11

Lustful Man Hugs: Jul 18, 2010

Golbez posted:

Something I've learned from all this: The side that feels the need to use terminology like "death squads", "rats", and other pointless hyperbole is always the losing side.

What if it's a situation where there are actual death squads (or actual rats, not that that's likely at all)?

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:13

Sir John Falstaff: Apr 13, 2010

Engage! posted:

I really don't get what the people denying the rebels are in Tripoli are hoping to achieve. I mean, what's the point of lying when they're just going to look more and more foolish over the next few weeks?

I don't know, but people like Stephen Lendman and Lizzie Phelan are always good for a bizarre perspective on whatever the current story is.

I think part of it is what motivates truthers, the belief that they have some inside knowledge and the rest of us are all just sheeple.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:16

Golbez: Oct 9, 2002; 1 2 3!
If you want to take a shot at me get in line, line
1 2 3!
Baby, I've had all my shots and I'm fine

ChaosSamusX posted:

What if it's a situation where there are actual death squads (or actual rats, not that that's likely at all)?

Death squads, okay, I can understand, but... generally, only a government should sound like propaganda. An 'independent journalist?' Absolutely not. If you aren't being paid by the government but you're using the same hyperbole as it, you're rooting for the wrong side.

Golbez fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Aug 23, 2011

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:19

SneezeOfTheDecade: Feb 6, 2011; gettin' covid all
over your posts

Engage! posted:

I really don't get what the people denying the rebels are in Tripoli are hoping to achieve. I mean, what's the point of lying when they're just going to look more and more foolish over the next few weeks?

Here's what I don't get: how can you possibly justify saying "oh, there are no rebels in Tripoli, everything's fine" when the guy you're shilling for literally just got on the radio and said "hey, there are rebels in Tripoli, you guys should come root them out"?

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:22

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Couple of reports from Tripoli

quote:

Sean Smith, the Guardian's award-winning war photographer, was one of the first journalists to enter Gaddafi's compound after rebels took it over today. Here is his eye-witness account:

quote:
When I got to the compound there was chaos and confusion. Lots of people were running in, others were running out. There was a group of rebels at the entrance trying to stop people going in but they didn't have much success.

People were running through, worried about snipers from different directions. From the main entrance I could see Gaddafi's house, bombed by the Americans in the 1980s and left as a monument to US aggression. There was also a museum, while a dome-shaped building was on fire.

Excited rebels were lugging out plastic crates full of guns. But although the scene was one of jubilation it was tempered by the terror of being shot. Just as I was leaving I saw a man with a gunshot wound to his calf. Half of it was missing.

Nearby, there was an ambulance crew quietly patching up minor injuries and a couple of quite serious ones.

It didn't felt like a monumental moment; it was too chaotic and uncertain for that. People were worried about a counter-offensive.

There just wasn't a feeling that it was totally secure. Nobody was holding positions in the compound, most people were on foot and there was confusion everywhere. There was a feeling on the part of some there that Gaddafi's forces may simply have withdrawn.

They certainly hadn't fought to the last man. There weren't the bodies of Gaddafi supporters.

At one point I though a rocket was fired in and everyone ran. The rebels started firing weapons at a block of flats 800metres away, on the right-hand side, where they thought they were taking fire. By the time I left there was so much celebration going on it was difficult to work out was going on.

Luke Harding in Tripoli

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:24

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Al Jazeera and other sources are reporting that the rebels are negoiating with Sirte's military and Gaddafi family members in Sirte over their surrender, and the new government plans to travel to Tripoli in the next two days.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:26

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

quote:

Libya's opposition National Transitional Council will seek international funds to help the North African state recover from a six-month war that has paralysed the economy, the NTC's prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said on Tuesday.

Members of the NTC will meet with representatives from the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Qatar at a summit on Wednesday in Doha to discuss the issue, he said.

I suspect the post Gaddafi plan has been ready for quiet some time, and they nations involved really don't want to gently caress this one up.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:29

Zeroisanumber: Oct 23, 2010; Nap Ghost

Brown Moses posted:

I suspect the post Gaddafi plan has been ready for quiet some time, and they nations involved really don't want to gently caress this one up.

I've been hearing rumblings about it here and there. Supposedly they're taking a lot of advice from David Petraeus, which is both a good and bad thing. The major sticking point seems to be how and when and to whom that $30 billion of Gaddafi's money the West has frozen in its banks gets released.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:33

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

They pretty much need to release a big chunk of money so everyone can get paid and have some fun in the last days of Ramadan, and so they can have a great Eid. I think that'll do alot to keep things calm, and ensure everyone gets along.

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:46

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# ? May 24, 2024 10:45

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

quote:

Senior Libyan rebel official Mahmud Jibril said on Tuesday that the country's transition "begins immediately" and that Qatar would host a meeting on Wednesday to organise $2.4bn in aid for the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha, the number two in the National Transitional Council said "we will build a new Libya, with all Libyans as brothers for a united, civil and democratic nation.

"This is the new Libya where every Libyan works as a beloved brother, hand in hand, to serve the interests of the nation to ensure equality and justice for everyone.

"We have to be transparent in front of the whole world. Now we have to concentrate on building and healing our wounds."

He said the meeting of donor nations on Wednesday would be "to make provisions and arrange for $2.4 billion for the NTC in order to pay salaries of Libyans before Eid and to arrange for all the medical treatment and the artificial limbs which are required for the injured."

Eid el-Fitr is the holiday that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which comes to a close on or around August 30.

Speaking to the young people of Libya "who brought us our dignity back," he said: "I would like to confirm to them that this is your revolution and you will have to continue the march to finish the revolution ... to participate in the creation and establishment of the Libyan state in order to move Libya forward."

Jibril praised "our revolutionaries, who have written a page in history .... They allowed Tripoli to be liberated, and for that help they are in our hearts."

# ? Aug 23, 2011 21:53

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