Six weeks after NATO bombs began pounding Libya, Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son, Seif al-Arab, 29, and three of the Libyan leader’s grandchildren were killed in an air strike near Gaddafi’s house late Saturday, government officials said.
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Have Fuel, Will Fight: Why an Oil Blockade Won’t Work Against Gaddafi
With a military stalemate increasingly likely in Libya, U.S. and European politicians have been eyeing an oil blockade against Muammar Gaddafi as a way of breaking his determination to keep fighting and avoiding a drawn-out war.
The Muddle at the Middle of NATO’s Libya Efforts
When considering the mess that the U.S. and its NATO allies have got themselves into in Libya, it’s helpful to remember the old story of the Irish traveller who asked a farmer for the quickest way to Dublin
Gaddafi: Obsessed By a Ruthless, Messianic Vision
In the movie reel of his imagination, he sees himself standing alone in the desert, silhouetted against the moon, swathed in traditional Bedouin robes, a farsighted prophet of Islam and the mighty creator of the Great Arab Nation, stretching from the warm Persian Gulf to the dark Atlantic Ocean–a nation that would eclipse the West in power and glory and purity.
Arming Libya’s Rebels: A Debate in Doha
Guns, money, oil, and an ex-spy chief slinking in the shadows: that’s what it came down to Wednesday in Qatar’s capital Doha when the NATO-led alliance marshaling air strikes on Libya gathered to defend its actions and brainstorm on how to help a ragtag rebel army finally dethrone Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. The coalition dismissed recent criticism and claims of inner discord with an early statement that the “international community remained united and firm in its resolve.” The same statement boasted that the alliance’s “efforts to date had exerted significant pressure on Gaddafi, protected civilians ..
Non-Starter: Why Libya’s Rebels Distrust the African Union
An African delegation on a mission to end the seven-week conflict in Libya received a hostile welcome in the rebel capital of Benghazi Monday. “No Gaddafi, no sons!” hundreds of protesters shouted as they swarmed the vehicles of the Presidents of Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Uganda
Is Negotiating with Gaddafi the Only Way Out?
South African President Jacob Zuma landed in Tripoli Sunday to meet with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to discuss a resolution to the ongoing crisis.
A Mystery in Tripoli: Blood on the Street?
When gunfire breaks out in Tripoli, it pushes a city on edge into paroxysms of speculation and rumor. The gunfire was heard in the early hours of Thursday, and went on in staccato bursts for a little more than an hour
Mahmoud Gebril: The Rebel Who Could Run Libya
The last time a Libyan leader traveled to the U.S. and Europe to talk to his international counterparts, he wore desert robes, slept in a Bedouin tent, and vilified the West in incomprehensible diatribes
Libya Rebels Want Arms, Money to Defeat Gaddafi Forces
On Wednesday, when asked why the Libyan rebels were retreating, one of their spokesmen, Colonel Ahmed Bany, said archly, “You are obviously well aware of the difference between a tank and a Kalashnikov.” It could be the difference between victory and defeat. The rebels have repeatedly emphasized their relative hopelessness in squaring off against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, using only an apparently large supply of light arms, including AK-47s, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.