Imagine if STING was Sting? Wouldn't that be a mind fuck.
Imagine if STING was Sting? Wouldn't that be a mind fuck.
Imagine if we took the time to answer people's questions instead of ignoring them and frustrating everyone.Imagine if we took time to ignore the trivial distractions.
Imagine if we took time to ignore the trivial distractions.
Imagine if we took time to ignore the trivial distractions.
Woman says raped by Gaddafi's men, pleads with media
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A weeping Libyan woman made a desperate plea for help on Saturday, slipping into a Tripoli hotel full of foreign media to accuse pro-government militiamen of gang-raping her and covering her in bruises and scars.
"Look at what Gaddafi's militias did to me," Eman al-Obaidi screamed with tears in her eyes, pulling up her coat to show blood on her upper leg.
After being intimidated by security men and hotel staff, who also beat journalists trying to interview her in the restaurant of the hotel, she was bundled into a car and driven away.
Obaidi said she had been arrested at a checkpoint in Tripoli because she was from the city of Benghazi, bastion of the insurgency against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
Obaidi, who appeared to be in her 30s and was wearing a loose black coat, slippers and a scarf, said she had been raped by 15 men and held for two days. Her face was badly bruised.
"They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whisky. I was tied up," she said, weeping and stretching out her arms to show the scars.
"They peed on me. They violated my honor."
Her story could not be independently verified. It was unclear whether she had escaped or had been released.
The government said it was treating her case as a criminal one.
"I assure you she is secure. All legal help is being offered to her," said government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim. "So far, nothing of what she says is political. It's a criminal case. It's being investigated to the full course of the law."
Earlier, officials had suggested they thought she was either drunk or mentally ill.
"LOOK AT MY FACE"
As Obaidi spoke to reporters, sobbing and shaking, hotel staff and plainclothes security men tried to push and intimidate her as she ran from one table to another, crying.
"I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up immediately after this," Obaidi shouted through her tears. "Look at my face. Look at my back. All of my body is bruised."
In the ensuing scuffle, one member of the hotel staff grabbed a knife from a table and yelled: "You traitor! How dare you say that?"
A man in civilian clothes took out a gun.
Several journalists tried to protect Obaidi, but a foreign journalist who was trying to get away from the scene with a camera on which he had recorded the scuffle was thrown to the ground and kicked.
One Western television crew had their camera smashed.
Obaidi was eventually forced into a garden outside the hotel. Journalists trying to get to her were pushed away.
"Leave me alone," she shouted at security men. One man tried to cover her mouth with his hand.
She was then dragged to a parking lot and bundled into a white car. Security men said they were taking her to hospital.
"They are taking me to jail," she yelled, struggling with the security guards. "They are taking me to jail."
Tripoli is Gaddafi's biggest stronghold, full of loyal militiamen who crack down on any form of dissent as his troops battle rebel forces in other parts of the country.
International human rights groups say Gaddafi loyalists have been arresting thousands of people. Libyan officials say they only arrest people linked to armed gangs or al Qaeda militants.
But as Western powers press on with air raids which they say are designed to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces, people in the capital have become more outspoken in their criticism of the state.
Foreign journalists in Tripoli are unable to report freely and not allowed to leave the hotel without government escorts.
(Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".
Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".
His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".
Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.
US and British government sources said Mr al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which killed dozens of Libyan troops in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.
This is what President Obama said in 2007-so what was the actual or imminent threat to the US this time?
but then again i knew this when i voted for him.
LONDON — Leaders of the four dozen countries and international organizations meeting here on Tuesday made it clear that the NATO-led military operation in Libya would end only with the removal of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, even though that is not the stated aim of the United Nations resolution authorizing it.
The U.S. gets less than 2% of its oil from Libya, I believe.
Now Britain France and Italy on the other hand... I can see a case to be made for them.
What I don't get though is that if this is indeed about oil, why would they want to help the opposition out, who are essentially creating more chaos in the country? Without intervention, the rebels would have been crushed and the status quo would stay the same. I assume they're riding on a pro-western government coming to power (more oil, better prices) but that's a BIG risk they're taking.
I think different countries are in it for different reasons. Europe = oil, U.S. = protection of civilians/not to look bad, Arab League/Arab countries = regional stability, protection of Muslims and the fact that Gaddahfi is just as much an infidel as we are.
last night proved without a shadow of a doubt what i already knew... obama is just another politician who's more than capable of looking us in the eye and lying right to our face. he considers the american people stupid, largely because a lot of us are, and will believe whatever he says if he says it in a sincere enough way.
but then again i knew this when i voted for him.
this isn't iraq. we aren't going to tripoli. the end goals are not the same. but the reasons behind it? yea... exactly the same. if libya didn't have lots and lots of oil, we wouldn't be doing this. syria is right next to iraq. a rush of refugees flooding over the borders into iraq would be an issue, just like refugees heading into egypt would be. syria doesn't have a shit ton of oil. they've only got a little bit of oil. we won't be going to syria.
if libya didn't have lots and lots of oil, we wouldn't be doing this.
Basstrap said:I think your skepticism of Obama's motives are warranted, however my view on this statement is that there is way too much cynicism involved.
I think he was mostly sincere in explaining the intervention in Libya. What you have there is a perfect storm of international support, heartfelt pleas from the Libyan people (military and civil), and nearly unprecedented support from the Arab League.
In my opinion, there is absolutely no way he would have involved America in this if oil was the only, or even primary, consideration.
and nearly unprecedented support from the Arab League.
This is a time where we should be saying to the international community "hey... guys... we're gonna sit this one out. We've got our own shit to deal with. We'll be back in a few, but yea... you're on your own for a few years. Try anything stupid and we'll fucking stomp you out, but yea... peace out. See ya when we see ya."
Update: Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who asked Clinton about the War Powers Act during a classified briefing said Clinton and the administration are sidestepping the measure's provisions giving Congress the ability to put a 60-day time limit on any military action.
"They are not committed to following the important part of the War Powers Act," he told TPM in a phone interview. "She said they are certainly willing to send reports [to us] and if they issue a press release, they'll send that to us too."
The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon.