# Libya too?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 16, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595 "2011-02-16T16:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 92
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1821 "2011-08-24T16:58:03Z")
[The UNSC will vote this week, probably, on unfreezing more than a billion dollars in Libyan government assets.](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=14371611) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1822 "2011-08-24T21:45:04Z")
[$1.7 million and amnesty](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011824131527528610.html) offered to anyone who brings in Gaddafi dead or alive. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1823 "2011-08-25T01:49:27Z")
An interview with a mercenary in Gaddafi’s army. [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html#ixzz1VytmwyaR](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html#ixzz1VytmwyaR) Really fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1824 "2011-08-25T10:31:33Z")
From the BBC: [BBC News - Libya fighting](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14610722) (warning, plays video on open) > [@](#): > > 0232: A Libyan resident, emails: “I’m in a small village just outside Tripoli and the Libyan security secret service (mostly women) have just killed, in cold blood, 25 young men, between the ages of 11 and 17 for waving anti-Gaddafi flags. They tied them up, blindfolded them, then shot them in the back of the head. I strongly believe Gaddafi is very close by as his female bodyguards are here killing people who they deem a threat to his leadership.” ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1825 "2011-08-25T12:42:24Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > An interview with a mercenary in Gaddafi’s army. > [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html#ixzz1VytmwyaR](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html#ixzz1VytmwyaR) > Really fascinating. Always hard to know what’s the credibility of such “witnesses”, there are several parts of the article which reek of “Saddam Hussein’s woodchippers”. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1826 "2011-08-25T14:37:36Z")
Zombie: The guy in the article is a self-serving bastard seeking to make himself look good and noble. But I think it does establish that there certainly were mercenaries, which some people were doubting. And it’s interesting. Rebels found some weird shit. Mercenaries (probably) found with hands tied and executed. And they may have almost got Mummar. [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-libya-gaddafi-commandos-report-idUSTRE77O2ZH20110825](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-libya-gaddafi-commandos-report-idUSTRE77O2ZH20110825) And, of course, this. What. The. Hell? [http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2011/08/25/7470058-in-the-ruins-of-gadhafis-lair-rebels-find-album-filled-with-photos-of-his-darling-condoleezza-rice](http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/25/7470058-in-the-ruins-of-gadhafis-lair-rebels-find-album-filled-with-photos-of-his-darling-condoleezza-rice) ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1827 "2011-08-25T14:44:42Z")
I’m not dubious about most of his story, but a bit skeptical about the Khaddafi clan doing drugs, girls and booze in all night parties while fighting. It looks and sounds too close to the habitual cliches about Khaddafi (not that it would be absolutely stunning if he really did party, just that it sounds too convenient). That said, I didnt read the ITV as a PR attempt by the mercenary, he seemed relatively honest. ETA: [http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/\_news...ndoleezza-rice](http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...ndoleezza-rice) Lol. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1828 "2011-08-25T16:11:40Z")
[15 bodies found in Tripoli in suspected mass execution.](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011825124849190250.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1829 "2011-08-25T16:12:53Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > And, of course, this. What. The. Hell? > [http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2011/08/25/7470058-in-the-ruins-of-gadhafis-lair-rebels-find-album-filled-with-photos-of-his-darling-condoleezza-rice](http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/25/7470058-in-the-ruins-of-gadhafis-lair-rebels-find-album-filled-with-photos-of-his-darling-condoleezza-rice) Weirdest dictatorship this side of Pyongyang . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1830 "2011-08-26T16:22:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [15 bodies found in Tripoli in suspected mass execution.](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011825124849190250.html) [The sole survivor tells the tale.](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/2011825124015933314.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1831 "2011-08-26T16:48:04Z")
[Libya Live Blog,](http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya) entry 10 minutes ago, says the NTC claims to have Gaddafi and entourage surrounded in Tripoli, but they won’t say exactly where. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1832 "2011-08-26T17:11:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Libya Live Blog,](http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya) entry 10 minutes ago, says the NTC claims to have Gaddafi and entourage surrounded in Tripoli, but they won’t say exactly where. We have heard that before. They said they had his sons in custody also. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1833 "2011-08-26T18:41:04Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > We have heard that before. They said they had his sons in custody also. To be fair, that was on the first night in Tripoli when nobody had any idea wtf was going on. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1834 "2011-08-26T19:33:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > We have heard that before. They said they had his sons in custody also. To be fair, as far as we can tell, they _did_ have his sons in custody, but they escaped/bribed their way out/etc. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1835 "2011-08-26T22:00:15Z")
[They’re trying to talk Sirte into surrendering.](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2011/0826/Libyan-rebels-send-brigade-to-negotiate-surrender-of-Sirte) > [@](#): > > A brigade of rebel fighters originally from Sirte was sent to negotiate with tribal elders to persuade the town to lay down its arms and avoid a bloody battle. > > “These are sons talking to their fathers,” says rebel fighter Bashir Budufira, leader of the Ajdabiyah Martyrs Brigade. > > “I think 75 percent of the people there want a peaceful solution, but there are some people from Qaddafi’s tribe and they’re not going to surrender," he adds. "They have committed murder, so they’re afraid they’re going to be punished if they give up.” Apparently the only east-west coastal highway runs through Sirte; so long as it holds out, you can’t get from Benghazi to Tripoli by land. Once they get all the war-damage fixed up, the new government should look at building some new roads. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1836 "2011-08-27T00:41:23Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wake me when it happens in Syria. [silently tiptoes towards **silenus’** bed with a bucket of icewater] ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1837 "2011-08-27T00:55:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Once they get all the war-damage fixed up, the new government should look at building some new roads. In order to bypass Sirte, they’d have to build a road running from the Tripoli area straight south to nowhere, then straight east to nowhere, and then back north to the coastal road, hundreds of kilometers longer, and (as far as I can tell) running through desert and mountainous desert. I think the city will give in soon enough. The civil war is pretty much done. I don’t expect the resistance to continue to have much of a territorial base. (I do expect resistance to continue, but it’s going to be small roving bands, not anything organized that controls large swathes of territory.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1838 "2011-08-27T18:22:44Z")
[Rebels seize control of key border crossing with Tunisia.](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/201182742714523747.html) > [@](#): > > Rebel forces raised their flag late on Friday on the Ras Ajdir border post, the primary crossing between Libya and Tunisia, in a win that will allow them to bring in supplies and aid to the capital, Tripoli. > > A Tunisian official said loyalists fled as more than 100 rebels arrived. “There were not any real clashes; the loyalists took off and the rebels’ flag was raised at the border post,” the AFP news agency quoted the official as saying. > > Al Jazeera’s Sue Turton, reporting from Tripoli on Saturday, said the capture was an “incredibly important” gain for the rebels. > > “It shows that they are managing to get rid of what is left of Gaddafi troops in that area, but more importantly it opens a supply route now totally across from the west into Tripoli,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1839 "2011-08-29T04:38:09Z")
BBC is reporting that the rebels are desperately looking for 50,000 rebel prisoners who seem to have gone mssing in Ka-Daffy’s final days. With all the evidence of hasty last-minute executions that are being uncovered, this does not bode well. The Beeb yesterday was saying Ka-Daffy sent a message finally offering to negotiate. I believe it was laughed off. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595/1840 "2011-08-29T14:22:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The Beeb yesterday was saying Ka-Daffy sent a message finally offering to negotiate. I believe it was laughed off. LIMBLESS BLACK KNIGHT: All right, we’ll call it a draw! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595.md?page=91) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libya-too/571595.md?page=93)