GADDIFI TOPPLED!!!!!TRIPOLI CELEBRATING!!!!!!!!

Sure are, Bonny.

I must say, I am very impressed with Alex Crawford's stiff upper lip. Gunfire broke out somewhere near Green Square, and their convoy had to reverse, but she didn't turn a hair, just said, It was probable just celebratory firing into the air.

Very much one of the old school of war correspondants.

Good for her. Many could learn from her too.

THE REBELS ARE IN GREEN SQUARE, AND IT IS PACKED WITH PEOPLE CELEBRATING


THEY ARE TEARING DOWN GADDAFI POSTERS

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16054331

Libyan Rebels Take Control Of Green Square
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Libyan rebels have taken control of the capital Tripoli's Green Square, as the end of Colonel Gaddafi's regime appears to draw ever closer.
Sky's special correspondent Alex Crawford said: "Guns are being fired in celebration.
"They are wanting to show how relieved they are. They're tearing down all the Gaddafi posters and pulling down all the green national flags."
It comes after the International Criminal Court confirmed to Sky News that Saif Al-Islam, Colonel Gaddafi's son, has been detained.
Rebels met scenes of jubilation and no resistance from Gaddafi's troops as they entered the capital.

Alex Crawford said that as opposition fighters entered the city, their cars gridlocked the roads and hundreds of people came out onto the streets to greet them.
The rebels responded with celebratory gunfire, she said.
She said: "These scenes are amazing - there are hundreds of people who have come out onto the streets to greet this convoy of rebel soldiers.
"You can hear them singing and dancing, it is an amazing scene.
"We are now just a very short distance from the centre, with more and more people are coming onto the streets.

"They (the rebels) had been expecting much more resistance but there has been very little."
"There is absolutely no question in their minds that they have beaten Gaddafi and it is just a question of how he will go," she added.
The quick advance came after the fighters captured the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital.
It is said to be one of the best-trained and equipped units in the Libyan military and is commanded by Col Gaddafi's 27-year-old son Khamis.
Aside from the main rebel movement from the west of the city, fighting also broke out in the city's Mitiga airbase, while the suburb of Tajoura reportedly also fell under rebel control.

more coming in...

There is still sporadic fighting going on, but there has been no 'last stand', no bloodbath...some pics from the Sky site:



- a suburb of Tripoli




~ Benghazi. Gaddafi sent his tanks to massacre all those people back at the start of all this; the French air force intervened.



~ outside the White House

From February:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/middleeast/28youtube.html

the reactions have largely been positive, including a message Mr. Alooshe said he received from someone he assumed to be from the Libyan opposition saying that if and when the Qaddafi regime fell, “We will dance to ‘Zenga-Zenga’ in the square.”

Some fighting is still going on; it seems some pro-Gaddafi tanks left their barracks.

It appears, though, that they are leftovers from the Soviet era; are ideal for scaring civilians, but the pro-democracy soldiers can deal with them, and if they really push their luck, NATO fighters will play Whack-a-mole with them.

Also, while what will be the new Libyan government is saying they need practical help with hospitals, etc., they do NOT need massive foreign financial aid; once the oil is flowing again, Libya will be very rich.

Conditions in Tripoli's main hospital are appalling; they cannot care for the many casualties, and some doctors were shot by snipers as they tended casualties outside.

They are appealing to the outside world via Sky's Alex Crawford for help and humanitarian aid.

Apparently, the hospital is filthy - which suggests a long-standing problem, as while the hospitals in the lberated areas were overstretched, they were all clean?

Al Jazeerah is reporting that Gaddafi's Prime Minister and other officials have fled to Tunisia.
Italian oil people are in Libya to get things moving again - one pipeline goes straight to Italy; once that is up and running again, Libya will have the money to put things right itself.

And LL is much better at this than me

Libyan exiles all over the world are celebrating:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/201182282315305270.html

Libyan diaspora celebrates fall of Tripoli
Libyan communities around the world come out in force to sing and chant, anticipating an end to Muammar Gaddafi's rule.

There are pockets of resistance in the Tripoli area:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/201182261941319259.html

It seems a third Gaffafi son has now been arrested, and Gaddafi TV has gone off the air.

Not so good - the main hospital is on the fringe of the fighting, and is in desperate need of both material and manpower.

'Final Stand' At Gaddafi Compound In Tripoli
153Comments
6:53pm UK, Monday August 22, 2011
Pro-Gaddafi troops are making what could be a final stand at the leader's compound after a day of intense fighting against rebels in Tripoli.

:: Al Jazeera TV has reported that two bodies have been found, one of which could be that of Col Gaddafi's son Khamis, according to Libya intelligence chief Senussi.
:: Al Jazeera also claims that another son, Mohammed, fled house arrest with the help of loyalist fighters.
:: US President Barack Obama will make a statement on Libya at 7pm.
:: South African national broadcaster SABC reports that Angola has offered asylum to Col Gaddafi.
Clashes have continued in the capital as anti-government forces aim to maintain the control they gained over the majority of the city on Sunday night.
There have been reports of violence near the Bab al Aziziyah compound and around the Rixos hotel in the city's centre.
Two of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al Islam and Mohammed, have been captured by the rebels and Reuters reported Al Arabiya TV as saying a third son, Saadi, has also been captured.
But so far there has been no sign of the embattled leader himself.
There has been much speculation about his whereabouts - Sky's foreign affairs correspondent Lisa Holland has said she believes he is still in Tripoli.

Holland said it was unlikely he would have fled to his home village of Sirte but that there was a possibility he could be in an underground bunker in the city.
The South African national broadcaster SABC has reported that Angola has offered asylum to Col Gaddafi.
In a press conference from New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he had no information about the whereabouts of Col Gaddafi and had tried unsuccessfully to speak to him.
He called on Col Gaddafi's forces to "cease violence" and prepare for a smooth transition of power to the NTC.

More at:

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16054331

Good evening:

Al Jazeera Live Blog: There are lots of items on here so I am posting up the link - videos and reports. LL

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/Libya

Thanks, LL - I don't think I have ever been so glad to change a thread title

It seems that three Scuds have been fired by Gaddafi's remaining forces in Sirte; NATO is hitting his compound somewhere in Tripoli.

Ere, ang on a minute. They all love him to bits. Not sure if it was big bits or little bits.
I'll see if I can find out what they done with him.....sorry, them.

Strange, is it not, how the ordinary citizens totally failed to be prepared to die for Gaddafi, instead rushing out from their homes to greet their liberators?

There is, it must be stressed, still sporadic fighting going on, but that seems to be hard-core Gaddafi military, rather than the general populace.

And already there is noise about extraditing the Pan Am Lockerbie killer.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/08/libya-us-lockerbie-bomber.html

What on earth for? I would far rather he spent his last days, post-Gaddafi, telling all about who was actually behind it.

He didn't just wake up one morning and think, Today I will stick a bomb on a Pan Am plane.

I see no gain in dragging a dying man off to the States - politically, it would be a disasterous move, never mind anything else. It would also cause huge bad feeling and resentment - because the US simply does not have jurisdiction on Lockerbie.

They should bear in mind that there were few cries for Magrahi to be lynched in Scotland, even though it was us the plane landed on. Most people want to know the WHOLE truth about Lockerbie; surely no-one is naive enough to think he acted alone, and the fall of Gaddafi, and Magrahi still hanging on, is an unforseen opportunity to get rather a lot of questions answered.

Which will not happen if a lot of hot air and rhetoric starts coming from rabble-rousing politicians.


I would like to see the puppetmasters brought to justice, not a dying puppet.

There is also the small matter of the dead London policewoman:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/hopes-catching-police-killer-081117463.html

quote:

The killer of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher could be brought to justice as Muammar Gaddafi's grip on Libya crumbles, a Cabinet minister has said.

IMO, the intelligence to be gained is of far greater value than using a dying man for political grandstanding.

And real Justice will be finding out - and bringing before whatever court has jurisdiction, legally and properly - the people who were responsible for ordering all these acts of terrorism, thinking they were untouchable.

I have some doubts about his guilt, and so do some of the parents of the victims.

Like Bonny, I want to know who was really responsible. Gaddafi wasn't beyond producing a scapegoat if it suited him. One of the men he sent was found innocent.

That is often forgotten, Sabot. And. Gaddafi is - was - more than capable of producing a scapegoat by bribes/threats to said scapegoat's family.

Anyway, Magrahi is the responsibilty of East Renfrewshire social work department. There is no chance of anyone bullying them into handing him over. They are more than capable of sending the lads out to Tripoli to prevent any unlawful renditions.

Gaddafi's snipers seem to be causing terror in Tripoli - I wouldn't blame any of the rebels for not bothering with a trial for them.

They are not killing civilians by unfortunate accident in the fog of war; they can see their targets are children, medical staff outside hospitals, etc.

Which is cowardly murder.

bb1 wrote:That is often forgotten, Sabot. And. Gaddafi is - was - more than capable of producing a scapegoat by bribes/threats to said scapegoat's family.

Anyway, Magrahi is the responsibilty of East Renfrewshire social work department. There is no chance of anyone bullying them into handing him over. They are more than capable of sending the lads out to Tripoli to prevent any unlawful renditions.

I doubt it could be done anyway, Bonny. The man has been released, legally. And there is no doubt that he is ill.

Wasn't Gaddafi looking for some trade deal at the time? Very suspect.