You may as well click ON THIS and play this theme: according to reports, a mass exodus of foreigners from Libya has begun as beset dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi threatens a crackdown, vows he’ll fight to the last drop of his (and his countrymens’) blood and reports surface that he intends to sabotage his own country’s oil fields:
A mass exodus of foreigners from Libya accelerated today after Col. Moammar Gadhafi threatened a fierce crackdown on protesters and reports emerged that as many as 1,000 people may have died since the uprising began over the weekend.
Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini said today that estimates of a 1,000 people killed in the violence appeared to be credible, but he added that he didn’t have complete information. Human Rights Watch pegs the number of deaths at around 300. With the country virtually sealed off, it has been impossible to confirm casualties, but footage being leaked on the Internet shows a violent picture.
Eyewitnesses continue to describe a bloody scene unfolding in the streets of Tripoli, the nation’s capital, with African mercenaries recruited and trained by Gadhafi killing indiscriminately, shooting anyone in sight…..
Time Magazine reported that Gadhafi, who has controlled the country for 42 years, had ordered his security forces to sabotage oil facilities and start blowing up oil pipelines to cut off flows to ports in the Mediterranean.
The uprising in Libya has rattled oil markets. Crude oil prices closed at the highest level in two years on Tuesday as the uprising threatened to disrupt exports. Libya, an OPEC member, is the 17th largest oil producer in the world, producing 1.7 million barrels per day.
The BBC offers this excellent breakdown of the number of foreigners from various countries in Libya.
The BBC says Gaddafi is battling to maintain control of Western Libya:
Libyan ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi is battling to retain control of Tripoli and areas in western Libya as protesters consolidated gains in the east and foreigners continued to flee.
Much of the capital is deserted as pro-Gaddafi gunmen roam the streets, with reports of uprisings in western towns such as Misurata, Sabratha and Zawiya.
Masses of protesters have been celebrating success in eastern towns.
Thousands of foreigners continue to leave, with chaos at Tripoli airport.
At least 300 people have died in the country’s uprising.
A correspondent in Tripoli said that the city was virtually closed, with many people hoping protesters and defecting soldiers would arrive from the east to help them.
What we’re seeing, the Guardian suggests, is the crumbling of Libya’s Cult of Personality:
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has always dreamed of the popularity his great idol, the Egyptian revolutionary leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, enjoyed at the height of his power. Arab nationalism and a determination to crush what he perceived to be a western stranglehold of the world were the key driving factors he used to promote his cause. He wanted his people to see him as the great champion not only of Libya, but of the whole Arab world, with him at the helm of a great march against western imperialism.
That dream has now vanished, and not just since last night’s chilling television broadcast. For the first time in many years Gaddafi now has to confront the reality that his regime is finished and he needs to urgently seek sanctuary in one of a dwindling number of countries that would be willing to host him. What’s certain is that there will be no safe passage to Saudi Arabia or any of the other Arab states. Too many times has he insulted their leaders in public and private. In 2003 he accused Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah of “bringing the Americans to occupy Iraq”. Any Arab country taking him in would face further protests and unrest from their population incredulous at such a move.
On a one-to-one basis in relaxed surroundings, especially in one of his tents in the desert, Gaddafi can be charming; he’s even known to crack jokes with visitors. All of which, of course, is not an uncommon among dictators. A simple man born to peasants in the desert, who shuns creature comforts and focuses all his energy on the great struggle for the people and Libya, he has always been keen to show the people that he is one of them. He leaves the extraordinary extravagance to his sons and wider family, at least in public.
Reuters looks at some of the reasons behind the present revolt:
Discrimination against tribes in eastern Libya added to the grievances that ignited an uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi in parts of the country with a long history of rebelling against authority. During his four decades in power, experts say Gaddafi has favoured tribes in and around Tripoli at the expense of the eastern regions where much of Libya’s oil resources are located and which have fallen from his grip this week.
Anti-Gaddafi rebels are in control of territory stretching from the border with Egypt to at least as far as Benghazi — the same region where Omar Mukhtar led resistance against Italian control in the 1920s and Gaddafi faced a revolt in the 1990s.
The revolt has spread as far as Tripoli, where Gaddafi is hanging onto power in the face of a mutiny among some officials and an international outcry over his attempts to crush the uprising. At least 1,000 people have been killed.
“The eastern region has always represented a permanent headache, to Italian colonialism and to the various rulers including the monarchy and Gaddafi,” said Saad Djebbar, a commentator and expert on North Africa.
Another sign that Gaddafi will either have to vacate the corridors of power, be carried out on a stretcher or bring his country down with him is new info courtesy of Wikileaks that will make him — at the very least — a symbol of excess, greed, and bloated power within his own country and without. Here’s the beginning of a New York Times report on the new revelations:
After New Year’s Day 2009, Western media reported that Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a son of the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, had paid Mariah Carey $1 million to sing just four songs at a bash on the Caribbean island of St. Barts.
In the newspaper he controlled, Seif indignantly denied the report — the big spender, he said, was his brother, Muatassim, Libya’s national security adviser, according to an American diplomatic cable from the capital, Tripoli.
It was Muatassim, too, the cable said, who had demanded $1.2 billion in 2008 from the chairman of Libya’s national oil corporation, reportedly to establish his own militia. That would let him keep up with yet another brother, Khamis, commander of a special-forces group that “effectively serves as a regime protection unit.”
As the Qaddafi clan conducts a bloody struggle to hold onto power in Libya, cables obtained by WikiLeaks offer a vivid account of the lavish spending, rampant nepotism and bitter rivalries that have defined what a 2006 cable called “Qadhafi Incorporated,” using the State Department’s preference from the multiple spellings for Libya’s troubled first family.
The glimpses of the clan’s antics in recent years that have reached Libyans despite Col. Qaddafi’s tight control of the media have added to the public anger now boiling over. And the tensions between siblings could emerge as a factor in the chaos in the oil-rich African country.
Though the Qaddafi children are described as jockeying for position as their father ages — three sons fought to profit from a new Coca-Cola franchise — they have been well taken care of, cables say. “All of the Qaddafi children and favorites are supposed to have income streams from the National Oil Company and oil service subsidiaries,” one cable from 2006 says.
Here’s a cross section of current Tweets now if you look up “Libya” (go to the link to see the latest):
feanorians RT @libyansrevolt: press conference on TV now blaming the events on #qatar sheikh Qaradawi and AlQaeda!! #libya #tripoli #feb17
2 minutes ago via webtwilight2000 RT @richardengelnbc #libya.. Man hugged me.. Said, ‘please say nice things abt libya, we need our freedom’
2 minutes ago via webSamanthaSophia RT @DemocracyNow: RT @anjucomet: Entering #Libya now. Greeted by army who have all joined revolution. Man checking our passports is an airforce major general
2 minutes ago via HootSuitejeejia @SaloumehZ In Tajour, Libyans being shot at if they step outside their homes, spread the word, people being massacred! #Libya #Tripoli
2 minutes ago via webaroonkumar123 Protests singe Arab world, Gaddafi defiant as Libya burns – Tripoli/Sana’a/Manama, Feb 23 (IANS) Muammar Gad http://twurl.nl/rlxanj
2 minutes ago via India News PostLizzieViolet Bravo @PJCrowley name&shame #Ahmadinejad. /Our free nation commitment liberty encourage #Libya military defect/disobey orders stop #massacre
2 minutes ago via webTruthSeeker10 RT @anjucomet: All are excited to see journalists. They say #Libya is now 15% free and we are now in a liberated zone controlled by the people #feb17
2 minutes ago via webKathrynHallPR RT @NickKristof: That’s why it’s so imp for int’l community to encourage #Libya military to defect or disobey orders, and help them do so.
2 minutes ago via webveniviedivici RT @DemocracyNow: RT @anjucomet: Entering #Libya now. Greeted by army who have all joined revolution. Man checking our passports is an airforce major general
2 minutes ago via HootSuiteFRANCE7776 #libya RT @iyad_elbaghdadi: @benmocshe Libyans I know both inside and outside say they’ve never seen their nat… (cont) http://deck.ly/~iTy9j
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck
And if you look up Gaddafi:
EGLiveNews #Egypt #Jan25 Egyptians flee Libya as Gaddafi vows to end revolt – Reuters http://bit.ly/dEWPYi #Libya
less than a minute ago via twitterfeedwarrenmichaels MIDDLE EAST NEWS Global community isolates Gaddafi (aljazeera) http://tinyurl.com/4ol24sh FOLLOW ME
less than a minute ago via twitterfeedsaskiaiserief RT @acarvin:RT@Arasmus:History’sHypocrite: Ahmadinejad criticizes Gaddafi’s & calls him to respect un.human rights: http://youtu.be/V5 …
less than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlwarrenmichaels MIDDLE EAST NEWS Gaddafi loses more Libyan cities (aljazeera) http://tinyurl.com/4aubufx FOLLOW ME
less than a minute ago via twitterfeedthecutestgeek RT @chriscleave: If one hates the fact that the UK armed & propped up all these…. tyrants, including Gaddafi, one is somehow no longer reality-based?
1 minute ago via TweetDeckmerythapy RT @norashalaby: Looks like Gaddafi’s family is beginning to flee. Reports by AJE that Gaddafi’s daughter tried to land in Malta. The end might be near
1 minute ago via webKabieuk RT @marwame: It breaks my heart to think that #Libyans are worried that the world thinks badly of #Libya. No, we only think badly of #Gaddafi.
1 minute ago via HootSuitelatrichi Miércoles! RT @Esparzari: Gaddafi podría cometer suicidio y ordenó hacer estallar pozos petroleros si es derrocado – http://bit.ly/hWtbHr
1 minute ago via ÜberSocial
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.