What's Happening in Libya Explained

— By Ashley Bates and Siddhartha Mahanta

| Wed Mar. 9, 2011 10:00 AM PST
Al Bayda, Libya—An opposition supporter holding a machine gun celebrates with opposition forces who control the

east Libyan city of Al Bayda. Nasser Nouri/ Xinhua/ ZUMAPRESS.com

The following is a basic primer on what's happening in Libya. You can also jump straight to

today's updates.

Last week, Libyan dissident Najla Aburrahman begged western media to pay attention to the

bloodbath unfolding in her country. "If the Libyan protesters are ignored," she wrote, "the fear is that

[Libyan dictator Muammar] Qaddafi— a man who appears to care little what the rest of the world

thinks of him—will be able to seal the country off from foreign observers, and ruthlessly crush any

uprising before it even has a chance to begin."

Since then, Qaddafi’s troops have used machine guns and large-caliber weapons against protesters in

Benghazi, the country’s second-biggest city, and more than 200 protesters, including children, have

reportedly been killed.

Why are Libyans unhappy?

Libya has been ruled for 42 years by a cunning, repressive, eccentric dictator who has frequently

described his own people as "backwards." More than half of his 6.5 million subjects are under 18.

Despite Libya's plentiful oil revenues, which represent most of the national budget, many children

suffer from malnutrition and anemia. Corruption is rampant, dissidents are brutally suppressed, and

many citizens are afraid to say Qaddafi’s name in public or in private for fear of attracting suspicion.

Instead, Qaddafi is often referred to as "the leader" and his son Seif (until now heir-apparent) as "the

principal." Discussing national policy with a foreigner is punishable with three years in prison.

Reporters Without Borders describes press freedom in Libya as "virtually non-existent."

 Advertise on MotherJones.com

Oil is the economy in Libya and oil profits have bankrolled massive investments in education and

infrastructure—yet Libya lags far behind other oil-rich Arab states. Unemployment stands at 30

percent. People who have jobs often work only part-time. Basic foods—including rice, sugar, flour,

gasoline—are heavily subsidized by the government and sold for a fraction of their true cost. A

2006 New Yorker article described Libya's "prosperity without employment and large population of

young people without a sense of purpose."

Libya's society is tribal and traditional—despite liberal laws on issues such as women's rights—and

many Libyans identify via clan allegiance first, nationality second.

Some in Libya hoped that Seif Qaddafi, who has been growing more prominent as an adviser to his

father, would create openings for democratic reform. Seif earned a doctorate in political philosophy

from the London School of Economics and keeps Bengal tigers as pets. He has founded the "Qaddafi

International Charity and Development Foundation," which supposedly seeks to promote human rights

and fight the use of torture in Libya and across the Middle East.

Wasn’t Qaddafi that guy who set up a giant tent on Donald Trump’s spread?

Yup, he's the guy. During his 2009 trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Qaddafi

had hoped to sleep and entertain guests inside an elaborate Bedouin-style tent in Manhattan's Central

Park. That didn't work out, so instead the dictator rented land on a suburban property owned by

Donald Trump. The tent was erected and then dismantled after a public outcry, and both Trump and

the Secret Service announced that Qaddafi wasn't coming after all.

Why can't anyone agree on how to spell Qaddafi's name?

Since at least the 1980s, the name has been alternately spelled as "Moammar / Muammar Gadaffi

/Gaddafi / Gathafi / Kadafi / Kaddafi /Khadafy / Qadhafi / Qathafi /etc.," according to Chris

Suellentrop at Slate. They’re all different attempts at transliterating Arabic pronunciation.

How did all this start?

Inspired by pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world, Libyan dissidents had planned a "day of

rage" for Thursday, Feb. 17. On February 15, security forces arrested a prominent lawyer named Fathi

Terbil, who had represented families of some of the 1,200 prisoners massacred by Libyan security

forces at Abu Slim prison in 1996. Once released later that day, Terbil set up a webcam overlooking

Benghazi’s main square, where some of the families had been protesting. With help from exiled

Libyans in Canada and around the world, the video spread rapidly on the Internet.

Al Jazeera Arabic conducted a phone interview with Libyan novelist Idris al-Mesmari, who reported

that police were shooting at protesters—and then the connection was lost. (Mesmari was reportedly

arrested by Libyan authorities.) Shortly thereafter, thousands more began battling Qaddafi's troops,

and hundreds are reported to have been killed. "Both protesters and the security forces have reason

to believe that backing down will likely mean their ultimate death or imprisonment," says the New

York Times.

What are the implications of Libyan instability?

After decades of being reviled as a state sponsor of terrorism, Libya recently reversed course and

joined the ranks of America's allies in the fight against Al Qaeda. In 2003, Qaddafi agreed to stop

developing weapons of mass destruction and paid $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 victims of Pan

Am 101—the plane bombed by Libyan agents over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. In return, the US and

the United Nations lifted economic sanctions against Libya.

On the Arab street, however, Qaddafi is widely loathed. Most of his political victims have been

members of banned Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, which would likely gain

stronger influence if he were overthrown. Qaddafi, once among the Palestinian movement's most vocal

international supporters, outraged many Arabs by saying that Palestinians have no special claim to the

land of Israel and calling for the creation of a bi-national "Isratine."

What's the latest?

On Sunday, February 20, protesters succeeded in overtaking all parts of Benghazi except for a

government security compound. Qaddafi's son gave a long, rambling televised speech in which he

blamed Islamic radicals and Libyan exiles for the uprising. He claimed civil war over the country's oil

resources would set off starvation, cause public services including education to collapse, and could

spark a Western invasion. He said, "We will fight until the last man, until the last woman, until the last

bullet."

Protests have now spread to the capital, Tripoli, with thousands of demonstrators converging onto the

city's main square and reportedly taking over state television headquarters. They faced well-armed

pro-Qaddafi militias who fired into the crowds. The Libyan government has sought to impose an

information blackout, blocking the internet and satellite television and forbidding foreign journalists

from entering. Al-Jazeera remains the most comprehensive source of coverage; you can follow its live

blog here.

UPDATE 1, Monday, Feb. 21, 9:00 a.m. EST/4:00 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): SkyNewsis

reporting that witnesses claim the state television building and other public buildings in Tripoli are on

fire.

UPDATE 2, Monday, Feb. 21, 11:45 a.m. EST/6:45 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): Al Jazeera

(via Sultan al Qassemi) reports multiple accounts of airplanes attacking protesters in Tripoli. Shadi

Hamid, an expert on the Arab world at the Brookings Institution, slams the Western response as

"business as usual," and asks whether the West is even capable of "bold, creative policymaking." The

Atlantic's Max Fisher, meanwhile, says that while the media blackout means the air-attack claims are

impossible for press to verify, if they're true, the United Nations should "shut down Libyan airspace

immediately."

UPDATE 3, Monday, Feb. 21, 12:15 p.m. EST/7:15 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): Mobile and

television networks are down across Libya. Al Hurra (a satellite television competitor of Al Jazeera's
that is sponsored by the US government) is reporting that the Libyan ambassador in London has

resigned and joined protests outside the embassy. The network is also reporting that helicopters

carrying senior Libyan officials have left Tripoli "in the direction of Malta," according to Sultan Al

Qassemi. (If you're not following him on Twitter, you should be.) William Hague, the British foreign

minister, has said that Qaddafi fled to Venezuala, but the Venezualans are denying that. And the head

of the Libyan Army is reportedly under house arrest. In short: it's chaos, and no one knows for sure

what is happening. There are also reports just now that the Libyan ambassador to Indonesia, the

world's largest Muslim-majority country, has also resigned.

UPDATE 4, Monday, Feb. 21, 12:50 p.m. EST/7:50 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): NBC

News reports that the State Department has ordered all non-emergency personnel to leave Libya

immediately. The resigned Libyan ambassador to India told Al Jazeera "it is only a matter of days until

the regime is finished." And The Guardian confirms earlier reports that several Libyan airplanes and

helicopters have landed in Malta. They were reportedly piloted by Libyan colonels seeking asylum. The

earlier reports of military planes attacking protesters also seem to be close to confirmation—Reuters

has published a story citing more eyewitnesses to the attack.

UPDATE 5, Monday, Feb. 21, 2:41 p.m. EST/9:41 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Witnesses saw armed militiamen speeding into Tripoli’s Green Square in Toyota

trucks, firing on protestors fighting with riot police. Many of the gunmen are believed to be from other

African countries. Meanwhile, Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces have retreated into buildings around

Tripoli, which remains under the control of rebel forces. And in a sign of deepening internal fissures,

some of Qaddafi's top officials have broken ranks with the government. Meanwhile, protestors in

Benghazi—where the uprising began—have released a list of demands for a secular interim

government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes. And on Democracy Now,

Libyan poet Khaled Mattawa says his country is "forever changed" by the uprising.
UPDATE 6, Monday, Feb. 21, 3:11 p.m. EST/10:11 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): UN Secretary

General Ban Ki Moon has spoken with Qaddafi and told him the violence "must stop immediately," a

UN spokesperson said. The BBC reports that Qaddafi was still in Libya during this Monday phone call.

In an apparent defection, two Libyan fighter jets have landed in Malta, the Times of Malta reports. The

pilots had presumably refused orders to bomb protesters in Benghazi.

Al-Jazeera Arabic reports that it's received videos of murdered protesters that are too graphic to air.

The video below, which was released by Al-Jazeera English, gives (non-graphic) on-the-ground

footage and a concise synopsis of events on Saturday and Sunday.

UPDATE 7, Monday, Feb. 21, 4:05 p.m. EST/11:11 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): Italian Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi has very belatedly condemned the violence against civilians in Libya, calling it

"unacceptable." Over the weekend, Berlusconi said he hadn't phoned Qaddafi because he didn't want

to "disturb" him amidst the uprisings.

As chronicled by Mother Jones senior correspondent James Ridgeway, Berlusconi and Qaddafi have

worked together to catch Italy-bound migrants and asylum seekers. Berlusconi, who is on trial for

allegedly having sex with an underage prostitute, has courted Libyan petrodollars, and rolled out the

red carpet during Qaddafi's multiple visits to Italy. In June of 2009, Qaddafiflew one thousand Italian

women to Libya for a "cultural tour." Just last week, Berlusconi reportedly sent a Danish IC4 train to

Qaddafi as a gift.

UPDATE 8, Monday, Feb. 21, 4:20 p.m. EST/11:20 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): Yusuf al-

Qaradawi, a prominent Muslim theologian, was just on Al Jazeera. He issued a fatwa during the

interview calling for the death of Qaddafi. Sultan Al Qassemi's translation: "To any army soldier, to

any man who can pull the trigger & kill this man, do so. Save your countrymen from this brutal tyrant.

It is wrong of you to stand by while he kills innocent people." Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that the

Egyptian army's Facebook page has been updated with news that Libyan border guards have

withdrawn from Egypt's boundary with Libya. And Al Jazeera English just reported that the Libyan
ambassador to the US has resigned and come out against Qaddafi. (UPDATE: Foreign Policy's Blake

Hounshell clarifies that the ambassador may not have technically resigned, but calls it a "moot point"

given the ambassador's explicit criticism of the regime.) Meanwhile, Foreign Policy's Marc Lynch

is calling for US and international intervention: "NATO enfoced no-fly zone, hold [Qaddafi] + regime

individually responsible for deaths, call urgent [security council] meeting, targeted sanctions."

UPDATE 9, Monday, Feb. 21, 5:45 p.m. EST/12:45 a.m. Tuesday Tripoli (Nick Baumann):CNN

has a truly awful video of what it says are the bodies of Libyan soldiers who refused to shoot at

protesters. And here's Marc Lynch's writeup of his call for international intervention I mentioned in

Update 8.

UPDATE 10, Monday, Feb. 21, 6:10 p.m. EST/1:10 a.m. Tuesday Tripoli (Nick Baumann):The

State Department has released a transcript of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent comments on

Libya:

The world is watching the situation in Libya with alarm. We join the international community in

strongly condemning the violence in Libya. Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have

been lost, and with their loved ones. The government of Libya has a responsibility to respect the

universal rights of the people, including the right to free expression and assembly. Now is the time to

stop this unacceptable bloodshed. We are working urgently with friends and partners around the world

to convey this message to the Libyan government.

UPDATE 11, Monday, Feb. 21, 6:45 p.m. EST/1:45 a.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): Egypt and Tunisia have

both set up field hospitals on their borders with Libya and are trying to send help. A group of Libyan

military officers have released a statement calling on all members of the Libyan army to join the

protesters. Al-Jazeera Arabic reports that advertisements in Guinea and Nigeria are offering up to

$2,000 per day to fight as mercenaries for the Libyan army. And Libyan State TV has just announced

that Qaddafi will speak shortly.

 UPDATE 12, Monday, Feb. 21, 7:20 p.m. EST/2:20 a.m. Tuesday Tripoli (Nick Baumann): In

what almost seemed like a piece of bizarre, horrible performance art (with awful consequences),

Qaddafi just spoke on Libyan state television. The whole appearance lasted about 15 seconds and

consisted of him saying that he is in Tripoli, not Venezuela (as British foreign secretary William Hague

had claimed), and warning citizens not to believe "the dog tv channels" saying otherwise. He was

holding an umbrella, too. The whole thing was a stark reminder of the fact that an entire country is

ruled by a man who is at best a very odd tyrant who is totally willing to kill his people and at worst a

total madman—or, as The Atlantic's Max Fisher writes, a "f***king loon."

UPDATE 13, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 1:15 a.m. EST/6:15 a.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): Below is a

translated YouTube video of Qaddafi's bizarre television appearance.

CNN's Ben Wendeman has managed to sneak into Libya from Egypt, making him the first (and

presumably only) western television correspondent to be reporting from Libya. He found no officials,

passport control, or customs on the Libyan side of the border. A Libyan man said to him, "You must

show the world what has happened here. We will show you everything, everything!"

UPDATE 14, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 10:30 a.m. EST/5:30 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann): Lots of

news to catch up on this morning:

 There are scattered reports of both Benghazi (Libya's second-largest city and the place where the

uprising started) and Tobruk (a large city and strategic port) being in the hands of rebels. The German

press agency DPA reports that Benghazi's airstrip has been totally destroyed.

 A group of Libyan military officers has reportedly asked all members of the Libyan army to move

towards the Tripoli, the capital, and attempt to depose Qaddafi.

 NBC's Richard Engel reports that Libyans are already suffering from shortages of "rice, flour, sugar,

[and] oil."
 Human Rights Watch says at least 62 people have been confirmed killed in Tripoli, the capital, since

Sunday.

 The United Nations Security Council is holding a closed-door session today to discuss the violence in

Libya. The BBC's Eleanor Montague reports that Britain will ask the UN to "take action" on Libya

"because of its implications for security in the region."

 Al Jazeera reports that Libyan state television is claiming that Qaddafi will give another address

shortly. It remains to be seen whether it will be as bizarre as his last one.

UPDATE 15, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 11:30 a.m. EST/6:30 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):Marc

Lynch finds himself advocating for more aggressive action in Libya:

I don't call for a direct military intervention. And I am keenly, painfully aware of all that could go

wrong with even the kinds of responses I am recommending. But right now those fears are

outweighed by the urgent imperative of trying to prevent the already bloody situation from getting

much, much worse. This is not a peaceful democracy protest movement which the United States can

best help by pressuring allied regimes from above, pushing for long-term and meaningful reform, and

persuading the military to refrain from violence. It's gone well beyond that already, and this time I

find myself on the side of those demanding more forceful action before it's too late.

UPDATE 16, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 11:50 a.m. EST/6:50 p.m. Tripoli (Nick Baumann):Qaddafi is

still in the midst of a long, rambling speech, full of threats and bluster and general delusion and

stubbornness. It's "like a mashup of every dictator's excuse ever. Protesters want to Islamify Libya,

turn it into... Somalia. Or something," writes Wired's Spencer Ackerman. The headline, though, is

Qaddafi's pretty much explicit promise to slaughter protesters. Qaddafi promised the death penalty for

numerous crimes, and mentioned Tiannemen Square and suggested the Chinese regime had done the

right thing. "If there was any doubt before, there is no longer: Qaddafi has unequivocally declared

intention to massacre his own people," says Brookings' Shadi Hamid. Other highlights: "We Libyans

resisted the... United States and Britain in the past, we will not surrender." "I will not leave the
 country, and I will die as a martyr." "We will not lose one inch of this land." "We will flight to the last

man and woman and bullet." The Times of Malta has perhaps the best early summary of the speech.

UPDATE 17, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 6:15 p.m. EST/Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1:15 a.m. Tripoli

(Siddhartha Mahanta): The Associated Press reports that Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has

spoken to Qaddafi on the phone, as his brutal crackdown on anti-government protests continues. As

Jim Ridgeway outlined, the two rulers and their countries are close, and signed a "friendship treaty" in

2008 that called for Italy to pay Libya $5 billion in compensation for its 30-year colonial occupation.

Meanwhile, concerns about Italy's natural gas supplies continue to mount after the country's chief

energy company, ENI, said it had suspended supplies through its Greenstream pipeline. It runs from

Libya to Sicily, and supplies 10 percent of Italy’s natural gas.

UPDATE 18, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 6:27 p.m. EST/Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1:27 a.m. Tripoli (Ashley

Bates): Mother Jones has interviewed Libyan poet and University of Michigan professor Khaled

Mattawa, who recounts the horrors of growing up under the Qaddafi regime. He says, "This is the

moment we've been waiting for."

UPDATE 19, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 10:08 a.m. EST/5:08 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Things could be coming to a head:

 Reports from towns near Tripoli suggest that fighting has reached the capital's doorstep,

reports The New York Times. And the spate of high-level defections from the Qaddafi regime

continues, with interior minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi leaving on Tuesday night. He urged the

Libyan Army to join the people and their “legitimate demands.” State media claimed he has been

kidnapped by “gangs.” Towns in the east continue to, in essence, declare their independence and

establish up informal opposition governments. "The widening gap between the capital and the eastern

countryside underscored the radically different trajectory of the Libyan revolt from the others that
 recently toppled Arab autocrats on Libya’s western and eastern borders, in Tunisia and Egypt,"

reportsTimes. Internet access in Tripoli remains blocked, and phone service is only intermittent.

 Foreign governments are continuing their mad rush to evacuate their citizens from Libya, chartering

military and civilian planes and even mobilizing military ships. It's unclear how many Americans

remain in Libya.

 French President Nicolas Sarkozy is calling on the European Union to impose sanctions against Libya.

"I call on the foreign ministry to propose to our European Union partners the swift adoption of

concrete sanctions so that all those involved in the ongoing violence know that they must assume the

consequences of their actions," he told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela

Merkel has also said she would support sanctions if Qaddafi doesn’t stop using violence against his

own people. And the White House said on Tuesday that it is examining proposals by Senator John

Kerry (D-Mass.) to consider reimposing sanctions.

UPDATE 20, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 10:20 a.m. EST/5:20 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini says his country estimates that 1,000 people have

died in Libya since the uprising began.

UPDATE 21, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 11:30 a.m. EST/6:30 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Hewing close to his Egypt-react script, Iranian President Mahmoud

Ahmadinejadcondemned Qaddafi for "unimaginable repression" against the Libyan people. "It is

unimaginable that someone is killing his citizens, bombarding his citizens," Ahmadinejad said on state

television. "How can officers be ordered to use bullets from machine guns, tanks and guns against

their own citizens?...This is unacceptable. Let the people speak, be free, decide to express their

will...Do not resist the will of the people."

UPDATE 22, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 11:51 a.m. EST/6:30 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): Thomas

Friedman argues in today's New York Times that events unfolding in Libya and across the Middle East

highlight the failures of oil interest-driven US foreign policy. His solution: a $1-a-gallon gasoline tax,
to be phased in at 5 cents a month beginning in 2012, with all the money going to pay down the US

deficit. Friedman says:

For the last 50 years, America (and Europe and Asia) have treated the Middle East as if it were just a

collection of big gas stations: Saudi station, Iran station, Kuwait station, Bahrain station, Egypt

station, Libya station, Iraq station, United Arab Emirates station, etc. Our message to the region has

been very consistent: "Guys (it was only the guys we spoke with), here's the deal. Keep your pumps

open, your oil prices low, don't bother the Israelis too much, and, as far as we're concerned, you can

do whatever you want out back.

UPDATE 23, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1:00 p.m. EST/8:00 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Michael J. Totten on why Libya isn't Tunisia or Egypt:

The contrast between Libya and its neighbors is stark. When I visited Tunisia just a few months before

going to Tripoli, I met plenty of people willing to criticize Ben Ali even when others were present.

Sure, they lowered their voices, but they didn’t cower in fear. Egypt under Mubarak was even more

open. I spoke to dissident bloggers like “Big Pharaoh” and “Sandmonkey” in restaurants and bars, and

they didn’t care if anyone heard them slagging the president. Cairo’s mukhabarat didn’t seem to mind

what anyone said as long as they didn’t act on their disgruntlement. Granted, regimes like these

wouldn’t have lasted decades if they were easy to get rid of, but, ultimately, they lack the staying

power of the hard totalitarian states.

States like Libya, that is. Tunisia is pleasant, prosperous, and heavily Frenchified, while Egypt is a

poverty-stricken shambles, but Ben Ali and Mubarak were both pragmatic, standard issue

authoritarians. Qaddafi, by comparison, is an emotionally unstable ideological megalomaniac. He says

he’s the sun of Africa and swears to unite the Arabs and Africans underneath him. He has repeatedly

threatened to ban money and schools, and he treats his country, communist-style, like a mad

scientist’s laboratory. What I knew when I was there holds true today, even as his grip on power

seems shaky: This guy is not going to liberalize, and he is not going to go quietly.

UPDATE 24, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1:25 p.m. EST/8:25 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):The

Atlantic's Max Fisher tweets: "Isolated but largely consistent reports seem to indicate sweeping
military defections across Libya's northeast." And, on the ground, Anjali Kamat'stweet confirms that

things are breaking down for Qaddafi: "Entering #Libya now. Greeted by army who have all joined

revolution. Man checking our passports is an airforce major general #feb17"

UPDATE 25, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2:07 p.m. EST/9:07 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):Two

from earlier today that're worth a read. First, Leslie Gelb urges caution, not grandiose action, for the

United States. "My fear is that an activist and grand strategy will grossly exaggerate America’s power

to shape events and will do more harm than good," he writes. And former CIA field officer Robert

Baer reports from sources in Libya on just how far Qaddafi is willing to go to maintain his grip on

power. Qaddafi "has ordered security services to start sabotaging oil facilities. They will start by

blowing up several oil pipelines, cutting off flow to Mediterranean ports. The sabotage, according to

the insider, is meant to serve as a message to Libya's rebellious tribes: It's either me or chaos."

UPDATE 26, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2:35 p.m. EST/9:35 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):The

International Organization for Migration reports that migrants have begun to cross into Tunisia from

Libya. "Although most of the arrivals have largely been...Tunisian... nationals migrants of various

nationalities"—including Syrian, Lebanese, Turkish, and German—"have been crossing the border into

Tunisia’s Medenine Governorate requesting assistance to go back home," IOM writes in a press

release. Additional IOM staff are set to deploy to the border area.

UPDATE 27, Wednesday Feb. 23, 3:55 p.m. EST/10:55 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):This

is the way we bail. Channel News Asia has a short dispatch on a pair of Libyan pilots who refused

orders to bomb Benghazi. And The New York Times reports that thousands of African mercenaries and

militiamen are heading to Tripoli to back up Qaddafi, as rebel forces continue to secure their control of

surrounding towns. Witnesses say that protestors appear to have taken control of the northwestern

city of Misurata.

UPDATE 28, Wednesday. Feb. 23, 5:56 p.m. EST/Thursday, Feb. 24, 12:56 a.m.

Tripoli(Ashley Bates): Earlier today, I spoke on the phone with Ali Ahmida, a University of New
England political science professor whose work explores power, agency, and anti-colonial resistance in

Libya. Here are some of his thoughts:

On Where This Could Be Headed: Unfortunately, I think it’s going to get worse. The regime closed

the last chances for reform and negotiations when Seif Qaddafi gave this really threatening speech

that was more of a declaration of war, an ultimatum....The regime is clinging to the old days, thinking

they can crush the opposition.

On France's No-Fly Zone Proposal: No, no, no. I think it's is a bad idea. I think, in the long run, it

would be a liability more than a help. The Libyan people have fought against one of the most brutal

western colonizations in Africa. They lost half a million people in the [1911-1943] war against Italian

colonialism and 60,000 people perished in the [Italian] concentration camps. So Libyan people are

very wary of foreign intervention....And Iraq is a big, lousy lesson for all of us. Look at how much

killing happened in Iraq. How much agony. And how the exiled Iraqis have really conned the United

States.

On Libya’s Democratic Potential: It's possible there would be no democracy after Qaddafi, but

that's not unusual. It's not because the people don't want freedom of choice or democracy. It's

because either the state and its authoritarian forces are too powerful, or because the [western]

conservatives have always supported dictatorships and absolutist monarchies. They are just as guilty.

Having democracy is not an easy matter. As in the American and the western experience, this is going

to take more than just having a constitution and voting rights....I also think that question has to be

guarded against foreign intervention and an exaggerated role for the Libyan exile community, which

has been out of touch for a long time.

On What America Should Do: First, pressure the Libyan regime through the UN to negotiate a

peaceful transition and stop the killing. Second, really try to learn about Libyan society. There's a huge

vacuum in our knowledge about Libya. We reduce it to tribes and clans, or to Qaddafi, or to oil.

There's nothing about Libyan society. I find that appalling, even among our commentators and our

scholars.
 UPDATE 29, Wednesday. Feb. 23, 6:13 p.m. EST/Thursday, Feb. 24, 1:13 a.m. Tripoli(Ashley

Bates): In his first televised comments on the Libya crisis, Obama announced that he's sending

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva for a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council and for

talks with allied foreign ministers. Obama condemned the Qaddafi government's "outrageous"

violence, said that protecting American citizens in Libya was his "highest priority," and rejected

allegations that western powers are meddling in Arab uprisings. "The change that is taking place

across the region is being driven by the people of the region," he said.

UPDATE 30, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 8:00 p.m. EST/3:00 a.m. Thursday in Tripoli (Nick

Baumann): The Independent's Robert Fisk, who seems to be the first Western reporter to get into

Tripoli, has a report from "a city in the shadow of death."

UPDATE 31, Thursday, Feb. 24, 10:52 a.m. EST/5:52 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Today: witnesses say Qaddafi is consolidating his forces in preparation for a showdown

against rebel forces in Tripoli.

 Qaddafi's forces are fortifying their position around Tripoli, as cities in the east continue to fall to rebel

forces and defections from the military and his inner circle continue. Witnessestold the The New York

Times that members of Qaddafi's forces—made up, in large part, of mercenaries and slices of the

military loyal to his tribe and its allies—were training their energies on the roads leading to the capital,

while establishing checkpoints on the road to the west of Tripoli. And there are now reports of protests

in the pro-Qaddafi city of Sabha for the first time. Meanwhile, Egyptian officials said on Wednesday

that nearly 30,000 people, mostly Egyptian, had fled across the border back to their home country.

 The latest defector: Qaddafi aide (and cousin) Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, who announced on Thursday

that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's "grave violations to human rights and

human and international laws,” reports the Associated Press.

 In a speech aired on state television on Wednesday, Qaddafi blamed the unrest on Al Qaeda, reports

Al Jazeera. "It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda...No one above the age of 20 would

actually take part in these events...They are taking advantage of the young age of these people [to

commit violent acts] because they are not legally liable!" said the Libyan ruler.

UPDATE 32, Thursday, Feb. 24, 12:13 p.m. EST/7:13 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):Two

from Mother Jones: Jim Ridgeway sheds more light on the cozy relationship between and Italy, oil,

immigrants, and all. And Mac McClelland speculates on why the UN has dragged its feet in

Libya: "When it comes to the lack of meaningful UN action on Libya, it's not disorganization, or

excessive bureaucracy to blame—just a healthy dose of sacklessness."

UPDATE 33, Thursday. Feb. 24, 12:22 p.m. EST/ 7:22 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): Below is a

compelling three-minute video recently posted by Al-Jazeera. It tightly summarizes the events of the

last few days, features non-graphic footage from cities across Libya, and shows chilling clips from

Libyan state television.

UPDATE 34, Thursday, Feb. 24, 1:56 p.m. EST/8:56 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Just tweeted by @SultanAlQassemi: "Breaking Al Hurra: the Libyan mission to the UN

takes down Gaddafi's green flag & raises the Kingdom of #Libya independence flag instead."

UPDATE 35, Thursday, Feb. 24, 4:20 p.m. EST/11:20 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Another must-watch from Al Jazeera: an interview with Muhammad al-Senussi, the man

who would have been Libya’s crown prince. The country was a monarchy until Qaddafi led a coup in

1969.

UPDATE 36, Thursday, Feb. 24, 5:22 p.m. EST/Friday, Feb. 25, 12:22 a.m. Tripoli (David

Corn): I just spoke to a friend's husband who is in Benghazi. He's Libyan, works there and in Europe,

and his family is in this city, the second largest in the Libya. He asks that I don't use his name—

because Muammar Qaddafi is not gone yet (and though he'll eventually return to Europe, his relatives

won't). He reports:
* Benghazi is quiet and safe. Shops and banks—though not schools—were open today. He had no

trouble driving throughout the city. "Everybody's fine," he says. I'ts very safe... Unbelievably. Nobody

is afraid of Qaddafi like before."

* The Internet is not functioning in the city. International phone service is sketchy. Many residents are

receiving and watching Al Jazeera.

* The city is being governed by an ad hoc assortment of military people, police, past government

officials, and groups of citizens.

* There is a major fear shared by the residents of Benghazi: that Qaddafi will launch an air assault on

the city. My friend's husband notes that the military guarding the city does not possess anti-aircraft

guns. He says that because Qaddafi was distrustful of this region, he did not supply the military based

there with large amounts of weaponry. "We cannot fight back against an air attack," he says.

* The residents of Benghazi have been trying to follow what's happening in Tripoli. "I was able to talk

to a friend in Tripoli," he notes. "He told me, 'It's hell in Tripoli. There's shooting everywhere.

Qaddafi's mafia is shooting people everywhere in the city.'"

He's hopeful that the violence in Libya—a friend of his was shot and killed in Benghazi—will soon be

over and Qaddafi gone. "In a couple of days," he says, "everything will be finished."

UPDATE 37, Thursday, Feb. 24, 6:28 p.m. EST/Friday, Feb. 25, 1:28 a.m. Tripoli (Ashley

Bates): More bizarre, disturbing news: The US State Department announced today that the Libyan

government may arrest foreign journalists who enter the country illegally as "Al-Qaida collaborators."

Western and Arab journalists, including CNN's Ben Wedeman, have entered Libya without permission.

UPDATE 38, Friday. Feb. 25, 9:43 a.m. EST/ 4:22 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): The brutality

continues as anti-Qaddafi protesters fight on:

 In an act of desperation, Libya state television announced shortly before Friday prayers that

Qaddafi will offer a 150 percent increase in wages for all government workers and $400 to every

family.

 The announcement had no apparent effect, and tens of thousands took to the streets across Libya

following Friday prayers. The worst violence occurred in Tripoli, where Qaddafi forces are still clinging

to power. Al-Arabiya reports that gunmen open fired on protesters in several areas of the capital.

 Sheik Yousef Qaradawi, a relatively moderate Muslim cleric admired in the Arab world for his

encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic law and feared by some commentators in the West for his anti-

Israel views, gave a Friday sermon in Qatar that was broadcast live by Al-Jazeera. Qaradawi said

(reported via Sultan AlQassemi), "We are expecting good news from Libya. I can almost see the

victory in my eyes now....I believe in this victory because I believe in God." Qaradawi also advised

revolutionaries to take pity on mercenaries that Qaddafi has reportedly hired from neighboring African

countries. "They are poor," Qaradawi said. "Give them the security to leave."

 Qaddafi's son, Seif Qaddafi, was asked in a Friday interview with CNN Turk television whether his

family had a "Plan B." He replied defiantly that his family plans to "live and die in Libya."

 Navy Pillay, the UN high commisioner for human rights, said Friday that Qaddafi's bloody crackdown is

"escalating alarmingly" and "thousands may have been killed or injured."

 Activists have launched new radio stations and newspapers in eastern Libya, where anti-Qaddafi

forces have gained the upper hand.

UPDATE 39, Friday, Feb. 25, 11:10 a.m. EST/6:10 p.m. in Tripoli (Nick Baumann): TheNew

York Times' Kareem Fahim and David Kirkpatrick have a dispatch from what are increasingly looking

like the front lines of a war between Libyan revolutionaries and Qaddafi's mercenaries. Lede: "Rebels

seeking to overturn the 40-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi repelled a concerted assault by his

forces on Thursday on cities close to the capital, removing any doubt that Libya’s patchwork of
 protests had evolved into an increasingly well-armed revolutionary movement." Highlight [emphasis

added]: "Tawfik al-Shohiby, one of the rebels, said that in the early days of the revolt one of his

relatives bought $75,000 in automatic weapons from arms dealers on the Egyptian border and

distributed them to citizens’ groups in towns like Bayda." Read up. Also:

 The entire Libyan mission at the United Nations mission in Geneva, Switzerland quit on Friday

morning.

 Paul Schemm of the Associated Press has an interesting piece on how the citizens of Benghazi, the city

where the uprising started, are governing themselves.

UPDATE 40, Friday, Feb. 25, 1:56 p.m. EST/8:56 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):From Mother Jones: Qaddafi's son, Saif, authored a 2007 doctoral thesis praising

democracy and human rights. No, it's not a joke.

UPDATE 41, Friday, Feb. 25, 2:57 p.m. EST/9:57 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): A

flurry of news from Washington, brought to you by Twitter:

 Josh Rogin retweets Chuck Todd: "RT @chucktodd: "Pretty much everything that was on the table

short of a no-fly zone is being enacted by US govt re: #libya"

 From Reuters: "White House says U.S. has decided to move forward with unilateral sanctions against

#Libya, will be coordinated with European allies"

 And from @SultanAlQassemi, via Al Arabiya: "Breaking - Al Arabiya: AP: Washington suspends US

embassy activities in Tripoli #Libya"

UPDATE 42, Friday, Feb. 25, 3:35 p.m. EST/10:35 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Here's the State Department's full statement on suspending embassy operations in Libya:

Given current security conditions in Libya, coupled with our inability to guarantee fully the safety and

security of our diplomatic personnel in the country, the Department of State has temporarily

withdrawn Embassy personnel from Tripoli and suspended all embassy operations effective February
 25, 2011. The safety of the American community remains paramount to the Department and we will

continue to provide assistance to the greatest extent possible through other missions.

UPDATE 43, Friday, Feb. 25, 4:10 p.m. EST/11:10 p.m. in Tripoli (Nick Baumann): The

Guardian has the scoop on UK officials telling Qaddafi loyalists to "defect or face war crimes trials."

This is important. First, it shows the UK believes Qaddafi is definitely going down, and puts a lot of

pressure on his key people. It also demonstrates that the West hopes to hold Libyan officials

accountable for the deaths of civilian protesters. Hillary Clinton, William Hague, and Catherine Ashton

—the top foreign affairs officials for the US, the UK, and the EU, respectively—are headed to Geneva

on Monday to argue that the International Criminal Court should prosecute Libyan leaders. Between

this and the unilateral US moves mentioned in Update 41, it's pretty clear that the West is finally,

ever-so-slowly, moving to do at least something about the horrible violence and massacres in Libya.

UPDATE 44, Saturday. Feb. 26, 9:58 a.m. EST/ 4:58 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): A roundup of

news from around the web:

 Qaddafi forces are still maintaining a stronghold in Tripoli. They've set up checkpoints around the city

and are opening arms depots for their supporters, attempting to pit tribes against one another. "We

shall destroy any aggression with popular will," Qaddafi said in his latest television address. "Libya will

become a red flame, a burning coal."

 In most other Libyan cities, including Benghazi, where the revolution was launched, anti-Qaddafi

forces are in full control.

 Foreign Policy reports that some Latin American leaders, including Fidel Castro of Cuba and Daniel

Ortega of Nicaragua, are standing by Qaddafi amidst the bloodbath. Ortega has spoken regularly with

Qaddafi by phone and thinks Qaddafi is "fighting a great battle." Castro distrusts the accuracy of news
 coming out of Libya and fears a "western invasion." Both Ortega and Castro are longtime friends of

Qaddafi and recipients of the "Muammar Qaddafi International Human Rights Prize."

 African migrants who were working in Libya's oil industry now fear they'll be killed on suspicion of

being Qaddafi mercenaries. A Turkish oil worker who escaped from Libya told the BBC that

his Sudanese and Chadian colleagues had been "massacred" by attackers who reportedly said, "you

are providing troops for Qaddafi." Many white Libyans have long harbored racist sentiments. Professor

Saad Jabbar, deputy director of the North Africa Center at Cambridge University, told NPR he fears a

"genocide against anyone who has black skin."

 The US State Department said Saturday morning that some Americans "may" remain in Libya

despite its attempt to evacuate all US nationals. American journalists, for example, will presumably

opt not to leave. A US "task force" will stay in Libya to assist Americans.

 The UN Security Council will meet in New York today to discuss imposing international sanctions. This

includes an arms embargo, an asset freeze, and a travel ban against Qaddafi government officials.

Friday night, Obama issued an executive order to freeze the American-held assets of Qaddafi family

members and high level government officials. Libya's ambassador to the UN has pleaded for the

Security Council to "save Libya" by imposing sanctions.

UPDATE 45, Sunday, Feb. 27, 3:00 p.m. EST/10:00 p.m. in Tripoli (Nick Baumann):Here's

what's happening today:

 The Times' David Kirkpatrick reports on the "tour" of Tripoli Qaddafi offered for foreign journalists on

Saturday, and notes that it "appeared to backfire": "When government-picked drivers escorted

journalists on tours of the city on Saturday morning, the extent of the unrest was unmistakable."

 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an extensive statement Saturday on "holding the Qaddafi

government accountable." On Sunday, she briefed reporters on her plane as she prepared to fly to
 Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with European leaders, keep up US pressure on Libya, and make

sure the International Criminal Court looks into war crimes committed by the Qaddafi regime. (The UN

Security Council has already referred the case to the ICC.) Headline: Clinton reiterated that the US

has "made it clear we expect [Qaddafi] to leave" the country.

 Clinton was also asked about the rival government a former Qaddafi justice minister has set up in

Benghazi. She said "it's way too soon to tell how this is going to play out, but we're going to be ready

and prepared to offer any kind of assistance that anyone wishes to have from the United States."

 Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) both mentioned potential military aid to

Libyan rebels in Sunday show appearances this morning, shocking absolutely no one.

 The foreign minister of Italy, perhaps Qaddafi's closest European ally, said Sunday that the "point of

no return" had been reached in Libya and that the end of Qaddafi's rule is "inevitable."

 Saif al Islam Qaddafi, Muammar's son, was on Christiane Amanpour's program this morningdisputing

well-documented reports of the regime using violence against civilians.

 The key equation going forward will be whether rebels have the numbers and arms necessary to beat

Qaddafi's mercenaries—or whether Western sanctions will decrease Qaddafi's ability to pay those

mercenaries. There's also a chance Qaddafi will change his mind and leave the country, but so far

both he and his son have said they will "die fighting." Bottom line: this could get even bloodier as

rebel forces converge on Tripoli.

UPDATE 46, Monday, Feb. 28, 10:05 a.m. EST/5:05 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Qaddafi remains in denial as his support dwindles and defects. And the fighting continues:

 Conspiracies, Homegrown: the Libyan government is blaming the combined powers of Islamic

radicalism and the West for conjuring a conspiracy to take over the country,reports The New York

Times. “The Islamists want chaos; the West also wants chaos,” said Musa Ibrahim, a government

spokesman, to reporters. He argued that the West wants Libya’s oil, while Islamists want to establish

a base for international terrorism. He also denied reports that Qaddafi loyalists have fired their guns at
 civilians. Meanwhile, fighting rages on, with rebels saying they've foiled Qaddafi's attempt to retake

the eastern city of Misurata. And low-paid contract workers continue fleeing across the country's

eastern and western borders into Egypt and Tunisia, respectively.

 Off with his bizarrely-coiffed head: Count French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and British Prime

Minister David Cameron among the foreign authorities calling for Qaddafi to go. The EU's top foreign

policy official, Catherine Ashton, has also announced that the EU will adopt sanctions against Libya.

And Germany has offered a proposal to end all financial payments to Libya for 60

days, reports Reuters, while Italian foreign minster Franco Frattini suspended a nonaggression treaty

with Libya on the grounds that the Libyan state “no longer exists.”

UPDATE 47, Monday, Feb. 28, 10:25 a.m. EST/5:25 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

A must-watch: ABC News' Christiane Amanpour interviewed Qaddafi heirs Said and Saif on ABC's This

Week yesterday. “Nobody is leaving this country,” Saif told Amanpour. He also denied that the military

has attacked its own people, and insisted that most of the country is calm. “Show me a single attack,

show me a single bomb,” he said. “The Libyan air force destroyed just the ammunition sites,” he said.
UPDATE 48, Monday, Feb. 28, 10:51 a.m. EST/5:51 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Megalomania, Noy Going Viral: Noy Alooshe, an Israeli journalist living in Tel Aviv, cut this

YouTube video lampooning Qaddafi's speech from last Tuesday. Alooshe set the speech to the song

"Hey Baby" by the American rappers Pitbull and T-Pain. He titled his creation "Zenga-Zenga," alluding

to Qaddafi’s repetition of the word zanqa (Arabic for alleyway). "The original clip features mirror

images of a scantily clad woman dancing along to Colonel Qaddafi’s rant. Mr. Alooshe said he got

many requests from Web surfers who asked him for a version without the dancer so that they could

show it to their parents, which he did,"reports the Times.

UPDATE 49, Monday, Feb. 28, 1:35 p.m. EST/8:35 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):Al

Jazeera is reporting that Qaddafi has appointed his intelligence chief, Bouzaid Dordah, to speak to

anti-government protestors in the east. They've formed a "national council" as a means of keeping the

uprisings in different cities under one, unified body.

UPDATE 50, Monday, Feb. 28, 2:06 p.m. EST/9:06 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Democracy Now!'s Anjali Kamat has just returned to Egypt from a five day trip to eastern

Libya. "There is a sense that Qaddafi could do anything to people [in Tripoli] and there is a real sense

of fear,” she says in this dispatch. Watch the whole thing.

UPDATE 51, Monday, Feb. 28, 3:50 p.m. EST/10:50 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Key tweets, brought to you by the indispensable @SultanAlQassemi: "Gaddafi to ABC:

America is not the policeman of the world. Obama is a good man but he was misinformed by those

around him. #Libya" and "Breaking - Reuters/CNBC: US Treasury Dept freezes $30 billion in Libyan

assets in the US #Libya Via @acarvin & @ThamerSalman". Meanwhile, it's looking more and more

like Qaddafi views peaceful negotiation with the rebel forces as a realistic possibility.

UPDATE 52, Monday, Feb. 28, 6:20 p.m. EST/Tuesday, March 1, 1:20 p.m. in Tripoli

(Siddhartha Mahanta): The Washington Post's Jeff Stein reports that a senior White House officials

says the administration doesn't think that Libya's chemical weapon arsenal—including mustard and
 sarin gas—is vulnerable to theft. Experts think that Libya destroyed over three thousand bombshells

designed to carry gas as part of its deal to end years of isolation by the west. But a large stockpile of

mustard and sarin gas remain stored in barrels at three locations south of Tripoli:

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, the administration official

suggested the Libyans have moved to bolster the security of the material since protests erupted

earlier this month, but he refused to specify what those steps were or how the administration had

communicated with the Libyans.

“We have continued to urge the Libyans to safely complete destruction of their remaining chemical

weapons agent as quickly as possible,” the official said. “As part of that process, the Libyans have

taken appropriate steps to secure their CW [chemical weapons] from unauthorized access.”

UPDATE 53, Tuesday, March 1, 11:00 a.m. EST/6:00 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Here's what's happening today:

 As the prospect of civil war in Libya looms ever larger, The New York Times reportsQaddafi's forces

are having little success in staving off rebel attacks around the country. And the colonel is facing

growing international pressure to step down. The US, meanwhile, has repositioned its naval fleet in

anticipation of possible humanitarian or military intervention in Libya. Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton's message: to surrender power “now, without further violence or delay.”

 The Times also reports on the ongoing impact of the chaos in Libya on the economies of its neighbors:

The enduring impact of the region’s turmoil was evident in Cairo, where Egypt postponed the

reopening of its stock exchange again on Tuesday until Sunday. The exchange has been closed for

over a month, after antigovernment protests in late January shook investor confidence and drove the

value of the country’s benchmark index down 17 percent in two trading days. In Bahrain on Tuesday,

protesters marched down King Faisal Highway in the capital, Manama. In Oman, whose first major

protests were reported over the weekend, demonstrations continued on Tuesday, a day after violent
 clashes with the security forces in the port city of Sohar, and the unrest spread for the first time to the

capital, Muscat.

 Western countries are still debating the option of enforcing a no-fly zone over the country. But The

Assocated Press reports that Russian officials have ruled out the idea, with foreign minister Sergey

Lavrov calling the proposal "superfluous."

 And on ABC News on Monday, Qaddafi revealed the depths of his delusion. "They love me. All my

people with me, they love me," he said. "They will die to protect me, my people."

UPDATE 54, Tuesday, March 1, 11:24 a.m. EST/6:24 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): On apples, trees, and not falling far from them:

the Council on Foreign Relations' Steven Cook debunks the fallacy of the second generation reformer—

in Libya's case, the erroneous title belongs to the allegedly pro-democracy Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi,

Phd.

UPDATE 55, Tuesday, March 1, 11:35 a.m. EST/6:35 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): Is

Sergey Lavrov on to something when it comes to no-fly zones? (see Update 53). How do they work?

And do they work? Foreign Policy's Josh Keating takes a swing.

UPDATE 56, Tuesday, March 1, 1:15 p.m. EST/8:15 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): Al

Jazeera reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron is pushing the international community to

act against Qaddafi. "It's not acceptable that Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people, using

aeroplanes and helicopters gunships.. and we have to plan now to make sure that if it happens we can

do something to stop that," he said. In his remarks, Cameron also discussed the possibility of arming

opposition fighters. And he's also asked his defense ministry to work with the country's allies on a plan

for a no-fly zone over Libya.

UPDATE 57, Tuesday, March 1, 2:15 p.m. EST/9:15 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Things could be flaring up in Tajoura, a neighborhood in eastern Tripoli that's served as

the epicenter for unrest in the capital. "Tajoura is very tense. There were small demonstrations.
Regime had removed grafitti/signs, but last night people put them back.

#Libya," tweets @iyad_elbaghdadi.

UPDATE 58, Tuesday, March 1, 2:35 p.m. EST/9:35 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Must-watch: the latest footage from Libya's border with Tunisia, where tens of thousands

of refugees are spilling over into the recently revolutionized country. It's from the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees:

UPDATE 59, Tuesday, March 1, 2:50 p.m. EST/9:50 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): File

this under "aggressive, but maybe not aggressive enough": the Associated Press reports that

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the Obama administration may seek the prosecution of

Qaddafi for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, after some ex-Libyan officials claimed

that Qaddafi personally ordered the attack. Clinton told Congress that she will ask the FBI and Justice

Department to look into the matter. The US considers the bombing a closed case.

UPDATE 60, Tuesday, March 1, 4:15 p.m. EST/11:15 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): While Josh Keating broke down the logistics of installing a no-fly zone, David Axe tells us

why Libya's complex, 25-year old air defense network probably won't save it if foreign nations decide

to go all-in.

UPDATE 61, Tuesday, March 1, 4:50 p.m. EST/11:50 p.m. in Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): In

an unprecedented move, the UN general assembly has voted, unamimoiusly, to temporarily suspend

Libya's membership to the UN Human Rights Council, reports Al Jazeera. The country will be

prevented from participating in the assembly until the body makes a more permanent decision.

Speaking to the assembly in New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that "[t]he world has

spoken with one voice: we demand an immediate end to the violence against civilians and full respect

for their fundamental human rights, including those of peaceful assembly and free speech." His next

move: consulting with the heads of the UN's humanitarian agencies, the Arab League, the African

Union, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference on what steps to take next.
 UPDATE 62, Wednesday, March 2, 12:58 p.m. EST/ 8:58 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): The

bloodbath continues as the US prepares for a humanitarian intervention:

 Libyan planes bombed the eastern port city of Brega on Wednesday. Al-Jazeera reports that at least 4

were killed and 10 were injured. This oil-exporting city had recently been overtaken by rebel forces.

Libyan state television claims the government has seized an oil company complex and an airbase.

 The New York Times reports that two American amphibious warships entered the southern end of the

Suez Canal on Wednesday and 400 marines are currently en route to the Mediterranean. Defense

Secretary Robert Gates said the warships and marines would be there for humanitarian relief and

emergency evacuation, and played down the possibility of American military intervention in Libya.

 Josette Sheeran, the director of the World Food Program is stationed on Tunisia's border with Libya.

On Wednesday, she called for a safe humanitarian corridor to Libya to help those fleeing the violence.

UPDATE 63, Wednesday, March 2, 2:10 p.m. EST/ 10:10 p.m. Tripoli (Ashley Bates): The

Arab League is considering imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, in cooperation with the African Union.

"The Arab League will not sit with its hands tied while the blood of the brotherly Libyan people is

spilled," Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Wednesday. Moussa is also a likely contender for

president of Egypt.

UPDATE 64, Wednesday, March 2, 4:20 p.m. EST/ Thursday March 3, 12:20 a.m. Thursday

Tripoli (Ashley Bates): The Jerusalem Post reports that Qaddafi's children are encouraging him to

seek political asylum in Nicaragua. President Daniel Ortega has spoken regularly to Qaddafi by phone,

and recently said that Qaddafi is "fighting a great battle."

 UPDATE 65, Thursday, March 3, 11:45 a.m. EST/ 6:45 a.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Qaddafi's first major push to reclaim the east has been rebuffed. Meanwhile, chaos among

the ranks (on both sides) reigns. And Hugo Chavez has a peace plan.

 Qaddafi's strike on the eastern city of Brega—an oil town—represents his first major attempt to take

back territory from the rebels; Reuters reports that his planes bombed the city. Despite their success

in repelling Qaddafi's incursion, the rebels remain uncertain of what the autocrat's next move might

be.

 In a must-read dispatch, The New York Times reports from the front lines:

The battle of Brega was a ragged affair. There were no orders, no officers, no plans: most of the men

said they had simply jumped in cars to defend their freedom after hearing that government loyalists,

whom the rebels call mercenaries, had begun a dawn raid on Brega.

Fighters carried every kind of weapon. Some manned big antiaircraft guns, wearing black military

berets and saluting as they rode past. Others drove beat-up old taxis, clutching rifles, pistols, anything

they could find, even butcher knives.

 And about that peace plan: Reuters also reports that the Libyan government has accepted Venezuelan

leader Hugo Chavez's plan to end the war, according to a Chavez spokesman.

 Foreign Policy has a searing, exclusive slidehow of desperate refugees fleeing Libya. And speaking of

refugees: The Daily Mail reports that the British government is coordinating an airlift of thousands of

refugees stranded at the country's borders with Tunisia and Libya. Three planes chartered by the

British government will shuttle between Tunisia and Egypt to evacuate some 6,000 Egyptians working

in Libya.

UPDATE 66, Thursday, March 3, 2:25 p.m. EST/ 9:25 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta):Mother Jones' Mac McClelland writes that the International Criminal Court's chief will

investigate Qaddafi for possible crimes against humanity. From Mac:

 So, what now? The court has two months to report back to the Security Council with the results of its

investigation. Then the ICC judges will decide whether to issue arrest warrants. The ICC does not have

any authority to actually bring in defendants, so if Qaddafi is indicted, someone will have to apprehend

and deliver him to The Hague. Maybe some anti-Qaddafi Libyans could get hold of him. Or maybe he

will be forced out or step down and then leave the country, and the authorities of whatever country he

goes to will arrest him.

UPDATE 67, Friday, March 4, 4:59 p.m. EST/ 11:59 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

 The New York Times reports that Qaddafi's forces expanded their attack against rebels on Friday, in an

effort to retake the city of Zawiya, about 25 miles west of Tripoli. Reports say that at least 35 were

killed, and over 100 were wounded. A government spokesman claimed victory: "[Zawiya] is liberated

this afternoon, and we are going to take you there tomorrow to see for yourself," he said. But reports

from rebels suggest that that the outcome of the battle is far from certain. Fighting also rages on in

the oil towns of Ras Lanuf and Zewietina.

 When it comes to responding to Libya diplomatically, the US' most prominent options appear to

include sanctions and invoking a no-fly zone. The CIA's playbook is a little more permissive, writes Jeff

Stein, who spoke to a former senior CIA operations official that consults with US intelligence services.

It's probably fair to say he yearns for the days of yore:

"CIA should be on the ground collecting intelligence, but should also be in touch with the rebels. They

should provide weapons, training and guidance to remove Gaddafi. They should be helping the

opposition to establish radio and press capabilities—we used to have radio flyaway kits that could be

sent in with 24-48 hours and used to set up radio stations.

“We should be giving the U.S. government the ability to clandestinely help the opposition overthrow

the government without having to send in the Marines,” he added.

But the CIA doesn’t have the stomach for such interventions now, he asserted. “We have become such

pussies that we would crap our pants if we were asked to do any of this.”
 And Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said that the Qaddafi regime has formally

accepted Cuban President Hugo Chavez' peace plan, reports Reuters. Initially, the plan had been

rejected by Qaddafi's son, Saif. The Chavez blueprint calls for a committee to be formed by African,

Asian, and Latin American countries "to help the international dialogue and to help the restoration of

peace and stability."

 Speaking of Foreign Leaders Who Love MQ: CNN tells us who the Qaddafis can still lean on.

UPDATE 68, Monday, March 7, 11:35 a.m. EST/ 6:35 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): The

battle for Libya rages on, as pro-Qaddafi forces scored some key victories over the weekend.

 Hell from above: Qaddafi's forces continue their air assault on rebels in the coastal town of Ras

Lanuf, reports The New York Times. Over the weekend, pro-government troops attacked rebels in the

town of Bin Jawwad using tanks, helicopters, and planes, pushing them further east. And opposition

fighters told the Times that loyalists used residents of the town as human shields, causing them to

hold back their fire. In the east, the poorly trained but well armed anti-Qaddafi forces are trying to

take the dictator's eastern stronghold of Surt, and are still fighting to maintain their grip on Zawiyah.

 And in Tripoli, pro-government media continues to spin the war being waged in the

east,reports the Times: "Not a day passes in Tripoli without some improbable claim by Colonel Qaddafi

or the top officials around him: there are no rebels or protesters in Libya; the people who are

demonstrating have been drugged by Al Qaeda; no shots have been fired to suppress dissent. In an

interview broadcast on Monday with the France 24 , Col. Qaddafi called his country a partner of the

West in combating Al Qaeda, insisting that loyalist forces were confronting 'small groupings' and

'sleeper cells' of terrorists."

 The UN is sending a humanitarian assessment team to Tripoli, reports Al Jazeera. The international

body's request was agreed to by Libyan foreign minister Musa Kusa, after UN secretary general Ban

Ki-Moon urged him to "consider the best interests of the Libyan people, and listen to the united voice

of the international community." Ban has also appointed Abdelilah Al-Khatib, the former foreign
minister of Jordan, as his special envoy to consult with the Libyan government on the humanitarian

situation.

UPDATE 69, Monday, March 7, 12:52 p.m. EST/ 7:52 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

Veteran Middle East correpondent Robert Fisk reports that the United States has secretly asked Saudi

Arabia if it can supply weapons to rebels in the anti-Qaddafi stronghold of Benghazi. "The Saudi

Kingdom...has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King

Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago,"

writes Fisk. The kingdom's help—in the form of anti-tank rockets, mortars, and ground-to-air missiles

—"would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain—even though the

arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis."

UPDATE 70, Monday, March 7, 3:01 p.m. EST/ 10:01 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

Cutting ties: Reuters reports that the US-based oil companies ExxonMobil, Conoco, and Morgan

Stanley will cease oil trade with Libya. Their moves comply with recently imposed sanctions against

Libya, whose oil production of 1.6 million barrels a day has more than halvedsince the rebellion

against Qaddafi began.

UPDATE 71, Monday, March 7, 3:35 p.m. EST/ 10:35 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta): The

Associated Press reports that the US and its NATO allies are still considering a military response to the

ongoing chaos in Libya. "I want to send a very clear message to those who are around Colonel

Qaddafi. It is their choice to make how they operate moving forward. And they will be held

accountable for whatever violence continues to take place," President Obama said on Monday. White

House press secretary Jay Carney said the US is still weighing the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone

over the country and arming rebel forces, and is continuing to use existing diplomatic channels to

amass information on opposition groups. Deploying ground troops, he underlined, "is not top of the

list at this point."

 UPDATE 72, Tuesday, March 8, 3:08 p.m. EST/ 10:08 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

 Qaddafi's planes continue bombing rebels in the east, leading to few casualties but worrying the rebels

that their movement has stalled, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The bombing raids are being

carried out around Ras Lanuf, an oil town about 150 miles from Benghazi, as NATO planners meet in

Brussels to consider imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. But NATO is unlikely to act without a

resolution from the UN Security Council. Britain and France support a UN draft resolution for action,

while China and Russia are unlikely to throw their hat in.

 Libyan troops led by Qaddafi's son Khamis left the rebel-held town of Misrata on Tuesday, heading

east to join up with other pro-Qaddafi forces, reports Reuters.

 Meanwhlie, rebel forces are digging in outside of Ras Lanuf. "They seem to be better organized and

more professional than forces previously seen on the frontline," with better armor and more

sophisticated weapons, reports SkyNews.

UPDATE 73, Tuesday, March 8, 3:15 p.m. EST/ 10:15 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

Newt would know what to do: 2012 GOP presidential-maybe Newt Gingrich insistsit would take mere

minutes to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. From HuffPo:

Gingrich accused the Obama administration of being "confused," saying, "The idea that we're confused

about a man who has been an anti-American dictator since 1969 just tells you how inept this

administration is." The Obama administration has said that a no-fly zone is being considered, but has

not yet committed to the policy, according to the Guardian.

"This is a moment to get rid of [Gaddafi]. Do it. Get it over with," the potential 2012 presidential

candidate stated.

UPDATE 74, Tuesday, March 8, 6:57 p.m. EST/ Wednesday, March 9, 1:57 a.m.

Tripoli(Siddhartha Mahanta): Josh Rogin reports that State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley

denied reports that the US has asked Saudi Arabia to arm Libyan rebels. For the record: supplying

arms to anyone in Libya would be illegal:

 Pressed by reporters to clarify whether the Obama administration had any plans to give arms to any of

the rebel groups in Libya, Crowley said no.

"It would be illegal for the United States to do that," he said. "It's not a legal option."

Crowley's blanket statement seemed to go further than comments on Monday by White House

spokesman Jay Carney, who said, "On the issue of … arming, providing weapons, it is one of the range

of options that is being considered."

Crowley maintained that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1970, which imposed international sanctions

on Libya that included an arms embargo, applied to both the Qaddafi regime and the rebel groups.

"It's not on the government of Libya: It's on Libya," he said.

UPDATE 75, Wednesday, March 9, 11:15 a.m. EST/ 6:15 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): The news for the day:

 The New York Times reports Qaddafi's forces continue their assault on Ras Lanuf, as rebels push west

toward Tripoli. Al Jazeera reports that "[t]he air force is concentrating on the big junctions at the

entrance to the town. The fact that it’s such consistent black smoke could well means there is oil

underneath it. It is continuing to burn," panicking opposition fighters.

 And government air strikes on the desert oil hub and the western city of Zawiyah—which Qaddafi's

government claims to have recaptured—continue. Tanks moved into the rebel-held main square as

"their snipers shot at anything that moved."

 Meanwhile, President Obama and British prime minister, David Cameron have agreed on the shared

objective of “the departure of Qaddafi from power as quickly as possible,” the White House said in a

statement. They've committed to “press forward with planning, including at NATO, on the full

spectrum of possible responses, including surveillance, humanitarian assistance, enforcement of the

arms embargo and a no-fly zone.”

UPDATE 76, Wednesday, March 9, 11:23 a.m. EST/ 6:23 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

Qaddafi has sent his deputy defense minister, Abdelrahman al-Zawi, to Cairo. Al-Zawi, reports Al

Jazeera, is also an army general in charge of logistics and supplies. Reports indicate that he may be

meeting with Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, which will meet on Saturday to discuss the

imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

UPDATE 77, Wednesday, March 9, 12:00 p.m. EST/ 7:00 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

D.B. Grady, a former paratrooper with U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a veteran of

Afghanistan, explains what's at stake in imposing a no-fly zone. If Obama's going to act, he argues,

he better make it quick:

If it is the intent of the United States to use military force in Libya by imposing a no-fly zone, the

president and his administration should make the argument now rather than later. Qaddafi is a

madman, but he is a madman with a well-honed survival instinct. This same Qaddafi in December of

2003 admitted that his government had been actively developing a massive weapons program, but

promptly surrendered it to President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Qaddafi

further opened his borders to international weapons inspectors. More astoundingly, he wrote billion

dollar checks to the families of victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772. He feared the Bush

Doctrine.

The Obama Doctrine, meanwhile, takes a clearly different approach. Though he's followed through

with the previous administration's Iraq plans and heeded advice from Bush's generals and

Secretary of Defense on Afghanistan, elsewhere in the world Obama is hesitant to pull the

trigger, so to speak. The feeling seems to be that Team America has done enough. This is, in

other words, a humbler foreign policy—the very course of action embraced by Bush supporters in

1999. [emphasis added]

UPDATE 78, Wednesday, March 9, 12:15 p.m. EST/ 7:15 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha

Mahanta): Just tweeted by @AlArabiya_English: "Libyan authorities offer a bounty of $400,000 to

anyone who captures revolutionary leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil and hands him in #Libya"; who is

Jalil? The leader of the key opposition group, the National Libyan Council.

UPDATE 79, Wednesday, March 9, 4:45 p.m. EST/ 11:45 p.m. Tripoli (Siddhartha Mahanta):

The White House is working to stop mercenaries from joining pro-Qaddafi forces,reports Josh Rogin.

Soldiers of fortune have been streaming in from surrounding countries like Chad and Niger, but the

administration isn't saying whether Qaddafi is still trying to bring in more. The hope: that keeping

them out will help prevent violence from spilling over into other countries. Meanwhile, the

administration's outreach to opposition groups is increasing. And National Security Council senior

director for multilateral affairs Samantha Power said that the US is doing its best to help civilians

trying to leave Libya.

UPDATE 80, Wednesday, March 9, 6:52 p.m. EST/ Thursday, March 10, 1:52 a.m.

Tripoli(Siddhartha Mahanta): Fadel Lamen has the scoop on the resignation plan Qaddafi offered

on Tuesday morning:

According to the insider, Gaddafi sent a letter, in the care of a former Gaddafi cabinet minster,

containing the following offer: Gaddafi would call a meeting of the General People's Congress—

supposedly the highest governing body in what is in reality an autocracy. At the meeting, Gaddafi

would submit his resignation. A formal process would give then appearance of a democratic turnover.

In exchange, Gaddafi would require that the congress declare immunity for him and his family, both

domestically and internationally, using the congress's putative legitimacy over the Libyan people as

cover.

The insider tells me the interim Transitional Council, overseen by Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the closest thing

the Libyan people have as an alternative to Gaddafi, rejected the idea as a "farce."

But the council rejected the plan, viewing the letter as a "trial balloon": a ploy to divide Libyans as

Qaddafi continues trying to take back rebel-held territory.

Ashley Bates is an editorial intern at Mother Jones. She just returned from three years in the Middle

East.