The AP posted a photo from Benghazi that showed a huge poster amid thousands of people. It read "Fantastic 4" and had the photos of Susan Rice, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and President Obama, and underneath "God Bless You All. Thanks for All."
If you ever wonder why the world may not appreciate America, all you needed to do is to listen to The Donald, who opined that "All the rebels will be richer than Americans because they are going to take the oil." So the Donald suggests we take it first because of the adage about the spoils of war.
The Washington Times' Eli Lake tweeted:" Worth noting. President Birth Certificate has done what Reagan and W could not: End Qadhafi's reign and kill bin Laden."
For another opinion, there is ole' Frothy Mix, Rick Santorum, who said," Ridding the world of the likes of Qadhafi is a good thing but this indecisive President had little to do with this triumph."
Steve Benen sort of disagrees. He reminds us that President Obama assembled a broad international coalition, got the Arab League to support Western intervention and got a vote at the United Nations rather rapidly and the bombs fell quickly. Good or bad, it was not indecisive. Amen.
Mitt Romney, who has been back and forth on this subject acted--well--weird. The first words of his mouth were he wants the Lockerbie bomber extradited. Virtually no concept about freedom or that the Libyans threw off a dictator.
President Obama called again for Gaddafi's surrender, hailed the Libyans who struggled for freedom (his full comments were broadcast to Libya),told them it was their revolution and that we would assist in helping build an inclusive democratic system. He also detailed the American military role and congratulated our forces and the NATO alliance. He also emphasized that all this was accomplished with no American boots on the ground. Well, sort of or none that you know about.
French President Sarkozy will be hosting the TNC this Wednesday for a meeting with "the contact group of nations".
If the Republicans aren't very happy, there are some unhappy campers. The TNC warned the Chinese, Russians and Brazlians that business would first go to those who supported them. The Chinese have 75 companies operating in Libya, some 36,000 staff and nearly 50 projects. The Russians I have mentioned before have extensive interest in the gas and oil industry. And the Brazilians also are in the energy sector. ENI, the Italian oil company, looks to benefit the first and the Qatar national oil company and the trading house VITOL.
Kudos to the twitter crowd--the Libya Youth Movement,the Feb. 17 Voices and Sultan Al Qassemi, who have brought to light local reactions dring the last few days. The Libyans are ow enjoying e-mails after several months of blackouts.
900 prisoners,mostly political, have been freed from the Ein Zara Prison.
Two bodies were discovered--that of Khamis Gaddafi, who had mounted the counter-offensive, and that of Gaddafi's brother-in-law and intelligence chief, Abdallah Sanussi. Apparently, they were casualties in the fighting this morning.
Mohammed Gaddafi escaped from his house arrest as Gaddafi loyalists sprung him.
Revolutionaries captured Gaddafi's bodygoard Sa'd Mas'ud with $4 million US on him.
Fighting has been fierce around the Rixos Hotel where the international journalists have been holed up.
A Libyan AP reporter, who lives near Gaddafi's compound reports that it has been devasated by NATO air strikes.
During the fighting this morning in Sirte, Gaddafi forces launced a Scud, which was intercepted by NATO.
Egyptian democrat and diplomat Mohammed El Baradei said today,"The Freedom Train for the locally occupied Arab world has left the station and will not stop--ever."
After the break for the Ramadan fast, we can expect fierce fighting for the last strongholds of the Gaddafi supporters in Tripoli. Stay tuned.
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