The Libyans and the No-Fly Zone [ 2163 ]

Qaddafi: Libyans Will Fight Against No-Fly Zone

Published March 09, 2011

| Associated Press

AP/March 7: Anti-Qaddafirebels run away as smoke rises following an air strike by Libyan warplanes near a checkpoint in the oil town of Ras Lanouf, eastern Libya.

-

TRIPOLI, Libya –  TRIPOLI, Libya --
Muammar Qaddafi said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Libyans would fight back if Western nations impose a no-fly zone to prevent the regime from using its air force to bomb government opponents staging a rebellion.

He said imposing the restrictions would prove the West's real intention was to seize his country's oil wealth.

Qaddafi made his remarks in an interview aired Wednesday by Turkey's state-run TRT Turk television. The interview was conducted late at night when Qaddafi made a surprise appearance at a hotel where foreign journalists are staying in Tripoli and gave a few interviews.

In separate remarks, Qaddafi called on Libyans in the rebel-held east of the country to take back control from the opposition leaders who have seized the territory.

Forces loyal to the Libyan leader have been fighting rebels in the east as well as in a handful of towns close to the capital Tripoli, where he has total control.

Related Links

• Anti-Qaddafi Forces Say They Are Close to Talks Related to the Libyan Leader's Departure
• Group Calls for Libyan Envoy's Removal From Post as U.N. Investigator of Human Rights Violations

In the interview, Qaddafi was responding to U.S. and British plans for action against his regime, including imposing a no-fly zone to prevent Qaddafi's warplanes from striking rebels.

Qaddafi claimed such a move would lead Libyans to understand that the foreigners' aim was to seize oil and take their freedom away. If that happened, he said, he "Libyans will take up arms and fight."

Libyan state television also broadcast remarks by Qaddafi addressing a group of youths from the town of Zintan, 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli. Qaddafi again blamed Al Qaeda operatives from Egypt, Algeria, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories for the turmoil roiling his country since Feb. 15.

State television broadcast Qaddafi's address early on Wednesday, but did not say when the Libyan leader had spoken.

Qaddafi has been in power since 1969, when he led a military coup that topple the monarchy.

In the TRT Turk interview, Qaddafi said there were no legitimate grounds for a foreign intervention in his country, insisting that Libya was only fighting Al Qaeda as in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

"If Al Qaeda seizes Libya, that will amount to a huge disaster," Qaddafi said. "If they (Al Qaeda fighters) take this place over, the whole region, including Israel, will be dragged into chaos. Then, (Al Qaeda leader Osama) Bin Laden may seize all of north Africa that faces Euro

Rumsfeld: No U.S. troops into Libya..[ 2162 ]

Rumsfeld doesn't support sending U.S. troops into Libya

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 9, 2011 -- Updated 0446 GMT (1246 HKT)

(CNN) -- Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday he would not support sending U.S. troops into war-torn Libya, pointing out what he calls a key difference between leader Moammar Gadhafi and Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
-
Unlike Hussein, Gadhafi chose not to continuously provoke the international community, Rumsfeld told CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."
"After he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein, he (Gadhafi) did not want to be Saddam Hussein," said Rumsfeld. "He gave up his nuclear program."
Hussein "killed hundreds of thousands of his own people" and was a brutal dictator, Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld said he was not surprised by recent popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. "The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices," he said.
.
He cautioned that it's too early to tell whether new or reformed governments in those countries will be friendly to the United States.
Rumsfeld, who has a new book, "Known and Unknown," discussed the U.S. decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

. 

RELATED TOPICS

• Donald H. Rumsfeld
• Piers Morgan Tonight

Although no weapons of mass destruction were found, Hussein had the personnel and materials in place to produce them and there was a "broad uniform" belief that he had them, Rumsfeld said. There had been desire for a regime change in Iraq dating back to the Clinton administration, he said.
Rumsfeld told Morgan he had not believed the likelihood of a popular revolt against Hussein succeeding was high.
.
Asked if he had regrets about the war in Iraq, Rumsfeld said, "lives were lost on my watch."
The Abu Ghraib prison scandal also was a major setback, he said.
The campaign against al Qaeda and other groups should not have been termed "a war on terror," Rumsfeld said.
The term "war" makes people believe there is a conflict with a sure beginning and end, he said.
.
Four years after being replaced by Robert Gates as defense secretary following heavy Republican losses in the 2006 mid-term elections, Rumsfeld has maintained the swagger and bravado that were his hallmarks when dealing with the media as a Cabinet member.

Asked what he would like on his tombstone, Rumsfeld said, "He served."

The spacecraft " Discovery " in its final mission..[ 2161 ]

Discovery nears end of final mission

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 9, 2011 -- Updated 0828 GMT (1628 HKT)

Discovery in 'great shape'

(CNN) -- The last chapter in the story of the space shuttle Discovery likely closes Wednesday with its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
.
If the spacecraft makes one of its available landing slots -- 11:57 a.m. or 1:34 p.m. ET -- Discovery will retire having logged more than 148 million miles in orbit during 39 flights. It will have spent 365 days in space during its lifetime.
Discovery's first launch was August 30, 1984.
.
NASA managers will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Discovery to land. The National Weather Service forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high near 76 degrees. Winds could gust as high at 30 mph.
-

 

Grandmother gets call from outer space

Discovery undocked from the space station for the final time at 8:37 a.m. on Monday. It is completing a 13-day mission to outfit the International Space Station.

The nearly three-decade shuttle program is scheduled to end later this year.

NASA Image of the Day, Mar 8th ..[ 2160 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

The Journey Home

The space shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7. 

 -

During a post undocking fly-around, the crew of each vessel photographed the opposing craft. 

Image Credit: NASA
Τρίτη, 8 Μάρτιος 2011 7:00:00 π

Libya : Gaddafi forces strike rebels..[ 2159 ]

Gaddafi force strike rebels in west and east Libya

Related Video

Warplanes attack Libyan rebels

Mon, Mar 7 2011

• The debate over no fly zones in Libya
• Ras Lanuf rebels prepare for offensive
• Obama: NATO weighs Libya options

1 / 23

A rebel fighters reacts during an air strike in Ras Lanuf March 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Warplanes attack Libyan rebels (02:09) Report

By Alexander Dziadosz+

.

RAS LANUF, Libya | Tue Mar 8, 2011 7:58am EST
. 

RAS LANUF, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan warplanes struck at rebel forces behind the war's eastern frontlines on Tuesday, stepping up the government offensive to roll back their early gains in the insurrection against Muammar Gaddafi.
.
Reuters correspondents reported at least four air strikes near rebel positions in and around the oil town of Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast. One hit a civilian home.
In the west, government artillery and tanks pounded Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to the capital Tripoli, destroying many houses and trapping residents.
.
Earlier, the rebels said they had rejected an offer from the Libyan leader to negotiate his surrender of power. But the government denied any such talks had taken place and appeared to be making a robust military effort to crush the uprising.
On the international front, Britain and France led a drive at the United Nations for a no-fly zone over Libya, a move that would prevent Gaddafi from unleashing air raids on rebel fighters and towns or from flying in reinforcements.
.
But the U.S. government resisted pressure from some U.S. lawmakers for direct intervention, saying it first wanted to figure out what military options could achieve in the oil-producing desert state.
.
Tuesday's airstrikes hit at rebels behind the no-man's land between the coastal towns of Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, about 550 km (340 miles) east of Tripoli and the site of oil terminals.
.
One strike smashed a house in a residential area of Ras Lanuf, gouging a big hole in the ground floor. Many homes, including the one hit, appeared to be evacuated and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Other attacks targeted rebel positions on the outskirts of the Ras Lanuf oil terminal.
.
Mustafa Askat, an oil worker, said one bomb had wrecked a water line and this would affect water supplies to the city.
"We have a hospital inside, we have sick people and they need water urgently," he said.
The rebel army -- a rag-tag outfit largely made up of young volunteers and military defectors -- had made swift gains in the first week of the uprising which saw them take control of the east and challenge the government near Tripoli.
.
But their momentum appears to have stalled as Gaddafi's troops pushed back using war planes, tanks and heavy weapons.
.
Rebels said government forces had dug in their tanks near Bin Jawad while rebels retreated to Ras Lanuf. The two towns are about 60 km (40 miles) apart on the strategic coastal road along the Mediterranean sea that leads to Tripoli.

Related News

• Libyan warplanes strike at rebels in the east
  6:17am EST
• Tanks, artillery said to attack rebel Libyan town
  7:18am EST
• Aid agencies say 215,000 have fled Libya, many stuck
  7:28am EST
• China cool to Libya no-fly zone proposal
  6:00am EST