Officials say US missiles destroy radar sites on Yemen coast

By LOLITA C. BALDOR 19 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — American officials say U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles have destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast. The retaliatory action follows two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships. The strikes marked the first shots fired by the U.S. in anger against the Houthis in Yemen's long-running civil war. Officials haven't provided information on casualties from the U.S. missiles fired early Thursday.

In Kuwait, youths fighting with ISIS and Al-Qaeda are heroes, but Shiites supporters of anti-Israeli Hizbollah are considered as traitors

Tweets of Adnan Darwash In Kuwait, youths fighting with ISIS and Al-Qaeda are heroes, but Shiites supporters of anti-Israeli Hizbollah are considered as traitors. Spying for America and Israel is usually rewarded: Kuwait to execute 2 over ‘spying’ As a Law Graduate and before claiming to free others, Obama should free the Senate and the House from being occupied Israeli Territories. For his legacy as a Law Graduate: Obama should stop all foreign organisations, the likes of AIPAC, to corrupt US legislative bodies. For his legacy as the only president of colour, Obama should use his executive order to prevent shooting Black American youths like Rabbits. For his legacy as a peace prize winner VI: Obama should work to end the Chaos in Libya which his administration has helped to create. For his legacy as a peace prize winner V: Obama should apologise and compensate the Iraqis for the US illegal war that killed thousands. In order to democratise and to free People the 'US has to bomb nations into submission' For his legacy as a peace prize winner IV: Obama should dismantle CIA-Dirty Work and Death Squads which have caused so much pain in Iraq. For his legacy as a peace prize winner II: Obama Should've told the Israelis to dismantle their Massive Arsenal of WMD including Nukes. While Israeli IDF/SS troops keep executing Palestinians in the Streets, Germany gives it a 5th. Submarine fitted with NUKE-firing platforms. For his legacy as a peace prize winner III: Obama should've asked US Allies, the Saudis, to stop the destructive war on impoverished Yemen. For his legacy as a peace prize winner I: Obama should have advised Israel to abide by 39 UN Security Resolutions it is in breach off. Carter was the best of worst Presidents: The Blood-Soaked Legacy of the Jimmy Carter Administration shar.es/16UXLt via @grtvnews Narrow-minded and Short-sighted Turks would have fired at the boats: Iran frees trespassing US sailors. NATO has Become US Rapid Intervention Force: Why does NATO still exist? To fight terrorism? It’s laughable! rt.com/shows/sophieco… Israel Nazi-Style Practices: It isn't enough for Israel to kill a Palestinian but goes to punish his family by blowing up their only home. Which Arab country does the US intend to destroy next? 10mn refugees could come to Europe – German minister TO US Enhanced Interrogation isn't torture at Guantanamo: Ex-inmate Shaker Aamer’s interview to RT (EXCLUSIVE) --------------------- U.S. sailors' release a testament to diplomacy: Kerry Iran's release of 10 U.S. sailors it detained overnight swiftly ended what could have turned into a diplomatic row but insrtead, turned out to be a testament to the power of diplomacy according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Mana Rabiee reports. TRANSCRIPT - The images COULD have ignited a diplomatic row -- U.S. sailors on their knees, hand behind their heads, detained on their own boats overnight by Iranian forces. But it ended almost as swiftly as it began.... all ten sailors safely released after Iran said it determined they entered Iranian territory by accident because of a broken navigation system -- and NOT because of a hostile motive like espionage. The speedy resolution .... a testament to diplomacy, says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. SOUNDBITE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY SAYING: "I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago, and the fact that today this kind of issue can be resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong," Kerry had reportedly spoken several times to his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, seeking to win the sailor's release. When it was over, Zarif tweeted "happy to see dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the sailors episode". The incident DID briefly rattle nerves .... coming just days before the landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers is to go into effect. But it also marks a de-escalation in rhetoric after more than three decades of hostilities between Tehran and Washington. U.S. sailors' release a testament to diplomacy: -------------------------------------- A court in Kuwait has sentenced two people, including an Iranian, to death over allegations that they had been "spying for Iran" and planning attacks in the Persian Gulf country. The verdict was issued on Tuesday for the Iranian, identified as Abdulreza Haydar, on trial along with 25 Kuwaitis on charges of spying for Tehran and hiding of arms and ammunition in underground depots. The court claimed that Haydar had recruited the Kuwaiti nationals and helped them to travel to Lebanon to receive military training from Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah. The other man condemned to death, Kuwaiti Hasan Abdulhadi Ali, was found guilty of being "the mastermind of the cell.” Authorities handed down life imprisonment sentence to another defendant, while 19 received jail terms between five and 15 years. Three were acquitted and one was fined 5,000 dinars (USD 16,500). The court also alleged that the defendants spied for Hezbollah, smuggled in and assembled explosives, and were in possession of firearms and ammunition. Iran has yet to comment on the allegations made by the Kuwaiti court. Kuwaiti officials last August claimed that they had disbanded a cell linked to Iran and seized large quantities of arms, explosives and ammunition. The trial began in September during which all 23 defendants present in court dismissed the charges brought against them and said they had confessed under torture. In reaction, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian dismissed as completely baseless allegations leveled in Kuwait against the Islamic Republic.

Orthodox Jews' Prayer "May the Nazarens (Christians) perish in an instant. May they be bolted out of the book of the living (Pg 69:29).

The US foreign policy is like a Cart driven by Four Horses (CIA, Pentagon, AIPAC and John Kerry) pulling in as many different directions! AIPAC targeting vulnerable Democrats over Iran agreement: Analyst ptv.io/1vMx . Americans continue to support Israeli terrorists: Israeli settlers torch Palestinian homes, burn baby to death ptv.io/1vNj A number of Iraqi Sunni politicians with contacts to Saudi Arabia and Turkey are trying in vain to frustrate Iraq efforts to defeat ISIS. In the absence of International Law (UN), Israel and Turkey have been attacking their neighbours and killing the people with impunity. Unlike Iran, Israel belongs to the club of Untouchables operating outside International law with US support. During the cold war the CIA encouraged Saudi preachers to attack Liberal, Secular, Leftist and Communist ideologies and to spread Wahhabism. Corruption Leads to Treason: In order to loot Iraq, US handed power to corrupt people (Allawi, Maliki, Hashimi, Chalabi, Barzani, Talibani). Qubban Talibani, who is married to a Jew and attend the annual meetings of AIPAC; stated that Iraq ceased to exist as a united country! Usraeli agent Kurdish Autocratic War lord, Massoud Al-Barzani, supports Turkish attack on his own people just because they are leftists! Besides the sacrifices, the Shiites leadership has been witnessing the corruption and the theft of Iraqi wealth by US-installed politicians. The Shiites majority of Iraq (60%) had been marginalised by 450 years of Turkish rule, persecuted by Saddam and killed by ISIS car bombs! The biggest profiteers from Iraq corruption are the untouchable US collaborators: Barzani, Talibani, Allawi, Chalabi, Mehdi, Mutlaq, Maliki. The US embassy has helped corrupt Iraqis and other criminals to escape justice by flying them away from the green Zone to the US Via Jordan. Remember Saigon: There will not be enough helicopters to fly CIA and MOSSAD agents from the roof top of US embassy in Baghdad to Erbil! Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish Mafias of the US-installed Green Zone Republic swallow most of Iraq Oil Revenues. The US embassy must be closed. Bye Bye Cowboy Savages: After the mass demonstrations in Tahrir Square of Baghdad, millions of Iraqis will march on the Green Zone Republic! Besides Guantanamo, Obama should close the infamous US embassy in Baghdad before it is taken down brick by brick by angry Iraqis. It was just and timely for Al-Sistani to have intervened to stop ISIS and the corrupt politicians using foreign powers to dividing Iraq. The armed Popular Mobilisation Force is the only power that can unite Iraq, close foreign military bases and to stop corruption. USraelis, Turks, Saudis, Jordanians and Barzani Clan fear the Millions of Iraqi Youth rushing to join the armed Popular Mobilisation Force. Saudi and Jordanian warplanes drop weapons and supplies to ISIS West of Al-Anbar as part of the US plan to have a Sunni Arab Province! Following the defeat of ISIS, the armed Popular Mobilisation Force will be joined by all Iraqi Nationalists to give Iraq back to the people. Shiite-led Mobilisation Force in Iraq may become a real Moral Revolution. It is already feared by corrupt politicians who betrayed Iraq. Iraqi, Jordanian and Saudi Sunni Arabs have always collaborated with and served the UK and USraeli interests in the Middle East. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has been implementing UK and US policies in the Middle East including an unlimited support for Israel. US police the Streets of Baghdad but not those of LA: Los Angeles gangs bet on who can kill 100 people in 100 days dailym.ai/1VMwBpW . C4-loaded truck exploded in Baghdad today was a reply to Ibadi's reforms by Bush-established dirty-work squads which Obama didn't dismantle. "Shiite-led Iraqi Mobilisation is the only force that is capable of defeating ISIS", Independent.co.uk, 23.07.2015. The Iraqis hope that the Mobilisation Force will be able to Reducing Corruption, Unifying the Country and to Closing down the US Embassy. Iraq has the largest US embassy on earth, with 1000 'Diplomats', it houses conspirators, dirty-work experts, death squads and MOSSAD agents. Iraq 'll never see peace and the people 'll never enjoy life until the US embassy is closed down and all Americans are expelled. With so many restrictions put on Iraq in order to use the US-supplied F-16, it makes it imperative for Iraq to look for another supplier. The US-supplied F-16s to Iraq which are piloted by Kurdish pilots will be under US and Barzani control and be used to defend kurdish areas! The Americans are worried that the Shiite-led Popular Mobilisation Force will succeed in defeating ISIS and their plans to dividing Iraq! Optimism: No nation on earth can correctly identify and expose its corrupt politicians like the Iraqis. Justice is expected very soon. Having a determined leadership with fighters on the Fronts, the Shiite-led Mobilisation Force will ignore US conspiracies and defeat ISIS. Head of Iraq corruption is in US embassy while the tail is in the Green Zone. AL-Sistani must go for the head while Ibadi handles the tail. Mission Impossible: US embassy in Baghdad will frustrate Al-Sistani-ordered reform program as it will involve US allies and collaborators. There may be a repeat of July 1958 revolution when frustrated Iraqis Killed King Faisal II, his British-installed ministers and aides. The Turks are not trusted in fighting ISIS. Their warplanes will destroy Syrian army positions, by 'Friendly Fire' while targeting ISIS's. Turkey Joins Israel and Saudi Arabia as the sponsor of violence, death and destruction in the Middle East. US-led NATO supports Turkey in attacking the anti-USraeli Kurdish PKK bases in North Iraq; using ISIS as a cover. Attack ISIS and PKK pays! The Kurds are between ISIS attacks and Turkish Bombs! Erdogan joins the US-led coalition hoping to toppling Al-Assad and destroying the PKK! Insulting the Intelligence of People: While arming Islamists before sending them to Syria, Erdogan accuses Assad of supporting terrorists! Inside Turkey, the 'attacks' on ISIS supporters means targeting the Kurdish Leftist organisations that, in-reality, are fighting ISIS. Iraqi Sovereignty Under US Occupation: Turkish War planes destroy targets inside Iraq with the blessing of the US and its Kurdish agents! Turks would have never dared to bombard North Iraq and to violate its sovereignty without a green light from Obama! Barzani business associates are selling stolen Iraqi oil to Israel on behalf of ISIS at a discount price! Turkey is helping ISIS by fighting its vehement enemy the PKK. Kurdish Barzani made a secret deal with ISIS to limit the activities of PKK. Following the latest Turkish onslaught in North Iraq, Barzani has no option but to mend fences with Baghdad and to send MOSSAD agents home. NATO shouldn't be fighting Erdogan's wars. Erdogan believed that, Like Saudi Arabia, supporting and exporting ISIS to Syria and Iraq will keep its terror attacks away from Turkey! How can Turkey claim self defence when in fact its was its airforce that attacked Iraq and Syria? Foreign Minister Zareef's refusal to visit Irbil confirms, that Iran may stop all dealings with the Pro-Israeli Kurds of Northern Iraq. By attacking Leftist Kurdish PKK, Erdogan with US blessing, is opening the old Turkish wounds that kept bleeding for decades! Erdogan is in deep trouble: 20% of the Turkish population is Kurdish while there are more Alawaiytes/Shiites in Turkey than in Syria! @N_Neandertalien @USAwatchdog33 Putting Air in Coalition Punctured Tyres. The US Bombs while NATO member, Turkey, sends supplies to ISIS!!! If the Israelis are reluctant to fight the Syrians, the Jordanians will do it on their behalf using recently donated Israeli Helicopters! It was reported that Bibi Netanyahu and Moshe Arens were the handlers of Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard while still working for the US Navy. Israel PM Shamir handed Jonathan Pollard Navy Communication Codes to the USSR which resulted in capturing or liquidating scores of US spies. All spies on US are disgraced except Israelis like Jonathan Pollard, who gave Navy Communication codes to Israel that ended up in the CCCP! @ShababLibya Despite all the shortcomings, Qaddafi made a unified and prosperous country with heavy investment on health and education. Arab Suicide attackers in Iraq: Palestine: 1201 Saudi Arabia: 300 Yemen: 250 Syria: 200 Egypt: 90 Tunisia: 44 Libya: 40 Source Min. Interior . What a Jihad! Islamist Suicide Attackers are queuing to get a chance to die killing other Muslims! Insulting the Intelligence of People: Netanyahu accuses the settlers of carrying out terrorist attacks while his IDF protects them! Orthodox Jews' Prayer "May the Nazarens (Christians) perish in an instant. May they be bolted out of the book of the living (Pg 69:29). Bearded Orthodox Jews and Islamists are very similar when dealing with homosexuals. One drops them from high buildings the other stabs them! ===================== After the defeat of ISIS, the Shiite-led Mobilisation Force will move to clear out the 'Green Zone' of USraeli agents and dirty-work squads. The imminent defeat of the Bearded Islamic Barbarians in Iraq and Syria will send shivers through the bones of USraeli collaborators in M.E. The Shiite-led Mobilisation Force is a real armed, MAO-Style, revolution against ISIS and the corruption of USraeli groomed agents in Iraq. A Perfect "Constructive Chaos": Iraqis, Syrians, Libyans, Yemenis and Turks are killing each other More expected to join the mayhem later! Using Iran as a pretext, the Saudis are coordinating policies with the Israelis in supporting Islamists in Syria and in the war on Yemen. During Caliph Al-Mamoun reign (AD 813-833) scientists were encouraged to come to Baghdad. Since 1963, Iraq has been losing them in thousands.Our present leaders encourage Arab Brains to leave for Europe! Pro-USraeli British Political Establishment stinks of Coke, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Prostitution, Nepotism; Coverups and mis-use of funds! The Social Media are giving thousands of Americans a chance to exposing the Zionist control of the US Media, Wall Street and Politics. ================ Nahrain.com: After communicating in Arabic with ISIS in Haweeja, Helicopters landed and flew the 'Emir' and aides carrying cash! Saudi Arabia will be against Israel if Netanyahu converts from Judaism to a Shiite Muslim replacing the Yamulka with Omama (White Turban). Is Obama a Shiite Muslim from Kenya? That explains why he signed the Iranian Deal with 5+1 opposed by Sunni Saudi Arabia and Jewish Israel. Saudi Arabia and Israel fear normalization of US-Iran ties, not nuclear agreement: Activist ptv.io/1v4S "E' Tu Brutus": Israeli envoy calls on US Congress to reject Iran agreement ptv.io/1v3p The UK labour party is like a Leftist Hen that wanted to walk like a Conservative Pigeon. In the 'City', Humanitarian issues make no Money. The Saudi Kings and Princes aren't interested in the traditional forms of Arab/Muslim solidarity but in maintaining privileges and wealth. King Salman needs Bandar Bin Sultan: A Prince of Kickbacks, a friend of Bush, Kissinger and Israel, a mentor of ISIS and an enemy of Iran. The Americans XX: The US supports and protects the Saudi Wahhabi Kingdom despite sharing the same ideology with Al-Qaeda and with ISIS. In bombing impoverished Yemen and in siding with Israel against Iranian Nuclear Deal with the 5+1, the Saudis have gone dangerously too far. Insulting the Intelligence of People: The Saudi warplanes bomb civilian targets in Yemen and accuse the Houthis of killing civilians! Insulting the Intelligence of People: Israeli MOSSAD assassinate people across the world and Netanyahu accuses Hizbollah of terrorism! Netanyahu-led unit destroyed 10 civilian aircraft at Beirut Airport and US veto exonerated him! Netanyahu accuses Iran of supporting anti-Shiite and pro-Wahhabi ISIS! Saudis join the US-led anti-ISIS coalition while 60% of Saudis supports ISIS Wahhabi ideology! The Saudi King, guardian of the Holy Shrines, spend his holiday not in a Muslim country but in France! Israel qualifies as a Sunni State while it cooperates with Saudi Arabia, ISIS and Al-Nusrat Front against Shiites Hizballah and Iran. "Revolution, only Solution": Russell Brand triggers disgust after branding the Queen a 'Kraut Nazi' dailym.ai/1Jztcld via @MailOnline ==================== Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash 5h US General wants Iraq to be divided along ethnic lines! How about dividing the US into CHICANOSTAN, NEGROSTAN, KUKLUXISTAN and SHLOMOSTAN? View details · Reply Retweet Unfavorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash 14h For the lack of running horses the US is saddling a Geriatric Israeli Dog, Bernie Sanders, and a Fat Wheeler Dealer, Donald Trumps As AIPAC wanted the Republicans to win the next election, it asked Israeli citizen, Bernie Sanders to divert Jewish votes away from Clinton. US wants Iraq divided with ISIS-controlled areas be handed to Sunni Arab administration which will eventually be part of the 'Great Israel'. But As was expected, Al-Sistani Popular Mobilisation will go beyond ISIS to liberating Iraq from USraeli influence and corrupt collaborators. Making Iraq stands on its feet again will send shivers through the bones of the USraelis and their Saudi and Jordanian agents. Arabs Need Genuine National Leaders: Unfortunately, Nasser, Gheddafi, Assad and Saddam had served US-UK interests directly or indirectly. ======================= Kurdish warlord Barazni refusal to go triggers a crisis in North Iraq. Anti-corruption Reform Virus is creeping up from Baghdad to Erbil. Kurdish warlord Barazni's refusal to leave office triggers a crisis in North Iraq. The anti-corruption virus is creeping up from Baghdad. Iraq War Fiasco continues to cast shadows on UK and US politics. UK Labour Corbyn wants to apologise while US Jeb Bush talks like an idiot. Profits of the Oil Cartels and the US arm industries are down. US hopes that Israel attacks Iran and the South bombards the Korean North! Plan B: US Generals recommended to Israel to keep some F-35 at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Markings if war ever to break up with Iran. Before delivering F-35 to Israel, the Americans must read Ehud Barak's latest revelations. According to Ehud Brak, Israel contemplated hitting Iran with a hydrogen bomb. No-one can count how many were killed as they will find none! Iran may regret signing the Nuclear deal with the 5+1. Saddam accepted to disarm, after which Iraq was 'illegally' invaded and destroyed. Nuclear Iran is a must to deter Israel from launching a thermonuclear attack to pulverise the nation. The Greater Israel MarkII: The new borders are not limited to the area from the Nile to the Euphrates, but to include US, UK and Australia! @TheMurdochTimes If Cameron had the guts he should chase the Israeli Nuclear Elephants and not the Iranian Uranium Enrichment Fleas. To all Muslims: Kindly use the word ISIS for ISRAELI ISLAMIC STATE and Not DAESH. ISIS' main objective is to serve USraeli interests. Like Bin Laden, Al-Baghdad, ISIS leader, may be protected and cared for by the intelligence services of an US-Friendly country. Although claiming to be a Christian Country with 80% go to Church every Sunday, the US is behind all current wars on conflicts in the world! US Legislators are on the payroll of the Weapon Industry, Oil Cartels, Jewish-led Wall Street and had stopped representing the people. After leaving office, most US politicians, are given jobs in 'friendly' industries, e.g. Rumsfeld, Schultz, Haig, Kissinger, Carlucci ..etc. IN USA, before a President Enters the Whitehouse, he Owes Too Much to Too Many Power Centres and has to Pay Back the Debts while in office! US Democracy: In order for a politician to win in the US is to look like a Hollywood Star and with at least one US$billion in his coffer. The Americans are conspiring to weaken the EU: After dumping former USSR countries now they are flooding the EU with refugees! AIPAC must accuse China of anti-Semitism since it caused to emptying the coffers of Jews at Wall Street and decreasing donations to Israel. =========== Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 14 British Conservative Party Leaders are used to seeing a Labour Party playing by the USraeli rules. But not with Jeremy Cobern as its leader! View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 14 Jeremy Corbyn Will be a Palestinian voice inside the British Parliament which has been historically dominated by Friends of Israel Club. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 14 Jeremy Corbyn is a real threat to agents of the Weapon Industries and the Financial Vultures in power. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 14 Jeremy Crobyn will try his best to put a Human face on the British Foreign Policy. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 14 Jeremy Crobyn: Bad news for Netanyahu; as he will highlight the need to dismantle the Israel Nuclear Arsenal as it is protected by the US. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 11 On the 14th anniversary of 9/11 one wishes Obama to permit the publication of the 28 pages deleted from the 9/11 commission's report. View details · Reply Retweet Unfavorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 11 Jeremy Corbyn can defeat Cameron, if he accepts increasing the UK spending not on Hospitals, Schools and Roads but on buying more US arms!! View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 11 Passing Iran Nuclear Deal in the US senate and the vote in the UN to raise the Palestinian flag are nasty defeats for Likudist Netanyahu. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 11 Caliph Al-Mamoun AD813-AD833, encouraged 'scientist' to come to Baghdad. Our present leaders encourage Arab Brains to leave for Europe! View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 9 The US plan to rally Al-Qaeda and Its Allies to declare an Afghanistan-style Jihad to killing Al-Assad similar to the hanging Dr Najeebullah View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 The Saudi-led coalition fell deep in a Yemeni pit and continues digging. Invaders of Afghanistan and Yemen have paid a heavy price. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 ISIS fighters know anti-ISIS coalition Warplanes aren't serious in their attacks and continue their open air parades and execution parties. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 The killing in Syria is being carried out not only by the Syrian regime forces as Western Media insinuate but also by the bearded Islamists. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 Qataris, Saudis, UK, US, Jordan and Turkey helped to Recruit, Train and Arm Islamists before sending them to destroy and kill in Syria. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 Gulf Arab States (Pigs of the Gulf) are ready to spend US$ billions on destroying the homes of Other Arabs but not to assist Arab refugees!! View details · Reply Unretweet Unfavorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 7 A Christian 'Kafir,, like German Angela Merkel, goes out of her way to help Arab refugees but not the Wahabi Muslims of Saudi Arabia! View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 4 The Syrian Refugees 'll be readily accepted in the UK if they claim to be Jews. David Cameron will be the first to offer them citizenship. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 4 Eisenhower ordered the Israelis out of Sinai in 1956. Obama can order the Israelis to implement 39 UNSC resolutions they are in breach off. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 4 The most Significant Obama Legacy is having the guts to dismantle Israel massive arsenal of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Adnan Darwash Adnan Darwash @AdnanDarwash Sep 2 The most effective way for Obama to punish US legislators opposing Iranian Deal is to insist on Israel to dismantle its Nuclear arsenal. View details · Reply Retweet Favorite Load older Tweets

Clever War Tactics

US-dominated Europe shouldn't complain about refugees and must blame themselves for destroying their homes in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen.US-led West helps Arabs to win Competitions: Somalia and Iraq win the Corruption Cup while South Sudan and Libya win the Failed State Medal! Most Americans are inherently violent and have no remorse about killing people of other nations or each other. No law can change this! If all Muslims are bad because of ISIS barbarity then all US Whites are evil for the killing of African Americans! Civilized America: US cities become war-zones most weekends, with higher gun death tolls in 2 days than countries like England in a year! The African Americans need to be more aggressive in order to assert their humanity and dignity. "An Eye for an Eye" attitude must be adopted. It's puzzling! Some White Americans look down on the American Africans and consider them as sub humans pests who deserve to be killed! After the failure of US democracy and a half-black US president to protect hapless African Americans, it is high time for a revolution. It Happens only in USA: Gang Members and Mafia Outfits aren't considered as terrorists because they terrorise people n' not anti-government! It Happens only in USA: Billions are made in Hollywood while 150,000 Gang Members commit crimes in derelict streets of nearby Los Angeles. It happens only in USA: The racist KU Klux Klan (KKK) hold their cross-burning rallies with hood- wearing members including Police officers! Americans Deserve What They Get: Deranged Jeb Bush, Fraudster Trump or Muscle man Arnold Schwarzenger for President in November! I need action Not tear Or prayer I am the US Nigger Live in Fear Obama & God can't stop a killer Before any nation Free your Nigger Netanyahu started to effectively assist Islamists living inside Israel to join ISIS on a one-way Visa in order to get rid of extremists. Palestinians are shrewed businessmen. Misha'al in Qatar, while Hamas tells the Saudis to pump money in Gaza if they want to keep away Iran! A Litmus Test for a true Muslim or Arab: Is the work toward ending the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the liberation of Jerusalem. Islamists declare Jihad not to liberate Holy Jerusalem or Close Kafir American Bases in the Gulf Arab States, but to kill Arabs and Muslims! There are bearded Islamists in Gaza too: A call for US air exclusion zone not over Gaza but over Syria to protect the bearded Islamists! The Ungrateful King Abdullah of Jordan sells goods to Iraq, accepts cheap Oil and stabs the country in the back with USraeli-Saudi knives! US and Saudi Arabia are pushing King Abdullah II of Jordan to arm Iraqi tribes and send special forces to assist fragmenting the country! The Iraqi people must move fast and arrest all pro-ISIS sympathisers inside the Green Zone disregarding US protestations or immunity.AFTER BEING RELUCTANT TO HURT ISIS, THE US TELLS IRAQI AIRFORCE TO LEAVE THE AIR AND ABORT MISSIONS BECAUSE 'ALLIES PLANES ARE IN THE AIR.'! Many Sunni Arabs who received money from Saudi Arabia to undermine the security and safety of Iraqi people may be tried for treason. Documents leaked by Wiki leaks confirm Saudis bribing Iraqi Sunni Arabs to facilitate the Takeover of Mosul, Tikrit and Ramadi by ISIS. Democrats believe that G.W.Bush was responsible the appearance of ISIS, while Republicans blame Obama. One must say that both are rght. Real Dangers: It wasn't Saddam's Anthrax Vials shown by Colin Powell that threatened the world but the Pentagon's as was recently exposed! Unreliable US Ally: The delay in delivering quality US weapons to Iraq, under Israeli pressure, forces the Iraqis to seek help from Iran. Most Iraqi families has at least one machine gun. ISIS has no chance of winning a fight and depends mainly on car bombs or suicide attacks. Clever War Tactics: The US bribed Saddam Top Military Brass with a US$1000,000 each and carried them to Kuwait before the invasion of 2003. Clever War Tactics: The US used the UN to disarm Iraq and to locate every military unit before the US invasion of the country in 2003. Clever War Tactics: Late Jordanian King Hussein prevented the Palestinians from owning weapons before the Israeli West Bank invasion in1967! Really Bad for USA: Most Iraqi Parliamentarians sincerely believe that USA is unhappy with the current successes in the fight against ISIS. The harder ISIS fighters push spearheaded by suicide attackers the more ground they lose in Iraq to Shiites-led Popular Mobilisation Force! As long as Turkey continues its support for ISIS, the Syrian Kurds' aim of establishing a Barzani-Type state has to wait. No conspiracy here: Turkey and US draw red lines for all forces involved in the fight against ISIS in Syria or in Iraq. Does Obama and his Jewish advisors really know what they want from Bashar Al-Assad or if they care what will happen to Syria if he leaves? US weapons on both sides in the conflict: US-made weapons sold to Qatar go to ISIS Via Turkey to be destroyed by US-made Arms sold to Iraq! After a deep Sleep The Nation of Sheep 'll elect a Crook or a Creep Bush promised a Rack Full of Weapon Clinton wants Lewinsky's back. To the Arab Good Luck Russian Emir Vladimir 'll Act To stop the Insane USraeli Skunks, To Finish the Ukraine And Keep Iraq & Syria Intact US tries to Isolate Putin, but Russia becomes a Mecca for visitors including the Greek Prime Minister, Iraqi Ibadi and the Saudi King's Son! Putin is a Shiite! He stands in support of Iran and Bashar Al-Assad. He has rushed supplying Iraq with Attack Helicopters to Chase ISIS. US installs CIA agents in former CCCP republics (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик), asks NATO to deploy forces on Russian borders and blames Putin for defending his country! One wonders why Crafty Putin accepted Bandar Bin Sultan to recruit thousands of Chechens. May be it was to get rid of the Islamic fanatics! If Arabs want to avoid Harassment from US-sponsored UN nuclear inspection dogs they need Israeli approval for any nuclear activity. Real Dangers: It isn't Iran's peaceful Uranium Enrichment Program that threatens the world but the massive Stockpile of Israeli NUKES. CIA delays or corrupts investigations: 1. Malaysian Flight 017 2.Chilcot's Report on Iraq War 3.Iraqi Parliament Report on the fall of Mosul

Arson attack: Nine NATO fuel trucks destroyed, driver killed

http://tribune.com.pk/story/604133/arson-attack-nine-nato-fuel-trucks-destroyed-driver-killed/ Attack trigge­rs huge fire, disrup­ts highwa­y traffi­c. By Mohammad ZafarPublished: September 14, 2013 Share this article Print this page Email . File photo of a policeman standing next to burning Nato supply oil tankers. PHOTO: AFP .QUETTA: A fuel truck driver was killed and at least nine Nato trucks were destroyed late Thursday night when unidentified men fired rockets at them in Surab tehsil in Kalat district. Around 15 Nato tankers carrying fuel were parked at a roadside teashop when militants resorted to indiscriminate fire on the tankers and fired rockets, according to police. Nine fuel trucks were engulfed in flames as a result. The fire also spread to nearby shops and the teashop. The attackers were heavily armed and used a lot of firepower to scare people in the area, eyewitnesses said. Surab Assistant Commissioner Khuda-e-Rahim Mirwani told The Express Tribune that the attack took place at around 2 am. “One of drivers killed in the attack has been identified as Samiullah,” he said, adding that the attackers had fired six to seven rockets. The fire was extinguished after a long battle around 6 pm because the tehsil is not equipped with a fire brigade. Firefighters were called in from Kalat city. The traffic on Quetta Karachi National Highway was disrupted for several hours because of the huge fire. Officials operating fire tenders conceded that they lacked equipment and material to deal with such a fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. A case has been registered against unidentified suspects and investigations are under way. Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2013.

How much longer can Kadhafi hold out?.

Adnan Darwash

Group: Guests

Posted 05 September 2011 - 10:54 AM

The US and most European governments, didn’t practice what they preached or what they had been announcing to their respective people; at least not when it comes to matters concerning Libya or the Geddafi regime. The documents uncovered in Libya so far have exposed many secret dealings and illegal activities in helping Geddafi punish his opponen while at the same revealing names of high US, French and British officials (e.g. Sir Mark Allen). Furthermore, it has shown that State Department and Pentagon officials visited Libya few months ago rendering advice in order to save Geddafi regime from further NATO attacks. As a result of such consultation, Libyan diplomats travelled to Israel to normalise relations with the National Zionist (NAZI) State as it is called by JEWWATCH.com.

The Americans were right in being concerned as the collapse of Geddafi regime will lead to some embarassing exposures. Besides their part in the rendition and torture of terror suspects (e.g. Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the current military commander in Tripoli) there is a risk that the significant payments made to Tony Blair, to Sir. Mark Allen, to US officials and to Nikolas Sarkozi will be made public. In addition, the Israelis were unhappy to see Geddafi gone since many believe that he has a Jewish blood and wanted to compensate Jews with $US billions for the properties left behind when they immigrated out of the country in 1967, following the Israeli attack on Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

So what has made the West rush to bombard Libya and to risk loosing Geddafi and the ensuing consequences?

Squeezed between revolutions in Tunisa and Egypt, the US, UK, and France were aware that the Islamists will eventually take control of Libya and convert the North African state into another Iran.

The present chaos in Libya is expected to continue long after Geddafi had left the scene. There is a Libyan saying, one doesn|t have to go out to know it is winter.The Islamist commander in Benghazi has already called on the head of the NTC (National Transitional Council) to resign for being too close to Geddafi in the past and for being too cosy with NATO. The same commander was involved in the killing of Rebel General Abdul Fattah Younis and the burning of his remains near Benghazi. While the Islamist commander of Tripoli has called on the US and the UK to apologise for helping Geddafi in kidnapping and torturing him at the notorious Bu Slim prison where he was held for seven years. One can say that Libya is not Iraq, but the US-led NATO chaos is familiar.

Posted 05 September 2011 - 06:45 PM

Money in the hands of the crooks will not result in stable, secure or prosperous Libya. So far the US had spent over $two trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan. There are still $7 billion un accounted for in Iraq. Mr Paul Bremer, US-appointed first ruler of occupied Iraq, was accused of pocketing $300 million. The infrastrucre and services in Iraq are one million times worse than when criminal Saddam was in charge.



Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times



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من AFP news agency (Agence France-Presse)‏ في 25 أغسطس، 2011‏، الساعة 06:05 مساءً‏‏
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Rebel commanders said that while they control most of Tripoli, hot spots remain where sniper fire, rocket explosions and heavy weaponry make life dangerous.



A picture released by a Libyan opposition group. AFP PHOTO/AL-MANARA MEDIA/HO



Libyan rebels ready Kadhafi knockout punch



by Dominique Soguel and Marc Bastian



TRIPOLI, Aug 25, 2011 (AFP) - Hardened rebel fighters streamed into Tripoli Thursday seeking to deliver a knockout punch to Moamer Kadhafi's diehards and to flush out the elusive strongman, who has a $1.7 million price on his head.



As the six-month rebellion against the former colonel appeared to be drawing to an end, rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said it had "resulted in more than 20,000 dead."


He also said countries that had helped the rebel cause would be rewarded accordingly.



"We promise to favour the countries which helped us, especially in the development of Libya. We will deal with them according to the support which they gave us," he told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi.



Beyond Tripoli, rebel commanders said they were also readying a new advance against forces defending Kadhafi's hometown Sirte, 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli and seeking to break a siege of Zuwarah, a town to the

west.



British Defence Minister Liam Fox said NATO was helping the rebels with intelligence and reconnaissance to find Kadhafi, but the Western alliance denied his claim.



However, an AFP reporter discovered that French and British operatives are working with rebels as they press towards Sirte, amid unconfirmed reports British special forces SAS members were sent to Libya several weeks ago.



Leading the army of reinforcements into Tripoli were seasoned combatants from Misrata, whose fellow fighters spearheaded the weekend assault that saw the capital swiftly overrun and Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound

captured.



Rebel commanders said that while they control most of Tripoli, hot spots remain where sniper fire, rocket explosions and heavy weaponry make life dangerous.



In an example of that, Tripoli's Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel, where numerous foreign journalists are based, came under attack on Thursday, apparently by Kadhafi snipers, but there were no reports of casualties.



"Heavy shooting is going on in central Tripoli just at the doorstep of our hotel. Street battle. Sniper fire. Hotel under gunfire attack," an AFP correspondent reported of the firefight, which last about 40 minutes.



The Corinthia is located a few hundred metres (yards) from the centre of Tripoli's Old City, near the sea.



The rebels are also hell-bent on finding Kadhafi, so they can proclaim final victory in an uprising that began six months ago and was all but crushed by Kadhafi's forces before NATO warplanes gave crucial air support to the rebels.



Rebel leaders say they want to put Kadhafi on trial even though he also faces charges of crimes against humanity along with his son Seif al-Islam and spymaster Abdullah al-Senussi at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.



On Wednesday, the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) offered a $1.7 million reward for the capture of Kadhafi, dead or alive, and amnesty to any members of his inner circle who kill or capture him.



The 69-year-old Kadhafi has not been seen in public for weeks. But despite losing control of the oil-rich North African country he ruled with an iron first for 42 years, he is still managing to broadcast messages urging Libyans to drive out the "rats" -- as he disparagingly calls the rebels.



Britain's Defence Minister Liam Fox told Sky news that

NATO is providing "intelligence and reconnaissance assets to the NTC to help them track down Colonel Kadhafi and other remnants of the regime."



NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu denied that.



"No specific individual is a target as an individual, whether it's Kadhafi or anybody else," she told AFP in Brussels.



The alliance has repeatedly denied targeting Kadhafi since NATO-led warplanes began bombing regime forces in March and has always rejected claims that it was serving as the rebels' proxy air force.



"There is no military coordination with the rebels," Lungescu said.

Meanwhile, Fox declined to comment on reports that Britain's SAS special forces were working with the rebels to track down Kadhafi.



The Daily Telegraph newspaper, quoting defence sources, said SAS members were sent to Libya several weeks ago and played a key role in coordinating the battle for Tripoli, which fell into rebel hands on Sunday.



In the oil refinery town of Zuwaytina, the new eastern front about 150 kilometres (93 miles) southwest of the opposition bastion Benghazi, an AFP reporter saw French and British operatives working with Libyan rebels



They are equipped with telecommunications equipment and housed in two shipping containers, within walking distance of the headquarters of Fawzi Bukatif, commander of the eastern front.
.


In Tripoli's Souk Al-Jumaa, the arrival of at least 60 Misrata rebels on Wednesday sparked joy among residents.



"We are very happy. Misrata's soldiers can win anything," said Taha Abu Zeid. "They could even win Afghanistan."



They were joined by rebels from the western Nafusa mountains and as far east as Benghazi, as field commanders vowed to bring the capital under full rebel control.



Fighting is concentrated along the perimeters of Bab al-Aziziya and the neighbouring Abu Slim district, where Kadhafi reportedly released, armed and paid former prisoners to fight for his regime.



The streets were quiet there Thursday after heavy fighting in the area the previous day.



Rebel commanders said Kadhafi forces were pounding insurgents holding the centre of Zuwarah, west of Tripoli, adding that they needed reinforcements to help them break the siege.



Rebels advancing towards Sirte were also blocked Wednesday in the town of Bin Jawad as loyalists kept up stiff resistance.



"Kadhafi's forces are still fighting, we are surprised. We thought they would surrender with the fall of Tripoli," rebel commander Fawzi Bukatif said.



Meanwhile, at a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Milan, NTC number two Mahmud Jibril repeated calls for urgent financial help.



"This is an urgent call upon our friends," Jibril said, adding that the "biggest disabling element" for the NTC "would be the failure to deliver services and salaries" in the post-Kadhafi period.



On Wednesday, the NTC sought $5 billion in emergency aid from frozen assets at a meeting with foreign representatives from the Libya contact group in Qatar, a sum twice that announced by Jibril on Tuesday.


But at the United Nations South Africa refused to lift a block on the United States unfreezing $1.5 billion of Libyan assets to buy humanitarian aid, setting up a diplomatic showdown at the Security Council.



In Milan, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome would release next week 350 million euros ($504 million) in assets frozen in Italian banks.



Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the United Nations to take action to unlock the assets, at the start of a Libya Contact Group meeting of senior diplomats in Istanbul.


============

REFILE-Slain Libyan commander's tribe warns rebels over probe

03 Aug 2011 01:37
Source: Reuters // Reuters

(Revises wording of 4th para)

* Tribal justice looms, barring full rebel investigation

* Younes tribe complains rebel leadership dragging feet

* Killing smacks of internal betrayal -- Younes son

By Rania El Gamal

BENGHAZI, Libya Aug 2 (Reuters) - The powerful tribe of the Libyan rebels' slain military commander vowed on Tuesday to find justice themselves for his suspicious killing last week if rebel leaders failed to investigate it fully.

General Abdel Fattah Younes's death, apparently while in the custody of fellow rebels bringing him back from the front line for unspecified questioning, raised fears of deep divisions in the rebel camp, something the tribal ultimatum only underlined.

"The way he was killed looks like a betrayal, so until now we are trying to calm and control the youth of the tribe, but we don't know what could happen," one of Younes's sons told foreign reporters when asked if rifts could turn violent.

He declined to be named but spoke on behalf of the family gathered around him, following a crisis summit of leaders of some 90 tribes led by Younes's Ubaideyat tribe, one of Libya's biggest, at the family ranch in the rebel stronghold Benghazi.

After two days of confusion, rebel leaders said on Saturday the assailants were militiamen allied to the rebels in their struggle to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Few details have been revealed -- even, the family says, to them.

"They (the tribal committee) will investigate who issued the arrest warrant and who sent whom to arrest him, how was he lost. They said he was dead but they couldn't find the body, so how did they know he was dead if there was no body?" the son said.

The family complained to Reuters on Monday that the rebel leadership was dragging its feet over its own investigation into the murder, which they said smacked of conspiracy and treason.

They said they would if needed turn for help to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which has issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi over alleged crimes against humanity.

"A HAND IN IT"

Younes was shot dead with two aides at some point after he was summoned to Benghazi by the Transitional National Council (TNC), the rebel leadership now recognised diplomatically by many Western states.

"If the council (TNC) doesn't bring us justice, and if the (international) judiciary don't bring us justice, then we will leave it to the tribe to bring us justice," the son said.

Tribes have a huge influence in Libyan society. Younes's tribe, from the rebel-held east, numbers about 400,000.

Family members say the TNC has not yet formed its announced investigation committee nor named any of its members.

On Tuesday the son said the tribe had refused to let TNC officials attend mourning days where people pay condolences to the family "because the tribe was upset, they feel that either the council had a hand in it or they are neglecting it".

For years Younes was in Gaddafi's inner circle before defecting in February at the start of the rebels' uprising to become their military chief.

Muatsem Abdel Fattah Younes, one of his sons, said on Monday he only found out his father was dead from watching television.

He said he had talked to Younes on Thursday at 2 a.m. after he heard that armed men had surrounded his father's headquarters in the town of Ajdabiya.

INTENT TO BETRAY

Bodyguards who accompanied him on the way to Benghazi were stopped by armed men and stripped of their weapons. Younes's body was found on Friday in the suburbs of Benghazi, burnt and with gunshot wounds. Two officers with him were also killed.

Officials say a militiaman was arrested and confessed his subordinates had killed them, but have not given details.

Younes's nephew said on Monday it seemed there had never been any plan to question him in Benghazi.

"If there was an intention to investigate him, they could have called him and he would have followed orders, but there was no intention of that," Mohammed Hamed Younes told Reuters.

"From the start, there was an intention of betrayal and treason."

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal, writing by Richard Meares; editing by Mark Heinrich)

============



Gaddafi loyalists put up tough fight in Sirte

27 Sep 2011 22:44
Source: Reuters // Reuters

By Sherine El Madany

SIRTE, Libya, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Intense sniper and artillery fire from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi holed up in Sirte kept fighters with Libya's new rulers at bay in the deposed leader's hometown on Wednesday.

Sirte, one of the last two bastions of support for Gaddafi, is encircled by forces with the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) and under aerial attack from NATO.

NTC fighters have been meeting stiff resistance from Gaddafi loyalists, who have managed to hang on to much of Sirte more than a month after the fall of the Libyan leader's regime.

Lack of coordination and divisions at the front have been hampering their attempts to capture Sirte and Bani Walid, which lies 180 km (110 miles) south of Tripoli.

A commander leading the attack on Sirte said on Tuesday he was in talks with elders inside the city about a truce, but the head of another anti-Gaddafi unit rejected negotiations.

There were clashes at a roundabout 2 km (1.5 miles) east of the centre of Sirte, where anti-Gaddafi fighters were pinned down for a second day by sniper and artillery fire.

Forces with the new government brought in two tanks and trucks carrying infantry to try to break through.

Snipers, though, held up the advance, forcing the attackers to take cover behind metal shipping containers.

Medical workers at a hospital in Ras Lanuf, which lies 220 km (137 miles) east of Sirte, said they had received the bodies of six NTC fighters killed in fighting on the city's eastern front. Some 45 fighters were wounded, many from sniper fire.

While the fighting continues, humanitarian organisations have expressed alarm at the worsening situation in Sirte.

"Our main worry is the people being displaced because of the fighting," said Jafar Vishtawi, a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), near Sirte.

GADDAFIS STILL MAKING WAVES

Taking Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, would bring Libya's new rulers closer to gaining control of the whole country, something still eluding them more than a month after their fighters seized the capital.

It is likely some members of Gaddafi's family are in Sirte but there is no information about the location of the former ruler himself. He is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant.

A Syria-based television station that has been broadcasting audio speeches by Gaddafi, reported on Tuesday that the toppled leader had addressed his supporters and urged them to fight in a speech broadcast on a local radio station in Bani Walid.

The report by Arrai television could not be independently verfied.

Arrai also broadcast footage of what it said was Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, dated Sept. 20, rallying his forces at an unidentified location.

"This land is the land of your forefathers. Don't hand it over," Saif al-Islam, shouted to a crowd of followers.

In neighhouring Algeria, the government ordered members of Gaddafi's family in exile there to stay out of politics after Gaddafi's daughter Aisha angered the NTC by telling the media her father was still fighting to hold on to power.

Aisha Gaddafi, her brothers Hannibal and Mohammed, their mother Safia and several other family members fled in August.

In a separate development, a Tunisian court of appeal freed Gaddafi's former Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, who was sentenced to six months in jail last week after he was arrested near the North African country's border with Algeria.

Shortly after the ruling, a source at the Justice Ministry told Reuters that Tunisia had not received any request from the NTC to extradite al-Mahmoudi.

Libya's new rulers received an important boost when exports of crude oil -- the country's only major source of revenue -- resumed for the first time in months.

The head of Libya's port authority said a cargo of crude oil had sailed on Sept. 25 from the port of Marsa el Hariga, bound for Italy. It was only the third cargo to leave Libya since the rebellion against Gaddafi's rule began in February.

"We are working hard to make everything run normally at the ports," Capt. Ramadan Boumadyan said in an interview. "I think everything will be back to normal in a month's time." (Additional reporting by William MacLean and Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Emad Omar in Benghazi, Jonathan Saul and Paul Hoskins in London, Tarek Amara in Tunis, Christian Lowe and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers and Ali Abdelatti and Sami Aboudi in Cairo; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Robert Woodward)

=============


Gaddafi loyalists "ask for truce" in besieged city

27 Sep 2011 19:13
Source: Reuters // Reuters


Families flee from Sirte amid fighting between anti-Gaddafi fighters and pro-Gaddafi forces, around 6 km (4 miles) east of Sirte, September 26, 2011. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

(Adds TV footage shown of Gaddafi's son)

By Sherine El Madany

SIRTE, Libya, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A Libyan commander leading the attack on Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte said on Tuesday he was in talks with elders inside the city about a truce, but the head of another anti-Gaddafi unit rejected negotiations.

Sirte, one of the last bastions of support for the deposed Libyan leader, is encircled by forces with the interim government and under bombardment from NATO warplanes.

Touhami Zayani, commander of the El-Farouk brigade on the western edge of Sirte, told Reuters an elder from Gaddafi's tribe, whom he did not identify, had contacted him on his satellite phone from inside Sirte.

"He called me and said we are looking for a safe passage for the families and for the militia to leave the city," he said.

Zayani said he had given his agreement for families from Gaddafi's tribe, who make up the majority of Sirte's population, to be allowed to leave and was still negotiating terms for armed Gaddafi loyalists to surrender.

"We didn't really get into details and we didn't talk much about how they will leave but I think the scenario will be that they have to give up their weapons," Zayani said.

Reflecting the lack of coordination that has dogged the Libyan government's efforts to establish its authority, units in the east of Sirte fought on, even as their allies in the west of Sirte ceased fire to await the outcome of truce talks.

Asked about the prospect of a truce with pro-Gaddafi fighters, Omar Al-Qatrany, an anti-Gaddafi commander on the eastern front line, said: "Those people don't want to negotiate and we don't care about them any more.

"Our main concern is to evacuate families out of Sirte and then we will bomb the city," he said.

Libya's new rulers received an important boost when exports of crude oil -- the country's only major source of revenue -- resumed for the first time in months.

There were clashes at a roundabout 2 km (1.5 miles) east of the centre of Sirte, where anti-Gaddafi fighters were pinned down for a second day by intense sniper and artillery fire.

A Reuters reporter nearby said forces with the new government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), brought up reinforcements to the roundabout to try to break through, including two tanks and about a dozen trucks carrying infantry.

Snipers, though, held up the advance, forcing the attackers to take cover behind metal shipping containers.

Medical workers at a hospital in Ras Lanuf, which lies 220 km (137 miles) east of Sirte, said they had received the bodies of six NTC fighters killed in fighting on the city's eastern front. Some 45 fighters were wounded, many from sniper fire.

While the fighting continues, humanitarian organisations have been expressing alarm at the worsening situation in Sirte.

"Our main worry is the people being displaced because of the fighting," said Jafar Vishtawi, a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), near Sirte.

SYMBOLIC VICTORY

Taking Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, would bring Libya's new rulers closer to gaining control of the whole country, something still eluding them more than a month after their fighters seized the capital.

It is likely some members of Gaddafi's family are in Sirte but there is no information about the location of the former ruler himself. He is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant.

A Syria-based television station broadcast footage on Tuesday of what it said was Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, dated Sept. 20, rallying his forces at an unidentified location.

"This land is the land of your forefathers. Don't hand it over," Saif al-Islam, shouted to a crowd of followers, according to the footage broadcast by Arrai TV.

In neighhouring Algeria, the government ordered members of Gaddafi's family in exile there to stay out of politics after Gaddafi's daughter Aisha angered the NTC by telling the media her father was still fighting to hold on to power.

"It is clear that the message has been passed on to Aisha and the other members of the family that they should, from now on, respect their status as guests in Algeria and remove themselves completely from any political action," Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci was quoted as saying by the official APS news agency.

Aisha Gaddafi, her brothers Hannibal and Mohammed, their mother Safia and several other family members fled in August.

In a separate development, a Tunisian court of appeal freed Gaddafi's former Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, who was sentenced to six months in jail last week after he was arrested near the North African country's border with Algeria.

Shortly after the ruling, a source at the Justice Ministry told Reuters that Tunisia had not received any request from the NTC to extradite al-Mahmoudi.

"Tunisia has not received any official request to extradite Mahmoudi," the source said. "And after the court's decision to free him, he is a free man." A Tunisian court last week jailed Mahmoudi for illegally entering the country.

OIL EXPORTS

The head of Libya's port authority said a cargo of crude oil had sailed on Sept. 25 from the port of Marsa el Hariga, bound for Italy. It was only the third cargo to leave Libya since the rebellion against Gaddafi's rule began in February.

"We are working hard to make everything run normally at the ports," Capt. Ramadan Boumadyan said in an interview. "I think everything will be back to normal in a month's time."

Foreign companies are jockeying for a share of oil contracts and the billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts the new Libyan government is expected to hand out once revenue from oil sales starts flowing in.

Firms from Britain and France, which led the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, are in the forefront of the race for business.

"They (the Libyans) are not naïve, they expect it to be profitable to us, but they're not going to do us any favours. It will be competitive," Stephen Green, Britain's trade and investment minister, told a meeting of British executives in London.

The biggest risk to Libya's stability now is a power vacuum. The NTC exercises only tenuous control while real power lies in the hands of armed militias that ousted Gaddafi.

NTC officials on Tuesday asked fighters who flooded into Tripoli from other regions to leave, warning their presence could destabilise the country. (Additional reporting by William MacLean and Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Emad Omar in Benghazi, Jonathan Saul and Paul Hoskins in London, Tarek Amara in Tunis, Christian Lowe and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers and Ali Abdelatti and Sami Aboudi in Cairo; Writing by Joseph Nasr and Christian Lowe; Editing by Robert Woodward)


============


Gaddafi urges supporters to come out
By Areeb Hasni - Oct 7th, 2011 (No Comment)
2
Sirte: Libyan ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi has called on his supporters to come on to the streets to resist the nation’s interim leaders.
In an audio message broadcast on Syrian-based Arrai television on Thursday, he said conditions in Libya have become “unbearable”.
The message comes as heavy fighting continued between the anti-Gaddafi forces and loyalists for the city of Sirte.
The whereabouts of Col Gaddafi remain unknown.
Gaddadi in his recorded speech says, “I call on the Libyan people, men and women, to go out into the squares and the streets in all the cities in their millions.
“Go peacefully… be courageous, rise up, go to the streets, raise our green flags to the skies.
“Don’t be afraid of anyone. You are the people. You have right on your side. You are the rightful people of this land.”
NTC troops around Bani Walid, file pic NTC troops around Bani Walid are said to be getting reinforcements soon
Col Gaddafi questioned the right of the NTC to govern, asking: “How did it get its legitimacy? Did the Libyan people elect them? Did the Libyan people appoint them?”
He adds, “To those who recognise this council, be ready for the creation of transitional councils imposed by the power of fleets [Western powers] to replace you one by one from now on.”
Gaddafi has eluded capture since the fall of the capital and despite speculation of his presence in Bani Walid, Sirte, Sabha and other areas further south, there has been no confirmation of his whereabouts.
Intense fighting is meanwhile continuing for Sirte, 360km (225 miles) east of Tripoli and one of the last loyalist strongholds.
NTC commander, Nasser el-Mgasibi, told AFP news agency, “Today we carried out a pincer movement to try to cut off the Mauritanian Quarter, where there are a number of [loyalist] fighters, and to cut off their rear.”
Thousands of civilians have fled Sirte but the NTC believes hundreds are still there.
Some of those who have escaped have complained of indiscriminate NATO and NTC bomb and artillery fire.
NATO insisted that it has not struck Sirte since the weekend and “is siding with none of the forces on the ground”, AFP reports.
There were also reports that a 1,000-strong NTC brigade was being sent to the other major loyalist bastion, Bani Walid, to try to break an impasse there.
Meanwhile, NATO defence ministers were meeting in Naples to discuss the Libya campaign.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, who is meeting military commanders of the campaign, said it had been a “remarkable achievement”.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, “We are determined to pursue our operation as long as threats persist, but to end it as soon as conditions permit.”


============

Gaddafi warns developing world leaders of similar fate

06 Oct 2011 16:46
Source: Reuters // Reuters

* Gaddafi calls on Libyans to protest

* Says NTC not legitimate (Adds quotes, background)

BEIRUT, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi said leaders of the developing world who recognised Libya's National Transitional Council(NTC) that ousted him with the aid of NATO firepower would suffer a similar fate.

"If the power of (international) fleets give legitimacy, then let the rulers in the Third World be ready," he said in an apparent reference to NATO's military support for NTC forces.

He made the comments in an audio recording obtained by Reuters on Thursday from Syria-based Arrai television. It was not clear when the message was recorded.

"To those who recognize this council, be ready for the creation of transitional councils imposed by the power of fleets to replace you one by one from now on," he said.

Gaddafi also called on Libyans to take to the streets, saying conditions in Libya were "unbearable".

"I urge all Libyan people to go out and march in their millions in all the squares, in all the cities and villages and oases," Gaddafi said.

"Go peacefully ... be courageous, rise up, go to the streets, raise our green flags to the skies," he added.

Gaddafi has been on the run since NTC forces captured the Libyan capital Tripoli on Aug. 23. Despite several leads as to his whereabouts, he has eluded capture, along with two prominent sons.

The NTC has mounted a manhunt to find Gaddafi that is focussing on the Sahara desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

Gaddafi said the NTC was illegitimate. "How did it get its legitimacy? Did the Libyan people elect them? Did the Libyan people appoint them?"

Arrai TV broadcast Gaddafi's last speech on Sept. 20.

(Reporting by Lutfi abu Oun and Oliver Holmes; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

==============


Gaddafi warns developing world leaders of similar fate

06 Oct 2011 16:46
Source: Reuters // Reuters

* Gaddafi calls on Libyans to protest

* Says NTC not legitimate (Adds quotes, background)

BEIRUT, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi said leaders of the developing world who recognised Libya's National Transitional Council(NTC) that ousted him with the aid of NATO firepower would suffer a similar fate.

"If the power of (international) fleets give legitimacy, then let the rulers in the Third World be ready," he said in an apparent reference to NATO's military support for NTC forces.

He made the comments in an audio recording obtained by Reuters on Thursday from Syria-based Arrai television. It was not clear when the message was recorded.

"To those who recognize this council, be ready for the creation of transitional councils imposed by the power of fleets to replace you one by one from now on," he said.

Gaddafi also called on Libyans to take to the streets, saying conditions in Libya were "unbearable".

"I urge all Libyan people to go out and march in their millions in all the squares, in all the cities and villages and oases," Gaddafi said.

"Go peacefully ... be courageous, rise up, go to the streets, raise our green flags to the skies," he added.

Gaddafi has been on the run since NTC forces captured the Libyan capital Tripoli on Aug. 23. Despite several leads as to his whereabouts, he has eluded capture, along with two prominent sons.

The NTC has mounted a manhunt to find Gaddafi that is focussing on the Sahara desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

Gaddafi said the NTC was illegitimate. "How did it get its legitimacy? Did the Libyan people elect them? Did the Libyan people appoint them?"

Arrai TV broadcast Gaddafi's last speech on Sept. 20.

(Reporting by Lutfi abu Oun and Oliver Holmes; Editing by Janet Lawrence)


===


American fighter makes Libya's war his own

07 Oct 2011 23:28
Source: Reuters // Reuters


A bullet-riddled picture of Muammar Gaddafi hangs on the wall of a cafetaria at a gas station in Bou Hadi town, October 3, 2011. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

* Man from Maryland fighting to capture Gaddafi hometown

* Gaddafi forces jailed him soon after he arrived in Libya

* Says he will stay on until Libya is free

By Rania El Gamal

SIRTE, Libya, Oct 8 (Reuters) - For seven months, Matthew Van Dyke has been fighting a war that is not his.

A U.S. citizen, from Maryland, he left home to come to Libya in March to fight Muammar Gaddafi's forces, spent 165 days in prison and when he was released returned to the front line.

"I am here to fight Gaddafi ... I will leave when it is finished ... when Libya is free," he said, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sirte, where heavy fighting between forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and Gaddafi loyalists has been going on for weeks.

Van Dyke is a familiar face among NTC fighters and journalists on the front line in Sirte.

When he is not fighting, he is taking journalists covering the war on battlefield tours to where fierce combat is taking place.

Dressed in a camouflage outfit, brown headdress and sunglasses, he carries a small video camera on which he tapes the battles between NTC fighters and Gaddafi loyalists for control of Sirte, one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi resistance.

He is also in charge of a Russian-designed Dushka heavy machine gun mounted on the back of an open-top four-wheel drive vehicle.

His Libyan friend Nouri Founas, whom he met in 2007 in Mauritania while both were touring the Middle East and Africa, is always behind the wheel.

"He is now from Libya's revolutionaries. Our revolution is now an international one, not just local," said Founas.



FRIENDS IN NEED

The American NTC fighter said he had no combat experience before he came to Libya, apart from what little he picked when he was embedded with the U.S. army as a journalist in Iraq.

He said he first visited Libya in 2008, on a motorcycle tour through the Middle East. While there, he said he made many friends and it was the quality of those friendships that brought him back when the conflict started.

"I had friends in Libya. There were people here that I cared about. Somebody was killing my friends ... I can't sit back and watch that happening. So I came over to help fight Gaddafi," he said.

"This is personal. I wasn't here to do any work other than pick up a gun and help to free Libya."

He flew from the United States to Egypt and drove to Benghazi, in eastern Libya, where Founas was waiting for him, he said.

"I showed up in black jacket and military clothes and I said 'I'm here to fight Gaddafi, give me an AK47'," he said.

While on the battlefield in the eastern Libyan oil town of Brega, Van Dyke said he was captured in an ambush by pro-Gaddafi forces, who at the time controlled most of the country, including the capital, Tripoli.

He was imprisoned in the notorious Abu Salim jail in Tripoli. Of the 165 days he spent in detention, he said most was spent in solitary confinement. He turned 32 in prison.

"I was hit during the ambush ... Next thing I know I woke up with a guy being tortured in another cell above me," said Van Dyke.

He was sometimes kicked by angry guards but was not tortured during his time in prison, he said. But it was the stress and not knowing what would happen to him next that took the toll on him.

"The Libyan government denied that they had me for months," he said, adding he thought the government would either leave him in prison for years or execute him.

He did not tell his guards he knew some Arabic and he was able to listen sometimes to the television and hear what others said about him. Some thought he was a spy for the CIA or Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.

He escaped the prison in late August, when NTC forces took control of the capital. At that point, he was free to go back home. Instead, he decided to meet up again with his friend, Founas, and rejoin the fighting.

Now he has a badge bearing his name and picture that testifies to his status as a fighter in the Ali Hassan Jaber brigade.

He says his Libyan colleagues want him to stay on once the conflict is over and find a Libyan wife. He said he has a girlfriend back home, and would stay just long enough to see Gaddafi's forces finally defeated.

"I told them (my family) when I came over here that I would leave when Libya is free and my family raised me to honour my commitments," he said. (Editing by Christian Lowe)

========

Youth vs Experience in Libya- we fought the war, now you rule the country?
Posted on March 15, 2012 by Zara Rahman| Leave a comment

Yesterday was the last day of the British Council led “Paving the Future Youth Forum”, which has involved 100 incredibly smart young Libyans, and around 15 more from around the MENA region, and provided me with a great reason to come back here, as a facilitator on the journalism corner. As my last trip here in December 2011 was also for a workshop type event, “Libya’s Oil and Finance Future”, I’ve found it hard not to compare the two.

The participants at each workshop were very different; the December event involved people already interested in oil and transparency, from oil companies, relevant ministries of the interim government, media outlets looking to cover the subject, and members of civil society. Participants at the current event were chosen with very different criteria in mind; aged between 18-27 years old, and having achieved something or shown potential during the last year of revolution in the country.

Stories from people I’ve met here have been overwhelming; a young woman who appeared as a presenter on a TV show during the revolution and received so many death threats she had to flee the country; a girl of 18 whose teacher brought in Gaddafi forces into their classroom to threaten to rape and kill them if they carried on this ‘rubbish’ during the early days of the revolution; a young man who flew out of the country twice during the war to fight his way back in and, because a sniper was the first weapon he found, became a sniper throughout the war until September, to name just a few.

But while the overall mood at the December conference, with its older, more experienced crowd, was on the whole fairly pessimistic, the atmosphere here has been utterly electric. Optimism and hope for the future can be seen in everything that is said and all of the work that has been produced, including songs, posters, articles, and videos.

Speaking to the participants at the first day of this week’s workshop, Dr. Mahmoud Jibril, former acting Prime Minister of Libya during the interim period, said: “Frankly speaking, we can split Libya up into two generations. My generation- the generation that failed, and your generation; the generation of victory.”

He recognised, as most do, that the Libyan revolution was sparked and carried out by the younger generation. I would guess that a large proportion of the young men here fought in the war, and I’m sure that everyone here knows multiple people who died for the cause. As a result, many of the young people here feel like they deserve to have a say in what happens next.

But when does, or should, being young, naïve and enthusiastic, give way to older, more experienced people? Libyan youth played a huge, deciding part in overthrowing Gaddafi, but now, it seems, it’s time for them to give way to the ‘grown ups’.

Those who have already learned how to play the game- educated expats who have been professors of political science, or economics, or similar, are now taking over the driving seat. Is this necessary? In a way, I think it is. Being young and idealistic is great, but it doesn’t bring much practical experience of coming up with a strong constitution for a newly rebuilt country.

However, the older generation here in Libya have, according to some people, let the country down. I spoke to someone today who had concrete evidence that members of the NTC practised nepotism and favouritism in a startlingly obvious way. Is this because they are used to that kind of behaviour, having lived all of their adult life in a corrupt, autocratic society over the past 42 years?

Because if so, then maybe the young people do need to step in, and show them how it’s done. Thanks to the internet, the younger generation of the 21st century have been increasingly exposed to the outside world, and this has been something that contrasts greatly with the isolation that previous generations experienced thanks to Gaddafi’s policies. Now, it’s so easy for them to communicate with other cultures and countries that comparisons between life in Libya and life in other countries are inevitable, and people here have higher expectations as a result.

I was speaking to one of the international experts earlier about this, and she mentioned an interesting example of a situation which had arisen in Benghazi- a democratic union, established by older people, which had elected a 25 year old as the union leader, and decided that the leadership should be decided by youth but with older people taking a back seat and providing guidance and advice when asked.

This situation seems like a great example of how youth and experience can complement each other in a healthy, positive and helpful way. With the project ideas that arose from the Paving the Future forum, it seems like youth empowerment at this crucial time is a hot topic which will, hopefully, result in more similar projects springing up.

========

Rockets fired in clash between rival Libya militias

04 Apr 2012 12:59

Source: reuters // Reuters

National Libyan Army forces arrive at Zuwara to stop the clashes between rival militias, 120 km (75 miles) west of Tripoli April 3, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

* Fighting in west of Libya now in fourth day

* Grad rockets, sporadic gunfire can be heard

* Fighting highlights weak government authority

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian

ZUWARA, Libya, April 4 (Reuters) - Fighters near the western Libyan town of Zuwara were firing rockets and large-calibre weapons on Wednesday, Reuters reporters at the scene said, in the fourth day of a conflict between rival militias.

The fighting has exposed how volatile Libya remains, six months after a revolt last year ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule, and how the new leadership is struggling to impose its authority on the country.

Local people told a Reuters team which entered Zuwara, about 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital, that the fighting was less intense than a day earlier. The Libyan government said on Tuesday 14 people had been killed and hundreds wounded.

But in the distance, the sound of Russian-made Grad rockets could be heard occasionally, as well as reports from rifles and anti-aircraft guns which the fighters have adapted to fire at targets on the ground.

Officials in the capital, Tripoli, said they were sending a force to restore order in Zuwara. Local people said some of that force had arrived, but the only visible sign of a government security presence was an air force plane flying over the town.

"It's quietened down but we don't know what will happen," said Younis Elfounes, a surgeon at Zuwara hospital. "It (the fighting) was all day yesterday, from 8 in the morning until late at night," he said.

He said over the past few days his hospital had treated 125 people injured in the fighting, and recorded eight deaths. Other casualties were treated elsewhere.

"As a doctor, and from what I can see from the patients coming in, it's been intense," Elfounes said of the fighting.



NO CEASEFIRE

The fighting was between militias from Zuwara and rival fighters from the settlements of Al-Jumail and Regdalin, a short distance to the south.

Zuwara's population is made up largely of members of the Berber ethnic group, and they opposed Gaddafi during last year's rebellion. Their neighbours to the south are mainly Arabs who had been loyal to Gaddafi.

"Today is relatively calm but there is no ceasefire," said Ismail Iftiss, a Zuwara field commander whose unit was close to the frontline southwest of the town. Sporadic shooting could be heard as he spoke.

"Maybe it is the calm before the storm," he said.

The fighting around Zuwara, on the Mediterranean coast near the border with Tunisia, is typical of the kind of tribal and ethnic conflicts that have flared up since Gaddafi's fall.

In most cases the violence is the result of a toxic mix of vendettas that have been simmering for generations, the huge quantity of weapons in circulation since the revolt, and the lack of a strong central authority.

An Interior Ministry official told Reuters the confrontation had started on Sunday when a group of Zuwara men hunting for game accidentally shot someone from Al-Jumail. They were briefly detained, angering people in Zuwara.

In another confrontation that has underlined Libya's fragility, about 150 people were killed in clashes over the past week between rival tribes in the southern city of Sabha. (Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alison Williams)
==========

NATO: PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY MEETINGS BEGIN IN LA MADDALENA

What if Geddafi arms and finances British anarchists?

At this moment 12.08.11, the world is just what G.W. Bush and the neo-cons Christian-Zionist wanted it to be, in a complete chaos; constructive or otherwise. According to many Judeo-Christian fundamentalists it is a sign for the upcoming of the 'Messiah' in order to save the world. The Americans, the Israelis, the Jewish financial mafia (s) and the American-led NATO are mainly to blame for the political mess and for the on-going economic and financial crises.

The invasion and the destruction of Iraq, on behalf of Israel, helped to put America on its knees. Bankrupting America by mainly Jewish financial mafia(s) was extended to include Europe. This has led to high unemployment and riots in Greece, Britain, Spain, Portugal and Italy. As to deepen the crises further, the Americans continue to insult the intelligence of Arabs and Muslims. The US denunciation of Iran nuclear program, the rush to bombard Libya and more recently to supporting rebels in Syria, but never to Israeli breach of 39 UN-Security council resolutions, to their war crimes against Palestinians or to their massive arsenal of nuclear weapons. If NATO arms and finances Libyan rebels, then Geddafi is justified in arming and financing the British anarchists the way he financed the Irish Republican Army. It seems that the political establishments in the US and Europe are not aware of the consequences of their actions which will be harmful to their strategic interests and of great benefit to China, to Russia and to countries unfriendly to the US-led West.

Hitler did turn the great German people into a nation of thugs committing crimes on industrial scale. Similarly, successive US presidents bomarded, invaded and destroyed countries and killed millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Latin America, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Arabs can differentiate between good and bad Americans. Former President Jimmy Carter remains as one of the most respected Americans.

You forgot to mention Carter's book on Palestine. According to Wikipedia.org "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a New York Times Best Seller book written by Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. It was published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006.
In this book Carter argues that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East."

Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

04 July , 11:01



(ANSAmed) - LA MADDALENA (OLBIA-TEMPIO), JULY 4 - The annual meeting of the special "Mediterranean and Middle East" group of NATO's parliamentary assembly has begun this morning in the Sardinian town of La Maddalena. The meeting will also analyse the political and military situation in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf, with particular focus on the democratic transition in Arab countries, the role of Iran in the region, the situation in Iraq and NATO operations in the Mediterranean.

For the first time, Iran is among the countries present at the meeting, and is represented by the junior Foreign Minister, Ali Ahani. The group will also be attended by the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani and the head of the Allied Forces team in southern Europe, Admiral Samuel J. Locklear. The Italian government is represented by Stefania Craxi and Giuseppe Cossiga, the junior ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence respectively. Delegations from 25 countries, including Russia and Israel, are present at the meeting.(ANSAmed).

===

Bitter Feud Between Top Iraqi Leaders Stalls Government
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and TIM ARANGO
Published: June 25, 2011



BAGHDAD — Fifteen months after an election that was supposed to lay the groundwork for Iraq’s future, the government remains virtually paralyzed by a clash between the country’s two most powerful politicians, who refuse to speak to each other.


The paralysis is contributing to a rise in violence, and it is severely complicating negotiations on the most difficult and divisive question hanging over the country: Whether to ask the United States to keep a contingency force here after the scheduled withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year. The longer the deadlock persists, the harder it becomes for the American military to reverse or slow the withdrawal of the roughly 48,000 troops, the pace of which will pick up over the next few months.

In December, the two politicians, Ayad Allawi, the leader of the Iraqiya bloc, and the country’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, entered into an American-backed power-sharing agreement. But since then, the men have been unable to agree on who should run the Interior and Defense Ministries, the government’s two most important departments.

The United States has been unable to end the stalemate, demonstrating to some analysts and Iraqis its waning influence here.

Mr. Allawi, whose party received the most votes in last year’s election, has yet to show up in Parliament. Mr. Maliki has run the government on his own, and his aides have threatened to sue Mr. Allawi for calling them lying tyrants and claiming they are supported by Iran.

As the deadlock grinds on, political assassinations and attacks on American bases have increased significantly.

“This is the biggest dispute that has occurred here since 2003, and it will continue to escalate if a solution is not found, and that is our concern,” said Jabir al-Jabiri, a member of Parliament from Mr. Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc.

Without leaders in place at the Interior and Defense Ministries, decisions have been delayed about whether to single out terrorists, and the government has been unable to properly assess its military capabilities as it weighs whether to ask for the United States’ troops to remain, according to American officials.

“I think they have a very, very hard time having a meaningful rational debate and fully exploring all of their capabilities and limitations” without interior and defense ministers in place, said Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the United States military’s top spokesman in Iraq.

He added: “These are big decisions. So is your government going to be formed to make those decisions? Or is somebody going to make it in isolation? So I think that’s why I see the issues being connected.”

The power-sharing agreement in December allows Mr. Allawi’s party to appoint the defense minister, although Mr. Maliki has to approve the selection. It also said that Mr. Allawi would become the head of a largely undefined strategic council that was supposed to provide a counterweight to the prime minister.

But at the first session of Parliament, the agreement unraveled when Mr. Maliki appointed himself as the minister of both interior and defense, claiming that because of the country’s tenuous security environment he needed more time to vet the candidates.

Mr. Maliki has continued to refuse to fill those jobs, claiming that many of the names submitted by Mr. Allawi are not suitable. Mr. Maliki has also refused to give the strategic council any power because he says it is unconstitutional, and Mr. Allawi has declined to become the council’s leader.

“After the United States failed to put together the government they wanted after the election, they pushed for a national unity government that took all of Iraq’s political problems and put them into the government,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, an expert on national security issues at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “There is a widespread recognition now among American officials that inclusiveness over effectiveness was a mistake.”

The tensions between the men have fueled the simmering sectarian issues.

Although Mr. Allawi worked with the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party, members of Mr. Maliki’s party have lately denigrated him by calling him a Baathist — a deadly insult given the abuse that Shiites like Mr. Maliki and Mr. Allawi sustained at the hands of the Sunni-dominated Baathist inner circle.

“He practices what the Baathists used to do,” Hussein al-Assadi, a leader of Mr. Maliki’s party, said. “He believes in Baathist principles.”

At a recent protest in Baghdad, Maliki supporters stomped on pictures of Mr. Allawi, called him a terrorist and attacked a group of anti-Maliki protesters with sticks.

The protesters claimed that a picture of Mr. Allawi with a man who security authorities said was behind a gruesome attack on a wedding in 2006 that left 70 people dead proved he was a terrorist himself.

Just a few days after the protest, Mr. Allawi escalated the rhetoric and addressed the nation in a televised speech, claiming that Mr. Maliki had recruited the protesters to defame him. Mr. Allawi also said Mr. Maliki and the members of his party were the “bats of darkness.”

Mr. Maliki’s aides responded by saying they were going to sue Mr. Allawi and would have him removed from Parliament for refusing to show up.

“Countries that had civil conflicts like Iraq fall back into civil wars all the time,” Dr. Pollack said. “You need progress in the political system to get out of the civil war track. If the political process doesn’t work, people get frustrated and resort to violence. I think we have to look at the increasing violence as potentially the beginning of that very dangerous process.”

Duraid Adnan and Omar al-Jawoshy contributed reporting.

===

Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They [the rebels] flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

news24 Monday, August 15, 2011 8:36:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"

news24 Monday, August 15, 2011 8:36:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "Advance, challenge, pick up your weapons, and go to the fight to liberate Libya inch by inch from the traitors and NATO,"

xinhuanet_en Monday, August 15, 2011 8:17:00 AM CEST

মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"

MailGuardian Monday, August 15, 2011 8:02:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said (about Muamer Gaddafi): "The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO," "Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield,"

aljazeera-en Monday, August 15, 2011 7:24:00 AM CEST

Zeina Khodr reported (about Muamer Gaddafi): "because the Gaddafi forces' defences were weak and fighters received help from inside the city. As they expected, residents took up arms and fought alongside them when they arrived,"

aljazeera-en Monday, August 15, 2011 7:24:00 AM CEST

মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"

kyivpost Monday, August 15, 2011 7:00:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

smh Monday, August 15, 2011 6:51:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"

smh Monday, August 15, 2011 6:51:00 AM CEST

মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"

thestar-my Monday, August 15, 2011 6:45:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

haveeru Monday, August 15, 2011 6:25:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"

haveeru Monday, August 15, 2011 6:25:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "the end of the colonizer is close and the end of the rats is close,"

rian-en Monday, August 15, 2011 6:06:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

rian-en Monday, August 15, 2011 6:06:00 AM CEST

মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"

guardian Monday, August 15, 2011 6:02:00 AM CEST

মুসা ইব্রাহীম said: "The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya,"

trust Monday, August 15, 2011 5:36:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

smh Monday, August 15, 2011 3:30:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi said: "The coloniser and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed,"

smh Monday, August 15, 2011 3:30:00 AM CEST

Muamer Gaddafi declared: "The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,"

focus-news-en Monday, August 15, 2011 3:23:00 AM CEST


==

Gaddafi defiant, govt said talking with rebels

15 Aug 2011 03:28

Source: reuters // Reuters

By Missy Ryan

* Gaddafi urges people to 'liberate Libya' from NATO

* Rebels, gov't representatives talk in Tunisia-source

* Govt spokesman says no talks on Gaddafi departure

* Rebels occupy centre of Zawiyah, control supply route

(Adds details)

By Missy Ryan

TRIPOLI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged his people early on Monday to "liberate Libya" from NATO and traitors, a day after rebels captured a key town on the road west to Tunisia, severing Tripoli's main supply route.

Late on Sunday, representatives of Gaddafi's government were holding talks with rebels at a hotel on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba, a source with direct knowledge of the talks said -- though the government spokesman denied it.

The talks followed a dramatic advance by the rebels that won them control of the town of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli on the coast, enabling them to halt food and fuel supplies from Tunisia to Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital.

Tripoli was not under immediate threat from a rebel attack, but rebel forces are now in their strongest position since the uprising against 41 years of Gaddafi's rule began in February, controlling the coast both east and west of Tripoli.

The rebels are helped by NATO aircraft which, under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, are bombing military facilities and equipment that are trying to crush the rebel fighters.

Gaddafi's speech on Monday, delivered over a poor quality telephone line and broadcast by state television in audio only, was his first public address since rebel fighters launched their latest offensive, the biggest in months.

"The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO," the Libyan leader said.

"Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield," he said, in what state television said was a live speech.

In Djerba late on Sunday, security staff turned away a Reuters reporter from the hotel where the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks between rebel and government representatives were being held. ID:nLDE77D089]

Lights were on inside the hotel and a man in jeans and t-shirt, a list in his hand, was standing outside with hotel security staff.

In Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim blamed Western leaders and the media for the spread of rumours that the government was engaged in talks on the leader's departure from Libya.

"This information is absolutely incorrect and it is part of a media war against us. Their target is to confuse us, break our spirit, and shake our morale," he said.

"The leader is here in Libya, fighting for the freedom of our nation. He will not leave Libya," Ibrahim said.

Gaddafi's characteristically defiant speech followed a day of action across a swathe of northwest Libya during which rebels said they had seized the town of Surman, next door to Zawiyah, there was fighting in the town of Garyan that controls the southern access to Tripoli, and shooting could be heard near the main Libyan-Tunisian border crossing.

REBEL FLAG

Rebels from the Western Mountains region to the south advanced into Zawiyah late on Saturday, and early on Sunday, about 50 rebel fighters were milling around near the central market, triumphantly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greatest").

The red, black and green rebel flag was flying from a shop. At the point where it passes through Zawiyah, the main highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia was empty of traffic.

Rebel fighters told Reuters there were still forces loyal to Gaddafi in the town, including snipers on tall buildings. Bursts of artillery and machinegun fire could be heard.

One rebel fighter said Gaddafi's forces controlled the oil refinery on the northern edge of Zawiyah -- a strategic target because it is the only one still functioning in western Libya and Gaddafi's forces depend on it for fuel.

The fighting was spreading west from Zawiyah along the coastal highway towards the main Ras Jdir border crossing with Tunisia. A rebel spokesman called Abdulrahman said rebels had seized Surman, the next town west along the coast from Zawiyah.

But at the border crossing to Tunisia, Libyan customs and immigration officers were operating as usual, despite reports of clashes between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the area late on Saturday.

On another front in Sunday's fighting, heavy gunfire could be heard from the town Of Garyan, a Reuters reporter in the area said. A rebel fighter told Reuters "We control 70 percent of Garyan. There is still fighting taking place at the moment."

Government spokesman Ibrahim said Zawiyah and Garyan were "under our full control" but that there were small pockets of fighting in two other locations in the area around Tripoli.

The coastal highway between Tripoli and Tunisia had not been blocked by the fighting, Ibrahim said in a telephone interview on Sunday, but foreigners were not being allowed to use the route "to save them from any bullets here or there".

Rebels, backed by NATO warplanes, have been trying since February to end Gaddafi's rule in the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings convulsing the Middle East.

After a period of deadlock, the rebels' advance to the Mediterranean coast near Tripoli represents a major shift in the balance of forces.

Gaddafi says the rebels are armed criminals and al Qaeda militants, and has described the NATO campaign as an act of colonial aggression aimed at stealing Libya's oil. (Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing in Ras Jdir, Tunisia, Tarek Amara in Tunis, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Tim Pearce)

====


show all

Monday, August 15, 2011 | 11:12 Beirut Subscribe to NOW Lebanon RSS feeds

NOW News
Qaddafi spits defiance amid rumors of quitting
August 15, 2011 share
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Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi spat defiance at opposition forces and NATO on Monday amid rumors he was preparing to flee the country and as rebels made advances in several towns, especially in the west.

The veteran leader predicted a swift end for "the rats" and the "colonizer", referring to the rebels and NATO, in an audio message on Libyan television, extracts of which were published by Libyan news agency JANA.

"The end of the colonizer is close and the end of the rats is close. They [he rebels] flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them," Qaddafi declared in what the television said was a live broadcast.

"The colonizer and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed," Qaddafi said as rumors circulated on Twitter and other media about his imminent departure into exile.

Much of the message, his first in several weeks, was inaudible due to a "technical breakdown", according to the television station.

The veteran leader called on his supporters to resist and to "prepare for the battle to liberate" the towns held by the rebels, as the insurgents said they had advanced in western towns including Zawiyah, Sorman and Gharyan.

The television broadcast what it said were live images of the Green Square in the heart of Tripoli where hundreds of backers of the regime were assembled brandishing portraits of the "guide", as Qaddafi is known, and Libyan flags.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=300833#ixzz1V5E9pdT0
Only 25% of a given NOW Lebanon article can be republished. For information on republishing rights from NOW Lebanon: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Sub.aspx?ID=125478

===

Rebels kill 31 Gaddafi fighters in Tripoli - TV

21 Aug 2011 10:51

Source: reuters // Reuters

CAIRO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Rebels fighting for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli have killed 31 of Muammar Gaddafi's forces and captured 42, Al Jazeera television said on Sunday, citing its correspondent.

Explosions and gunfire rang out in Tripoli through Saturday night as opponents of Gaddafi launched an uprising and rebel forces edged towards the city, declaring a final push to end his four-decade rule. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Dina Zayed)

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Libya rebels 'begin attack on Tripoli'


Aug 21 2011



Explosions and heavy gunfire were reported in the Libyan capital Tripoli as rebel forces claimed they had launched an offensive against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in coordination with Nato.

Gun battles and mortar rounds were heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in the capital.

Explosions also sounded in the same area as Nato aircraft carried out heavy bombing runs after nightfall.

The fighting erupted just hours after the opposition captured the key city of Zawiya nearby.

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebel leadership council, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera: “We planned this operation with Nato, our Arab associates and our rebel fighters in Tripoli with commanders in Benghazi.”

Benghazi, hundreds of miles east of Tripoli, is the rebels’ de facto capital.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim appeared on Libyan television to deny that there was an uprising in Tripoli.

“Sure, there were some armed militants who escaped into some neighbourhoods and there were some scuffles, but we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now calm,” he said.

The claims from both sides could not immediately be independently verified.

Rebels fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi have scored a number of victories in the six-month civil war, only to see towns fall out of their hands. Now the momentum appears to have firmly swung in the opposition’s favour after months of near-deadlock.

Col Fadlallah Haroun, a military commander in Benghazi, said the battles marked the beginning of Operation Mermaid – a nickname for Tripoli.

He also said the assault was coordinated with Nato. Col Haroun told reporters that weapons were assembled and sent by tugboats to Tripoli on Friday night.

“The fighters in Tripoli are rising up in two places at the moment – some are in the Tajoura neighbourhood and the other is near the Matiga (international) airport,” he told Al-Jazeera.

Tajoura has been known since the beginning of the uprising in February as the Tripoli neighbourhood most strongly opposed to Gaddafi’s regime.

Earlier yesterday, the government organised a trip for reporters to the airport to show them it was still in government hands.

The head of the rebel’s leadership council said they chose to start the assault on Tripoli on the 20th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which fell on Saturday. The date marks the ancient Islamic Battle of Badr, when Muslims conquered the holy city of Mecca in AD 624.

A representative for Tripoli on the rebel leadership council told the AP that rebels were surrounding almost every neighbourhood in the capital, and there was especially heavy fighting in Fashloum, Tajoura and Souq al-Jomaa.

Those three neighbourhoods have been bubbling with discontent ever since the beginning of the Libya uprising. They paid the highest price in deaths when protesters took the streets in anti-Gaddafi protests, only to be met with live ammunition by government militiamen.

“We don’t have exact numbers yet, but we are hearing that many fighters have fallen – very likely over 100,” said Mohammed al-Harizi.

State television showed calm, aerial scenes of Tripoli in the daytime and shots of a very sparse Green Square in Tripoli, the epicentre of pro-Gaddafi rallies since the uprising began.

A couple hours after the rebels said they had attacked Tripoli, state television ran what appeared to be a live audio message by Gaddafi.

He did not appear on television but sounded like he was calling the message in on a poor phone line which crackled at times. He announced the time and date twice to prove that he was speaking live.

Gaddafi condemned the rebels as traitors and “vermin” who are tearing Libya apart and said they were being chased from city to city – a mirror image of reality.

“Libyans wanted to enjoy a peaceful Ramadan,” he said. “Instead they have been made into refugees. What are we? Palestinians?”

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim appeared on Libyan television to deny there was an uprising in Tripoli. But he acknowledged that there was some kind of unusual activity.

“Sure there were some armed militants who escaped into some neighbourhoods and there were some scuffles, but we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now calm,” he said.

The claims from both sides could not immediately be independently verified.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/latest-world-news/2011/08/21/libya-rebels-begin-attack-on-tripoli-91466-29275976/#ixzz1VfAn8yNH
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Reuters
End game in Libya could herald oil slump

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own)

By Una Galani
DUBAI, Aug 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end game in Libya could herald an oil price slump. Like the rebel advance into Tripoli, Libyan supplies to the global market could come sooner than expected. Brent has slipped by almost $3 to almost $106 per barrel in a matter of hours. A resolution in Libya, coupled with concerns over global growth, means tight markets could soon look oversupplied.
A return of Libyan oil production to pre-unrest levels of 1.7 million barrels per day, or 2 percent of global supply, would take until 2015, according to a June estimate of the International Energy Agency. The forecast may now look too pessimistic, with the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Co., Spain's Repsol , and Italy's ENI all suggesting normal supply could resume much faster once the crisis is resolved. Analysts reckon production could reach up to 1 mbpd within a year.
Oil prices have already eased almost $20 per barrel in four months. A supply increase, just as the U.S. and European economies look vulnerable to a new recession, will further weigh on prices. And Saudi Arabia's recent effort to offset the disruption from Libya, taking production to a record high of almost 10 mbpd, will inadvertently act to compound any supply glut, as will the IEA release of emergency reserves.
Yet any price slump is likely to be much less severe than in 2008, when oil prices crashed by more than $100 per barrel in six months. This time around, credit lines remain open to businesses. And oil demand remains strong from non-OECD countries like China, which now account for almost 50 percent of the total compared to 44 percent in 2008, according to Barclays Capital.
Politics will further support prices. Investors remain alert for any signs that the protest movement could yet spread to larger oil producers, namely Iran. And even if prices do continue to fall, high-spending Gulf oil countries have a big incentive to cut production quicker than before. Saudi Arabia needs roughly $84 per barrel to break even compared to around $50 per barrel three years ago. But with Brent prices some way off the pain threshold for producers, there's still room for a significant adjustment.

CONTEXT NEWS
-- Brent oil prices fell 2.8 percent to under $106 per barrel on Aug. 22 as Libyan rebel forces appeared close to taking control of the capital Tripoli and on the verge of ending Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power.
-- Two of Gaddafi's sons, including Saif Al-Islam, have been captured. The whereabouts of Gaddafi himself remain unknown. Saif Al-Islam and his father are both wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.
-- Libyan rebels have said they could resume oil output at two large fields in the east of the country within three weeks, which would ease fuel shortages and potentially restore some supply to global markets.
-- "Our fields are under maintenance and we're still waiting for security," Abdeljalil Mayouf, information manager at Libya's Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), which is operating the Sarir and Mesla fields, previously told Reuters.
-- OPEC member Libya is the third-largest oil producer in Africa and holds the continent's largest oil reserves. It produced 1.7 million barrels of oil a day, or around 2 percent of global supply, before the uprising began.
-- The International Energy Agency said in June that it could take until 2015 for Libyan oil production to return to pre-unrest levels.

((una.galani@thomsonreuters.com))
((pierre.briancon@thomsonreuters.com))
(Editing by Pierre Briançon and David Evans)

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For Pakistani truckers, NATO route row is all about the money

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:03 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

(Adds link to video)

By Imtiaz Shah

KARACHI, May 30 (Reuters) - Pakistani truck drivers who deliver supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan seethe whenever they recall a cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year.

Despite their anger, financial survival outweighs nationalist sentiment and the shame of helping what many see as the enemy.

The drivers hope that talks between the United States and Pakistan on reopening the routes, which were closed six months ago in protest over the raid, will soon produce a breakthrough.

They are eager to get back on the road, even though they will again risk running into attacks by Taliban militants who violently oppose the movement of goods to NATO through Pakistan.

Malik Abdul Raoof, 23, recalled how militants in dark clothes clutching AK-47 assault rifles often stopped and threatened him near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

"They asked 'why do you take supplies to the infidel Americans?'. They said 'you are an American informer'," he told Reuters at a massive makeshift truckers' parking lot that stretches for miles (km) along the coast in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi.

"They made me recite Koranic verses, quizzed me on how Muslims pray. When they let me go they told me to grow a beard. I am scared and I don't like it but I have to earn (money)."

The al Qaeda-linked Taliban routinely open fire on trucks. Casualties are limited, but the attacks are dramatic. Bullets puncture fuel tanks, igniting huge fires.

Militants also set off homemade bombs to destroy container trucks packed with food, clothes and other items for NATO.

Over 1,000 vehicles have been destroyed by militants or criminal gangs in the last decade, according to the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association.

Still, thousands of drivers are itching to get back to work to fetch 20,000-25,000 rupees ($215-269) per round trip.

To break the monotony, they play cards on cloth sheets spread on the dusty ground, listen to music and repair and paint their run-down vehicles. Some just sleep the time away in the shade of their trucks.

"DESPICABLE, FORBIDDEN" INCOME

The November NATO attack and Pakistan's closure of the routes - which account for just under one-third of all cargo that NATO moves into Afghanistan - plunged ties between Islamabad and Washington to their lowest point in years.

The supply lines are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.

U.S. and Pakistani negotiators are deadlocked on transit fees for container and fuel trucks. Pakistani officials have denied reports Islamabad is demanding unreasonable amounts.

Idle drivers care little about Pakistan's stance, or efforts to repair ties with the United States, the source of billions of dollars in aid. It all comes down to their own bottom line.

"The United States is responsible for killing our soldiers. The culprits should be shot dead," said Mohammed Nawaz, 24, looking across a sea of trucks. "I consider the money made from driving NATO trucks despicable, forbidden. But I'm desperate."

NATO, for its part, has been diversifying its supply lines into Afghanistan.

After a string of disruptions, the alliance and the U.S. military decided to reduce their reliance on Pakistan, turning instead to routes that pass through either Russia or the Caucasus across central Asia into northern Afghanistan.

That could spell bad news for those drivers who have become shady entrepreneurs of danger along the two routes through Pakistan - one across the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and another crossing the Baluchistan province to Kandahar.

Senior officials at the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association said some destroy their own trucks and claim it was a Taliban attack to collect insurance money.

"The fight is all about money, at every level. The governments, the Americans, the workers (truck drivers)," said Shafiq Kakar, a senior member of the association.

Some truckers stage explosions and pretend NATO goods are lost in attacks, then sell part of the consignment to traders, said association officials.

"I am praying that NATO supplies are resumed soon so that my business can take off again," said one trader in the northwestern city of Peshawar who does business with corrupt truckers and contractors.

"A lot of the material stolen from containers, especially uniforms and boots, is (even) bought by the Taliban's people."

(1 U.S. dollar = 92.8 Pakistani rupees) (Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by John Chalmers and Daniel Magnowski)