Eman Remains A Prisoner

Mr.Gaddafi, we thought Libyan State TV announced, is a drunken demented whore who is not at all like his sister. We were surprised! While the rest of it made sense, why on earth would Mr.Gaddafi be expected to be like his sister?

But we were mistaken. Libya's State TV had not suddenly decided to expose Mr.Gaddafi, they were instead engaged in attempting to assasinate Eman Al-Obeidi's character.

To our knowledge, Eman is a lawyer, and Wikipedia seems to think so too.

The Libyan authorities claim to have 'freed' her. We cannot say we believe them. If Eman was free, she would not be silent. Wherever she is, she is a prisoner of the state and we believe her family too is now threatened with danger.

She is or was held at the Libyan National Intelligence headquarters. What has National Intelligence got to do with a case of abduction and rape? The Washington Post, meanwhile, has reported that Eman's mother, Aisha Ahmed, was contacted and asked to convince Eman to "change her story" in return for "anything she wanted". Eman refused.

The Free Eman facebook page, has been 'liked' by UN Women, Nicole Kidman, Oprah, Queen Rania and Michelle Obama among others. Protests have been held calling for her to be freed all over the world. Though poor Eman, languishing in captivity, can have no way of knowing what a powerful symbol she has become.

Eman must be freed, and she must be freed now. She should be allowed the freedom to leave the country and she must be allowed the right to speak to the free press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iman_al-Obeidi

Free Eman!

Eman Al-Obeidi is a Libyan woman who burst into a hotel in Tripoli filled with members of the international media. She recounted a harrowing tale of arrest, beatings and gang-rape by 15 members of Gaddafi's forces over a period of 2 days. Her crime was having a Benghazi address.

She was grabbed, threatened with a knife, had a tablecloth thrown over her head and was manhandled by Gaddafi's thugs into a white car which quickly sped away. Members of the international media who tried to free her were punched, slammed against the ground and their cameras smashed beyond recognition. We have seen a video by the Associated Press, which captured the incident. It is on YouTube, along with others.

This incident happened yesterday, March 26th, 2011. We do not know if Eman is alive and we do not know how long she will remain alive. Nor do we know, if still still alive, what tortures she is undergoing right now, even as you read.

We know it is pointless to appeal to that buffoon and cruel madman, Muammar Gaddafi, to immediately release Eman Al-Obeidi. But we call on India, on China and on Russia to ensure she is safe and she is freed. We know you have the means to free her. You have stood by and done nothing to help the beleaguered people of Libya and you harmed their cause by declining to support the no-fly zone. See what you have been party to, by supporting Gaddafi! If Eman Al-Obeidi is harmed, dead or 'dissapears', you are complicit.

Eman has already earned a place in Wikipedia and there is a facebook page calling for her to be freed, but she remains a prisoner, in the dark dungeons of a demented despot.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Iman-Al-Obeidi/204101406285342

UN Security Council Ignores The Owl!

We are shocked. The UN Security Council has chosen to ignore our advice to them on Libya.
( http://theowlcritic.blogspot.com/2011/02/stopping-massacre-in-tripoli.html)

They have done exactly what we cautioned them against; issued yet another meaningless condemnation. Which Mr.Gaddafi will dismiss with a contemptous wave of his silly Green Book.
And carry on killing. We know, because 20 minutes ago heavy gunfire was reported in Tripoli.

We admit to being a rather obscure blog with a somewhat minute readership. So, perhaps we will have to excuse them for dismissing us. But many others, including the former ambassadors of Libya, have suggested almost the same measures that we had. It remains, we believe, the only way to stop the madness.

Whatever is the use of the United Nations?
And of what good is their miserable Security Council?
They deny security to those who need it most desperately.
The Security Council, it seems, will never act. It is a helpless, dysfunctional Council.
They will always be vetoing each other, resulting in never-ending inaction.

Dissapointing too, is Mr. Obama's silence. We really had expected more from him than just a bunch of nice speeches. But he speaks not of Libya.
While Mrs.Clinton will not even mention Mr.Gaddafi's name.
Mr.Cameron meanwhile is touring Egypt. When he should be saving Libya.
The Italian Foreign Minister solemnly pronounces that 1,000 people have been killed. Yet does precisely nothing about it.

While Libyans live in fear in those areas that the raving Mr.Gaddafi still controls.

And fall to the remorseless bullets of his henious henchmen.

Stopping The Massacre In Tripoli

The UN Security Council meets today to discuss the madness in Tripoli. We hope they will not stop with some feeble condemnation or the other. As they too often do.

At least the following must be done :

No-Fly Zones
All  available reports clearly state that aircraft are being used to deadly effect, in one way or the other, against the civilian populace.
No-fly zones must immediately be declared over Libya. Passenger jets can continue. But none of Gaddafi's military aircraft or helicopters can be allowed to fly over Libya.

Unmanned Drones
The no-fly zones will not stop those military or mercenary units still loyal to Gaddafi from continuing their slaughter of Libyans on the ground.
Therefore, drones must fly over Tripoli. And we know how effective they are.
The threat of these drones alone may help to stop the on-ground massacre.
But if not, they will have to be activated.
And act against the remorseless killers.

War Crimes Tribunal
Should be set up right now. Whatever happens today or in the future, what has happened in the past few days must be investigated and those responsible indicted. They must be captured and tried.

No doubt there are other actions that can be taken.

We would like to note that the United Kingdom and the United States have a special moral responsibility to stop the violence in Libya. For they were involved in the supply of arms to a known, ruthless oppressor. And he has not hesitated to use those arms against his people.

The circumstances are desperate.

The United Nations must act decisively.

And act now.


Update : We have watched Mr.Gaddafi's rambling, out-of-touch, self-promoting lunatic speech. As he waved his silly green book about.
He has threatened to cleanse Libya house by house. He has said he will show no mercy. It is even more critical now for the international community to act swiftly.
-The Owl, 22nd February, 7:40 pm Libyan Time.

Where In The World Is Muammar Gaddafi?

We really are concerned about the poor fellow. We may have to report him missing.
Unless he's hiding in a cupboard and sulking, because he's lost control of most of Libya.

According to his Ambassador to China (who has resigned), he is in Venezuala.
Whatever could he be doing there?
Appearing in VTV's 'Yet Another Obnoxious Chat with Hugo' ?
No, that would be too much like talking to himself.

Could it be, that he is in London?
Buying yet another consignment of sniper rifles from the business-friendly British?
That he could then use with devastating effect on hapless, unarmed protesters.
No, they just halted arms sales to Libya.
After they had sold him everything he needed.

Is he in Washington?
They did, after all, outfit his brutal 2nd Brigade for him.
No, they're busy self-righteuosly blaming the British for selling him arms.

Detained by the Secret Police?
Don't think so.

Flying round and round in a plane while his country burns?
Nope, George W. Bush already did that.

Visiting his good friend, Silvio Berlusconi?
Possible.

In Chad, hiring more mercenaries?
Possible. He'll certainly be needing them.

In Saudi Arabia?
Where all good tyrants go to retire.
It worked for Idi Amin.
Tunisia's Ben-Ali is holed up there as well, claiming to be sick, now that Tunisia wants to extradite him.
We'll have to give it a possible.

Well, we can't figure it out. We give up.

But wherever he is, he really should have taken his idiot son with him.

He's only making things worse.

End Game in Libya

Mr. Seif Gaddafi trotted out the ususal suspects to blame for the uprising in Libya. It was, he claimed, 'a foreign plot'.
Yet the only 'foreign' involvement we could find in any report, were the African mercenaries in his father's pay. Who were mercilessly shooting unarmed protestors.

He accused the protestors of being 'drunks' and 'criminals' and 'foreigners'. Libya, he would have us believe, is threatened by drunken foreign criminals.

He was willing, he said, to 'dialogue' with the protestors. He also offered to 'fight to the last bullet'. All in the same breath.
And after the last bullet? A stealthy escape, perhaps?

He also threatens 'civil war'. Clearly, power is a hard drug to give up. They are more willing to plunge their own country into a holocaust.

Libya, we find, has no constitution. The only logical reason we could think of was that this means, if you are in charge, you could do anything you want. Political parties are not allowed. There are no freedoms. It is, clearly, a tyranny.
In his own country, Mr.Gaddafi is not the buffoon that he is generally perceived to be. He appears to be a cunning leader propped up by an omnipresent Secret Police.

But 42 years is too long. He could have, taking the cue from Egypt, returned his people their freedoms. But he chose to do nothing, hoping that it would all go away. And now, encouraged by the success of protestors in Egypt and elsewhere, his people revolt.

Unlike Egypt, Mr.Gaddafi has chosen to wage, with heavy weapons, a war against his own people, mostly unarmed protestors. The death toll is horrific. It is, for the large part, a massacre.

But there is hope yet for the Libyan people. Reports from Benghazi indicate that protestors may have taken the city. The crack 'Thunderbolt' Army Unit has apparently defected to the protestors and is fighting Mr.Gaddafi's Guard. And there are now protests in Tripoli.

More must be done by the international community.

As individuals, we can help by supporting the sorely needed medical efforts. One such effort is 'The Libyan Relief Effort' on Facebook.

We hope, when this ends, that evil loses. And is punished.

For tyrants everywhere, the message is clear.

For you too, a reckoning will come.

Death in Benghazi

A romantic name, Benghazi. Ancient Euesperides of the Greeks. Mentioned by Herodotus.
It takes us back to adventure stories that we read when we were still children. Perhaps Beau Geste, perhaps others, we cannot remember.

And now Benghazi returns. Covered in a shroud of blood. And pointing, perhaps, an accusing finger at us. For we have done nothing about it, and can do nothing; only hope that Good wins.

Please help, if you can, the medical relief effort by supporting via Facebook the Libyan Relief Effort.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205413276140457
Or any other relief effort you deem fit.

They are using heavy weapons now in Benghazi. Mortars, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and incredibly, sniper units. African mercenaries now prowl the streets, and they have no feelings towards the Libyans. Where a Libyan might hesitate to fire at his own people, the mercenary would care not. And this is indeed the Gaddafi regime's intent. 200 at least dead, from various news reports.

Mr.Gaddafi plans to stay, no matter how many die. And Libyans must fight, for when this much blood has been spilt, there is no turning back. No room for negotiations with such wanton killers. And they are fighting. Urban Warfare, with territory constantly changing hands.

Despite the terror, Libyans (including lawyers) are back in front of the focal point in Benghazi, the Courts. And a lawyer named Fathi Terbil is broadcasting live video from an open rooftop near the courts. We cannot say how long he will be reporting. He says it will be as long as he is alive.
Some army units have changed sides. Fire, it seems, may now be met with fire. And Libya may burn.

But there appears no other way to topple this bloody-handed tyrant, who has ruthlessly ruled this nation for an incredible forty years.

Will they never learn? They always unleash terror instead of dialogue. And then, when they have been toppled, they escape without being judged, into a happy retirement.
That should not happen in Libya. Gaddafi must be tried, if for nothing else, then for these 200 or more lives lost.

But first the protestors must win this battle for freedom. And in Libya, that appears to mean you must be ready to sacrifice your life.

The international community, meanwhile, including the United Nations, sits around twiddling its thumbs and mouthing ineffective words. While unarmed protestors are attacked with heavy weapons.

We hope the loss of life will stop.

The bell tolls for us all.





Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
-John Donne