Libya - Opposition Forces Gaining Control?

Since Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi seized power of Libya in 1969, there has been little talk of dismantling his legacy of authoritarianism. Before the 2011 unrest, the only hint of change came from his son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, although now it seems that the plan was to instate Seif’s older brother Mutassim, who upholds his father’s views. After Tunisia’s sudden release from its dictator, and then Egypt, who both border Libya, the Libyan people have finally begun to take steps toward shaking off their own dictator.

The situation is very different from Egypt though, and the struggle has proved to be much harder. Col. Qaddafi will not hand over his power easily, and the military is not on the side of the citizens.  On February 16th, 2011, protests began to break out demanding the release of human rights advocate Fathi Tarbel. The protesters clashed with riot police officers. The government released Tarbel, but they found that this was only the first step for anti-government protesters. The government crackdown has only become more severe since then, as the government has moved to shut down the internet. On February 23, 2011, it was thought that over 1,000 people had been killed in protests.
Even still, opposition forces have managed to liberate many cities, such as the major city of Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, and regain relative peace in many others. There has been no mutiny among officers in the army, although it has been said that many senior officers were against attacking civilians and pro-Qaddafi officers eventually gave way, because they were vastly outnumbered by anti-Qaddafi forces.

Check out these sites for more info:

•  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html 
• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1
• http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2011/02/anti-government-protests-spread-libya
• http://www.standnow.org/blog/gi-netsdc-call-us-action-libyan-crisis

Call into the State Department at 202-647-5291 and urge Secretary Clinton to establish a no-fly zone to stop the government from shooting at civilians from the air, to isolate Gaddafi internationally, and to seek justice from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Gaddafi's crimes.

               

Impose a no-fly zone, as Libya’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations proposed after he defected, to prevent the government from bombing or strafing its own people. This is what we did to prevent Saddam Hussein from attacking his Kurdish population, and in Libya we could do it without dispatching NATO aircraft to hover continually over the region. We can warn Libya (publicly or quietly) that if military aircraft or ships are used against civilians, Libya’s military assets will later be destroyed. The aim is to encourage the air force and navy to keep their assets from being used against civilians.