Libyan Rebels Ask USA For Weapons, Dispute al-Qaida Ties
Hours before Libyan rebels on Monday rejected a cease-fire proposal that didn’t include plans for the immediate ouster of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel leader in the besieged city of Misrata called for America to resume a more prominent role in enforcing Libya’s no-fly zone and protecting its civilian population.
“The first 10 days when America was controlling the fighting, the situation was much, much better than when the control was going to NATO,” said the rebel leader, who spoke with PunditHouse via Skype teleconference Sunday afternoon. Because of security concerns he asked to be identified only as Muhammad.
“The NATO air force is doing much to weaken Gaddafi forces and we appreciate that,” he said, “but we still need much more because he’s still killing people.”
Sunday was a case in point, he said, with Gaddafi tanks shelling Misrata and Benghazi streets, inflicting heavy casualties, only to slip away to secure hiding places in garages and markets before NATO planes flew overhead.
It is a recurring problem, Muhammad said, and without anti-tank guns the rebels face a heavy disadvantage. The weapons they have, he said, are largely confiscated from Gaddafi troops they’ve fought in the streets. The ammunition comes from fallen enemies, as well. But the weapons are not enough to stop the rumble of tanks and Gaddafi’s superior firepower.
The message from rebel forces to America and coalition countries: “If they give us guns and weapons to fight Gaddafi, we are ready to defeat him,” Muhammad said. “We just want them to help us by giving us weapons because we have nothing to compare with what he has.”
Yet, with NATO’s top commander recently telling Congress that officials have seen “flickers” of possible al-Qaida involvement with anti-Gaddafi forces, many Americans remain wary of arming rebel fighters who could potentially turn against U.S. interests.
Muhammad acknowledged those concerns but said they were overblown. In a country of six million people, he said, only a handful has any allegiance to al-Qaida. The large majority of rebel fighters and Libyan citizens are “looking for democracy, not anything else,” he said. “We are looking for freedom.”
That sentiment was echoed by a doctor from a Misrata hospital who joined Sunday’s teleconference.
“I don’t think we will allow al-Qaida to interfere because this is our city,” he said. “If we take it from Gaddafi and give it to al-Qaida, the end result is the same. We still cannot say whatever we want to say, we have no freedom.”
If Libyan citizens don’t swear allegiance to Gaddafi, he said, the regime “won’t allow you to do anything.” The doctor learned that lesson firsthand, he said, when he had to get permission from regime officials to marry his wife.
The situation in Misrata, he said, has worsened in recent weeks. The doctor spoke of days that start with heavy mortar shelling, and nights that end with more of the same.
In his hospital he reported treating 15- and 16-year-old boys who, he said, had been kidnapped by Gaddafi troops and forced into battle. When the boy soldiers encountered Libyan citizens in the street and refused to fight, the doctor said, they were ordered shot and left to die by Gadaffi’s officers.
The endgame for the rebel forces, he said, is to defeat Gaddafi and transform Libya into a democratic nation. It is the reason he and others have joined the revolution.
“I need a country,” he said. “Here we don’t have a country; we have a farm that is governed by Gaddafi.
“He started killing our brothers in Benghazi, because he doesn’t like anybody to say to him, ‘No,’” the doctor said of Gaddafi’s reaction to protests that have flooded Libyan streets.
“I was waiting for this chance to say no,” he said. “For 42 years we are waiting for this. We will not go back, we will not surrender. We will not stop until we get our freedom or we have been killed.”
With Gaddafi’s tanks still rolling through cities like Misrata, though, hopes of freedom and democracy remain tenuous. NATO’s pledge to protect Libyan civilians, the doctor said, is falling short of the mission.
“If you would like to protect civilians that means I wouldn’t see wounded and dead civilians every day,” he said.
Muhammad, the rebel fighter from Misrata, said it remains a daily struggle to secure weapons and launch coordinated attacks against Gaddafi forces. Rebel forces, he said, are divided into groups of 50 to 75 people, with up to 45 groups fighting everywhere in Misrata. There is no single leader acting as commander of the rebel troops, he said, “but we are fighting together,” remaining in contact by wireless phones.
Muhammad was one of the leaders who helped organize a rebel group fighting in the streets. Until February he had been living in London, after leaving Libya 10 years ago. He returned at the start of the revolution, when his brother was killed in the first day of protests.
Libya wont’ be free, he said, until Gaddafi is gone.
“We need our country to be like other democracy countries,” he said. “We would like to start everything from the beginning; free elections will control the country.”
It’s a daunting prospect, Muhammad conceded, assuming Gaddafi can be defeated; but it’s also an attainable goal, he said, with the support of NATO and countries like America. And a unified Libya.
“There is no East and West in Libya; all Libyan people, they would like to get rid of Gaddafi,” he said. “I believe these people believe in democracy and want to build it in Libya.”
Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Pete Kaliner, who teamed up with PunditHouse for the interviews and helped to produce the audio/video clips.
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