Odyssey Dawn: a military operations in Libya thread.

and yet!!!!!!!!!!!

gr8080, your wish is granted. LA road-trip dude interviewed:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/road-trip-american-student-joins-rebels-in-fight-for-muammar-qaddafis-hometown

The tent glowed with morning. A scuffle of noise approached. I got up and pulled on my cargo shorts. The men entered, the tall one first. Three excitable akhii were behind him.

"We found your phone charger, Chris Jeon," he said. "It was behind the latrine."

"Gross," I said.

On the floor of the intelligence chief's office lay an envelope addressed to Gaddafi's son Saif Al-Islam. Inside, I found what appears to be a summary of a conversation between US congressman Denis Kucinich, who publicly opposed US policy on Libya, and an intermediary for the Libyan leader's son.

Worth taking with a pinch of salt. There was a similar situation with 'conveniently accessible' documents found by Telegraph reporters in the Iraqi intelligence ministry linking George Galloway with all sorts of dodgy stuff. It's widely accepted that they were false and put there deliberately to discredit him. Not sure who by, though.

the when and the what of this so-called conversation would seem to be pertinent also, since the gadaffis were persona NON non grata with the "international community" until early this year...

"It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels," said Chris Jeon, a 21-year-old university student from Los Angeles, shrugging cooly.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/zi7hd.gif

hipstercenaries

It's widely accepted that they were false and put there deliberately to discredit him.

is it? the tele lost its libel action because a comment piece that called him a "traitor" demolished the public interest defence they were trying to use, by making it a partisan attack rather than an impartial presentation of evidence. galloway certainly did make use of oil-for-food cash in the mariam appeal, which paid for his travel and political campaigning in a way that makes the issue of personal gain a very fine one. the commons standards and privileges committee judged that the telegraph docs were authentic, and that the reporter's account of finding them was genuine.

Yes, perhaps 'widely accepted' was a bit strong. It's certainly true that there's always been a significant amount of doubt about the authenticity of the documents although there's little doubt that they were believed to have been genuine by the Telegraph's reporter and there was never a question of deception on his part.

the commons committee got the forensics expert which galloway had hired for the libel action (whose work wasn't finished because the case wasn't going to hinge on authenticity) to complete the analysis of the documents. his report said:

"In my opinion the evidence found fully supports that the vast majority of the submitted documents are authentic. In my opinion the submitted documents are not all forgeries created at a later time. Whilst I cannot totally exclude the theoretical possibility that all the submitted documents were created during the time that they state but by a non-authentic source such as a 'shadow office', I consider that this is extremely unlikely.

"Given that the vast majority of the submitted documents are authentic then, in my opinion, there is a high probability that all the disputed Telegraph documents are also authentic. I find no evidence that any are forgeries or altered and I consider this possibility to be extremely unlikely."

can't really imagine why anyone would behave the way galloway behaved if it wasn't for money.

The story about the American student terrifies me. I can't understand how someone could act that way, and I'm inclined to think he's unhinged.

You're saying that's an atypical American mindset?

I can't understand how someone could act that way

Thinks he's Hemingway

that's the thing tho - there is obviously a precedent for young men setting off to join foreign wars, plenty of Irish went to Spain at the same time as Hemingway (fighting on both sides). I can understand that, same as I can understand those guys who left the UK/US to join various jihads (this is probably still going on). There are also Irish-Libyans who have left here to fight.

But this guy by his own account has neither any connections to, nor even any strong understanding of the conflict (which is pretty complex). Plus he paid his own way - one-way. Imo he's either a lunatic or a spy/agent provocateur (could be both of course).

hmmm a lot of parentheses in that post

He's damaging the cause by setting himself up to be used in government propaganda--not just in Libya, but elsewhere in the Arab world--as proof that the rebel movement is a front for US interests.

yep

to be fair to hemingway, he served with the red cross in WW1 (when he was actually a teenager): he was in his late 30s when he want to spain

don't forget Orwell

*remembers orwell*

the rebel movement is a front for US UCLA interests.

Their math dept obv a major, though obscure, player in international intrigue

Now waitaminute. I was under the impression that algebra was a Muslim plot to cloud people's minds.

that guy is a long tweet from home

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/ucla-student-libya/

So who's gonna play him in the movie comedy version surely coming soon

this guy rules.

he'll be on hipster runoff by tomorrow, right?

wondered why this thread had so many new answers all of a sudden, of course it had to be about hipsters

LOL NEW BOARD DESCRIPTION

Libyan fighters have surrounded the ousted dictator Muammar Qaddafi, and it is only a matter of time until he is captured or killed, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council said Wednesday.

Anis Sharif would not say where Qaddafi had been found, but said he was still in Libya and had been tracked using high technology and human intelligence. Qaddafi is trapped within a 40-mile-radius area surrounded by rebels, he said.

Wonder if this is true...

that's from CBS news

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/Qaddafi-Watch/2011/0908/Qaddafi-I-didn-t-and-won-t-leave-Libya

http://s1.proxy05.twitpic.com/photos/large/391961615.jpg

oh god

Can someone explain that headline to me?

there's this One Power, that comes from the True Source, and there is a male half and a female half..

Very good but can someone explain that headline to me?

Someone American, obviously

thats my morning paper btw

"rebels are hunting down what remains of the distasteful gaddhafi regime"

Thank you. US newspaper speak is different from UK newspaper speak also I'm imagining there's some double entendre there that isn't crossing the Atlantic either

ferrets are disgusting animals

"taint" is for some reason the most commonly used slang word for the area between your genitals and your anus.

Explanatory: http://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-called-a-taint

As Interpol issued arrest warrants for the fugitive Libyan autocrat Col. Muammar Qaddafi and two others on Friday, reports came from Niger of a new convoy of high-ranking Libyan officials arriving across the desert. NY Times excerpt

Q had supported Tuareg rebels in Niger in the past, so it makes sense I guess that they would flee that way. The rebels don't seem to have found a way to prevent this.

Elsewhere I read that NATO said they will not bomb a Q convoy if it is identified and is fleeing the country.

taint was the missing link for tom d

Associated Press
TRIPOLI, Libya – Suspected Muammar Qaddafi's loyalists staged twin attacks on a key oil refinery Monday in possibly coordinated strikes that suggest revolutionary forces still face resistance in areas under their control. At least 15 attackers were killed, an anti-Qaddafi commander said.

The back-to-back assaults in the coastal oil facility at Ras Lanuf -- saboteurs setting fires and then a convoy of gunmen riding in from the desert -- was a reminder that opposition forces have potential security challenges across Libya despite pushing out Qaddafi's regime from all but a few strongholds

Not over yet, and still no Qaddafi

NATO warplanes maintained attacks on remaining pro-Qaddafi sites. The military alliance said its targets Sunday focused on Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte, including a military logistics facility and three surface-to-air missile systems.

NATO's not done yet either

Amnesty Int'l reports torture, reprisals and other abuses by the rebels:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/libya-ntc-must-take-control-prevent-spiral-abuses-2011-09-12

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0913/Libyan-rebels-tarnished-by-human-rights-report

Most Libyans speak of the far greater crimes committed by the Qaddafi regime during more than four decades of power

“Those responsible for the dreadful repression of the past under Col. Al-Qaddafi will need to be held accountable,” said Mr. Cordone of Amnesty. “The [revolutionaries] must be judged according to the same standards. Without this, justice would not be done and a vicious cycle of abuses and reprisals risks being perpetuated.”