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Former Libyan Ambassador Ali Aujali joined Council on American-Islamic Relations President Nihad Awad, American-Libyan Council President Fadel Lamen, Libyan Emergency Task Force Director Dr. Esam Omeish, and Muslim Public Affairs Council Washington Director Haris Tarim, at the National Press Thursday to express their support for the military action in the troubled North African nation.
They spoke about the need for allied forces to arm the opposition forces, cautioned against more “boots on the ground,” expressed their desire for the Obama administration to stay involved in the conflict, and discussed the strategic role the city of Misurata plays in the Libyan conflict. Ambassador Aujali also offered some unique insight into his last interaction with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Oemish thanked the Obama administration for a "timely and swift" response, which came in the wake of Aujali’s comments last week insinuating that the United States had taken longer than he'd hoped to get involved with the crisis. He called Obama "reminiscent of George H.W. Bush" for his efforts in Kuwait against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in 1991. "What the U.S. has done will never be forgotten by the Libyan people," Oemish said.
Awad called on President Barack Obama to increase U.S. support in Libya. "Now's not the time to weaken our resolve," he said. "It's our moral duty to do whatever is necessary to support the people of Libya."
They shared stories they’ve heard from Misurata, a city in northwestern Libya. "Stories we cannot even tell our wives," Aujali said, comparing Gadhafi’s actions to those of Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Adolf Hitler. "The fight for Misurata is the fight for Libya, I want everyone to understand that," Lamen added, citing the strategic importance of the city to opposition leaders.
Aujali said they are not looking for more "boots on the ground" but rather, more logistical training to supplement the ongoing efforts. In the event that the opposition takes over and Gadhafi falls into their hands, Aujali said they will hand him over to the international court to "stand trial for crimes in Libya.
Lamen stressed that the situation in Libya is unique. "Afghanistan is not Libya, Libya is more coherent," he said, "Libya has more urban centers like urban cities," and went on to compare the situation in Libya to that of what happened in Kosovo and that in the end the Libyan people want to oust Gadhafi themselves. "They want that honor" he said.
The news conference concluded with an interesting anecdote about Auajli's last interaction with Gadhafi. "Last year in May I went to Tripoli to see him," he said and talked about how he explained the importance of relations with the UN and how he should allow more American investments and for tourists to be allowed to come to Libya so that American citizens wouldn't have a negative view of Libya. "He always panicked if his relationship with American was not good," Aujali said.
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Why wasn't Rachel Maddow talking about this tonight?
O No, President Obama done got them Arabs talkin good aboutem! Please don't do that as we here in America, hear about all we can stand about Our Terrorist loving Muslim President!
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! The Gop will hearya!
Q
We do need to arm the rebels- that was what I was for from the beginning, and why I am still in "objective" mode over the no- fly action.
Now that we are in it, we must be in it to win it. Qaddafi MUST leave this mortal coil. Period.
If he is left alive, he WILL seek retribution. Remember Pan Am 103.
In fact, never forget it.
Somebody want to send Obama a spine? Cause, I do not believe he knows what he is doing, nor do I believe he has the guts to finish what he has started.
The man's got Spine!
BTW, has Senator Demint "Brokem Yet"?
Come on now. Did someone say we didnt have ground troops in Libya.. They dont really expect us to believe that do they.................. I am all for kicking arse. I am not sure why we stopped Bombing though. perhaps we could kill a few more Innocent Muslims.... err Civilians.....
President Obama isn't running the show Hillary Clinton is. President Obama is going for plausible deniability. Appreciate the fact that he did what he did despite the left and the right complaining. Boots are on the ground in Libya right now, Special forces but it has to be kept quiet for the safety of the ones there.
I wonder if the president thought that kuchinich had him impeached when he got back and couldn't get in to the white house because the doors were locked. lol
If we wanted to take out Ghadafi, a sniper team can do that easily and at a very low cost in military presence... Special forces train to do that all the time.. The grand talk about maintianing the no fly zone delies the fact that Ghadafi's Air Force is a joke and anyone could maintain a "no fly" zone. We just need to cut off the head of the snake = Ghadafi and his sons .... and then see what the Army leaderhsip there does.... either begin to support the people or continue to serve the thugs that are a mirror of the government there. The lack of NATO agreement on what to do now also shows that the Adminstration did not have any real agreement in the UN on a Lebenon policy ( which is common for the inept UN! The Amdisntration still has idea what their prospoed end game mission is other than turn this debacle over to NATO as far as we can so the Administration does not continue to show its ineptness in forming any real policy. There was never any doubt that we have been the force that could do the most damage ... Obama feels this a victory because we are turning over control of an isoated airspace to NATO when the real issue is that the Government leadderhsip still is in power and his Army is still embedded in the ciities. Where was the United States support when most of the country was in the streets in Tripoli trying to throw out Ghadafi?... Nowhere to be found or heard from! A snaiper shot coudl have moved this regime change rapdily then, but so one had the balls to order it! It is good that we removed the air threat from the skies for that country, but what now? This is not a foreign policy that anyone can reocgnize, which reflects just how inept the Obama Adminstration really is. Bush never calculated or planned for the end game and resulting new govenrmetnal developmetn support in Iraq and Obama is continuing the same polcies and even expanded on the war there.. Now he is showing his inability to have any long term vision in Lebenon. Selective assasinaiton is the ticket and then see who really stands up to lead would be worth trying in many of these dictatorial countires we are trying to influence!
Fed up Senior
If we wanted to take out Ghadafi, a sniper team can do that easily and at a very low cost in military presence.
Ummm.....it's against the law to assassinate. been on the books since the 60s I believe but nice try.
I believe the strategy is to get the people around Qaddaffy to put him on a plane to Africa.
It's amazing we have a consenus in the Arab world that this has to happen. I think the Obama administration has handled it masterfully. Strengthened our relationship to France and the UK too.
Shortsighted critics don't realize what this means for the future of diplomacy and U.S.influence.
Put him on a plane to Africa? Amy, Libya IS in Africa.
554943__— I know it is against the law, but the concept is worth revisiting, don't ya think... especially when you have a madman in power!! We waste so much military intervention and bombs and missiles (much less the added costs) when a single bullet could do the job ... sooo disguise the bullet or use one from an arab rifle... just a very long range, high-powered one! HAHA! Sorry... was just dreaming. Have a good weekend watching us burn through more millions only to see Kadafy inthe bombed out building blaring away with his BS days after!!
KUDOS to those in charge! Sorry to rain on the loyal haters parade, but I thought this spot needed a little 'lightness'...
I'm very proud of OUR President!
You. me, and Clara, Lyn...arms locked.
The Obama Diary:
Clinton praised the international community for acting swiftly and said their action prevented a massacre in Benghazi. “After only five days, we have made significant progress,” Clinton said, noting that the coalition has full control of the skies over Libya and
USAID doctors have already begun to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Benghazi.
In 2007 and 2008, the last two years of the previous administration, the U.S. was sixth of seven, trailing Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and China. Yes, in the Bush/Cheney era, a repressive Chinese regime was actually more popular around the world than us.
In 2009 and 2010, the first two years of the Obama administration, the U.S. now once again is out in front.
Of course, it’s not just Gallup. We’ve seen similar trends in America’s popularity in the Obama era in similar international polls, including the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which also found a vast improvement in global views of the United States since the president’s election.
********
Headline over @ Think Progress, Michele Bachmann's former Chief of Staff said: "I'm voting for Pawlenty".
And Lawrence O'Donnell & Dana Milbank nailed it:
Who ever is the biggest flip flopper in the GOP will win the nomination. LoL.
OBAMA AND NATO LIES ABOUT LIBYA
The principle imperial powers and their mass media mouthpieces claim they are bombing Libya for “humanitarian reasons”. Their recent past and current military interventions present a different picture: The intervention in Iraq resulted in well over a million civilian deaths, four million refugees and the systematic destruction of a complex society and its infrastructure, including its water supplies and sewage treatment, irrigation, electricity grid, factories, not to mention research centers, schools, historical archives, museums and Iraq’s extensive social welfare system.
A worse disaster followed the invasion of Afghanistan. What was trumpeted as a ‘humanitarian intervention’ to liberate Afghan women and drive out the Taliban resulted in a human catastrophe for the Afghan people.
The road to imperial barbarism in Iraq began with ‘sanctions’, progressed to ‘no fly zones’, then de facto partition of the north, invasion and foreign occupation and the unleashing of sectarian warfare among the ‘liberated’ Iraqi death squads.
Equally telling, the imperial assault against Yugoslavia in the 1990’s, trotted out as the great “humanitarian war” to stop genocide, led to a 40-day aerial bombardment and destruction of Belgrade and other major cities, the imposition of a gangster terrorist regime (KLA) in Kosovo, the near-total ethnic cleansing of all non-Albanian residents from Kosovo and the construction of the largest US military base on the continent (Camp Bondsteel).
The bombing of Libya has already destroyed major civilian infrastructure, airports, roads, seaports and communication centers, as well as ‘military’ targets. The blockade of Libya and military attacks have driven out scores of multi-national corporations and led to the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Asian, Eastern European, Sub-Saharan African, Middle Eastern and North African skilled and unskilled immigrant workers and specialists of all types, devastating the economy and creating, virtually overnight, massive unemployment, bread-lines and critical gasoline shortages. Moreover, following the logic of previous imperial military interventions, the seemingly ‘restrained’ call to patrol the skies via “no fly zone”, has led directly to bombing civilian as well as military targets on the ground, and is pushing to overthrow the legitimate government. The current imperial warmongers leading the attack on Libya, just like their predecessors, are not engaged in anything remotely resembling a humanitarian mission: they are destroying the fundamental basis of the civilian lives they claim to be saving – or as an earlier generation of American generals would claim in Vietnam, they are ‘destroying the villages in order to save them’.
Here we go yet again, no help to solve the problems of the middle class in this nation but let's move the world for other nations such as 51st state iraq, 52nd state afghanistan and now apparently 53rd state libya. how about a little health care or a stimulus for us poor taxpayers? BTW, Irealize I'm not NSA, but just how do we know that some of these "rebels" we are protecting are not al qaida? how ironic if we actually helped them develop a new stronghold with our supperior air power.one lost plane could give healthcarre to hundreds if theproper price controls were in effect.
leon - only time will tell who will support the US and who will not. Right now I think the arabs are doing a heck of a propaganda campaign. Just hope the intell being gathered by the US is credible.
The social disease of tolerating despotism in the world must cease-the hot winds of change are blowing across the whole world; igniting into flames in the Middle-East where tyrants refuse to give up power and stolen wealth, in Africa where the poor have been exploited to the brink of extinction, and , yes, to the developed industrial countries of the West, where the inequality of wealth distribution has become intolerable and is now a festering sore because of greed by those who already have too much. The Far-East, and Latin America, as they progess in wealth, hopefully will learn from history, and by the mistakes of tyrants everywhere, and by the reluctance of humanity to exterminate this blight on God's children before the whole Earth goes up in flames of self-destruction."Oh ,what fools these mortals be."-WS
The tyrant of Libya must go, with others to follow.