Since the start of the Libyan uprising it has been clear that the Gaddafi regime is using mercenaries from other countries to help in keeping the lid on the uprising.
Important study on Merceneries and supply of weapons:
The Doctor managing the only medical facility in Misrata appeals to the world for help
"water has been cut off in Misrata for at least two weeks now. We are having to being water in cars which is very difficult"
An old man being intreviewed says:
He (Gaddafi) is obliterating and destroying people. He destroyed our homes. We cannot sleep day or night. What are these forces for, did they just bring them to show off their equipment
Interviewer: What is happening in Misrata is common knowledge in the whole world these days. And no where do we see the full extent of the suffering than in the Misrata General Hospital.
We are speaking with the Manager of Misrata General hospital.
We do not really have a hospital. were in in a building with several medical clinics that was receiving and treating all the injured people in Misrata. As for the Medicines they were at the main hospital that was ongoing maintenance and now is occupied (under Gaddafi forces control) and we heard the store rooms were destroyed.
In the clinics which are very modest we were doing many surgeries, but this was being shelled, so we moved to a private clinic that had less than fifty beds, so we had to resort to run the Emergency room out of a tent outside of the clinic.
We are experiencing severe shortages in specialists for Orthopedic, nerve, and blood vessel, and brain surgeries. Many of the emergencies require quick response but we do not have the facilities, and we are running into huge shortages in medicines needed in performing surgeries and for intensive care especially antibiotics. Also we severely need equipment for orthopedic surgeries.
Add to that that water has been cut off in Misrata for at least two weeks now. We are having to being water in cars which is very difficult.
We need Artificial breathing equipment, defibrillators, special equipment for operating rooms. We have a special monitor for orthopedic surgery that is falling apart and experiences breakdowns.
We urgently request from Air organizations like the Red Cross and the Red crescent and Doctors without borders to provide us with doctors in the Orthopedic, nerve, brain, and blood vessel.
We also have patients that need surgeries that we can not perform here and we are asking organizations and especially Libyan doctors that work outside to make efforts to move these patients and treat them at other locations. These patients may be transported by ship through the "Qasser Ahmad" (Amad's Palace) port. We also heard that we will be provided with a floating hospital, but this has been severely delayed.
There also severe shortages in baby food, diapers, and basic staples in Misrata. The situation in Misrata is very dire at this time especially because of the size of the city and the inability to transport patients to the hospital.
Interviewer: Do you have statistics on deaths and injuries.
Dr: Since the beginning of the events here, we do not receive all the cases. We hear of many deaths and injuries around the city because of the snipers that do not make it to the hospital. But Since March 18th over 140 martyrs, and over 1300 injured, some of which are very severely injured, lost limbs, spinal injuries, vessel trauma. And because we are there has not been a hospital in Misrata in over two years, we have modest facilities that cannot handle these kinds of injuries.
Interviewer: Do you have a short statement you want to make to organizations that you want to appeal to?
Dr: We especially appeal to the International Red Cross, and the International Red Crescent, and the Arabic Red Crescent, and the Arabic Doctors and the Libyan doctors that work abroad, and the Doctors without Borders, to work to provide medical supplies and equipment and facilitate delivery to Misrata through the Misrata Port. We also appeal for surgeons in Orthopedics, nerve, vessel, and to work to move the severly injured to the outside of Misrata through the Misrata Port.
Announcer: then we toured the hospital to see the injured and how and where they were injured:
Patient: My name is Mohammad Mustapha Alaraiby. I am injured from shrapnel wounds. When we heard that Gaddafi forces were coming into Misrata from the west (Azraig area) we went to the front. There a Mortar round came at us and exploded. I was injured in both legs and my arm.
The Doctors said that the injuries are manageable. They operated on my stomach and a that they might operate on a tendon injury in my arm.
Int reviewer: What do you want to say to the international medical and humanitarian organizations?
Patient: First I would like to appeal for help for these patients and injured. The Doctors and the people of Misrata here have performed with exceptional effort. I appeal to the world to help the people of Misrata to avoid more massacres
Interviewer: I would like you to describe this child's condition.
Old Man: As to his injuries, one of his eyes is gone. This hand is gone, and his other arm has two or three injuries and his leg is broken
Interviewer: Where did he get injured?
Old Man: in the "Mahjoub" entrance. If I can be frank, may God help us. All the world is watching. The Arab World, and the International World, and the United Nations. (Exasperated!) Where? Where is the Arab Nation? Where is the American Forces? Where are the British forces, their planes just circle around with no use. They have done nothing for us. What did they do for us? He (Gaddafi) is obliterating and destroying people. He destroyed our homes. We cannot sleep day or night. What are these forces for, did they just bring them to show off their equipment. Maybe we should just move the dead and we can die in their place. In all honesty, our lives have become very precarious. Death is Death. If they are not going to help with with their forces, then they should just take them away and we will just die here on our land. They are just watch us as if it is a show.
(old man in rage, quoting Gaddafi) Zenga Zenga (alley alley), Bait Bait (house house), Sharei Sharei (street street) I will destroy you. He said this in front of the world. He was not hiding it. We have no were to go. Who ever dies dies, and whoever lives lives. Even if only thousand or only a single million people are left in this country it will be worth it as long as we get rid of his (Gaddafi’s) face. Even if only a million people are left, as long as is situation is changed.
Intreviewer: The Freedom Group from the inside of the Misrata Central Hospital on March 30th, 2011
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 30, 2011
Mr. Rohrabacher submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi.
Whereas the people of Libya have risen up in rebellion against the tyrannical rule of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi, a man who seized power by force and has ruled by force ever since;
Whereas Qadhaffi has oppressed the people of Libya and squandered their wealth;
Whereas, on March 3, 2011, President Barack Obama said about the situation in Libya, “The violence must stop; Mu’ammar Qadhaffi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave”, a position he reaffirmed on March 21, 2011;
Whereas, on March 17, 2011, Qadhaffi threatened a civilian massacre by claiming in a radio address, “We are coming tonight … We will have no mercy and no pity with them”;
Whereas Qadhaffi has shown himself to be an enemy of the United States and a threat to international security, including—
(1) the April 5, 1986, bombing by Libyan agents of the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin, which killed 2 United States soldiers and wounded 50 others, among some 200 total victims of the blast;
(2) the December 21, 1988, destruction of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb planted by a Libyan agent, killing 190 United States citizens out of the total loss of 243 passengers, 16 crew members, and 11 civilians on the ground; and
(3) a clandestine nuclear weapons program, which was only ended after the seizure by the United States Navy of a shipment of uranium-enrichment components bound for Libya in October 2003; and
Whereas the Libyan people have not asked for United States ground troops to do their fighting for them, and President Barack Obama has pledged not to deploy ground troops: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That—
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—
(A) the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi is no longer the legitimate government of Libya;
(B) the Transitional National Council, based in eastern Libya at Benghazi and headed by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, consisting of those Libyans who have declared their intentions to establish a constitutional, multi-party democracy, should be considered the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people and nation;
(C) the United States should encourage the post-Qadhaffi government to repay the expenses incurred by the United States Armed Forces during military operations undertaken to protect the Libyan people; and
(D) as Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner wrote in his letter to President Obama on March 23, 2011, “a UN Security Council resolution does not substitute for a U.S. political and military strategy”, the United States course in Libya must be determined in accord with United States interests and values and in consultation with allies; and
(2) the House of Representatives—
(A) supports President Barack Obama’s strategy of protecting the Libyan people in their struggle for freedom from the Qadhaffi tyranny without risking the direct intervention of United States ground forces in the Libyan civil war;
(B) supports the freezing of the assets of Qadhaffi and his regime wherever they can be found, with the understanding that these assets will be made available to the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people once they have been duly recognized by the United States Government; and
(C) calls for the United States in cooperation with its allies to provide the Libyan freedom fighters with the arms, supplies, and other materials needed to oust the Qadhaffi regime from power and liberate the entire country.
With the news that Musa Kousa Gaddafi's foreign minister has defected to England, his journey has come full circle back to London where he was the Libyan ambassador there and was subsequently expelled in June, 1980 for approving and masterminding the killing of Libyan exiles.
Malta today on March 30th, has an in-depth story on Musa Kousa and his defection. Kousa was Gaddafi's right hand man and he was instrumental in negotiating the settlement for the Lockerbie bombings that brought Libya back from the cold.
"Mousa Kousa is the only member within the Gaddafi regime who has not been included in the UN sanctions list"
Libyans are generally happy that Kousa has defected as it will accelerate the fall of the Gaddafi regime, however many still wish to find a way to prosecute him for his crimes against Libyans.
This woman used to be one of Gaddafi's personal body guards, and she discusses the killing of his cousin Hassan Ishkal by another guard, and the hangings and executions of other students in Benghazi.
Congratulations to all Libyans on the successful launch of Libya TV. Libya TV is the new channel for all Free Libyans. Libya TV can be watched on Nilesat 10930 Horizontal.
This channel is currently beaming from Doha-Qatar with Studios and correspondents across Libya
David Ceniciotti Details the operation