The New York Times

The Opinion Pages

Unfit for Democracy?

By Nicholas D Kristof

I don’t think so. Moreover, this line of thinking seems to me insulting to the unfree world. In Egypt and Bahrain in recent weeks, I’ve been humbled by the lionhearted men and women I’ve seen defying tear gas or bullets for freedom that we take for granted. How can we say that these people are unready for a democracy that they are prepared to die for?

Associated Press

Clinton: US ready to aid to Libyan opposition

By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Obama administration stands ready to offer “any type of assistance” to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday, adding a warning to other African nations not to let mercenaries go to the aid of the longtime dictator.

Senators criticizing the President for slow action on Libya were befriending Gaddafi not long ago according this cable from Wikileaks.

http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/08/09TRIPOLI661.html

UK Guardian

Libyan militias prepare to join forces before assault on Tripoli

Heavily armed youths and former security forces ready for push, but Gaddafi family stronghold of Sirte looms

Martin Chulov in Benghazi
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 27 February 2011 20.16 GMT

Groups of revolutionaries are starting to move towards western Libya in an attempt to link up with opposition militias near Tripoli, setting the stage for a final assault on the capital – perhaps within weeks.

Time/CNN

Libya’s War of the Colonels: Col. Gaddafi Meet Col. Hussein

The liberation of Tripoli has become the battle cry in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city. “We will never abandon Tripoli,”

The Daily Beast

Horrific Libyan Prison Exposed

Abdul Salam Barghati locks his wrists and ankles around an iron bar with his body dangling just a few inches off the ground. “This was called the ‘Hyundai,'” he says, describing a torture position that Libyan interior ministry forces used at a notorious prison in Benghazi. “They beat us with sticks while we were hanging for hours.”