Dozens killed after Benghazi militia opens fire on protesters

The Guardian ^ | June 9, 2013 | Chris Stephen in Tripoli

[don-o]

At least 26 people were killed and 80 wounded when a militia in the Libyan city of Benghazi opened fire on protesters gathered outside its base on Saturday.

The demonstrators had gathered outside the headquarters of the Libya Shield brigade to demand it to submit to the authority of Libya's security forces.

Television pictures showed people and cars fleeing in panic from the scene amid the crackle of gunfire. Benghazi's Jala hospital was overwhelmed with casualties being brought in by ambulance and private vehicles, with doctors saying they were struggling to cope.

The Libyan prime minister, Ali Zidan, made a televised appeal for calm, and promised an investigation.

The killings came when an organised protest march calling for militias to disband wound its way through the streets of this eastern city to the Libya Shield base. A similar march was held without incident in Tripoli.

[don-o]

Would be interesting to get ballistics tests on the bullets. Where did the militia get their weapons? I believe we do have a reasonable conjecture, yes?

[originalbuckeye]

Yeppers, I am sure we funded them.

[don-o]

More blood on the heads of Obama and Clinton

[rovenstinez]

Allah must be praised. The religion of peace hard at work, obviously.

[cripplecreek]

And McCain, Graham and others.

[grania]

I'm curious. Is it that the radicals who didn't know they were fighting for western globalist interests don't want to cede their power or their guns to that hand-picked government?

Regime change is over-rated.

[TADSLOS]

Arab Spring is in the Air...

[rktman]

Probably some low budget movie at the drive in the night before. But, what difference does it make now? (What if someone had used that same sort of phrasing after Sandy Hook as to why the scumbag carried out the assault killing all those little kids? Was he on drugs? Did he play too many video games? What difference does it make now? That someone would have been dragged out and strung up somewhere.)

[District13]

Wow, it’s a dangerous place. Who knew?

[Gen.Blather]

It’s astonishing that anybody who grew up in Libya could be naïve enough to believe you could “protest” a militia and not get shot. It proves there are liberal-minded utopian-seekers everywhere.

Imagine if a bunch of Chicagoans of the ‘20’s had protested Al Capone to force him to get out of the booze business. (Actually, Al would have gone out to meet them, gotten their names, and then taken care of them discreetly. I think Capone understood when to use excessive force and when to be discrete.)

[bgill]

Would also be interesting to compare the dead with those at the consulate and those dragging around Stevens. Dead men don’t tell tales.

[Irenic]

Obama is so proud.

[blueunicorn6]

This is why Hillary falls down a lot. It takes a lot of whiskey to drown out the screams of people dying so she could make some money.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks don-o.

The demonstrators had gathered outside the headquarters of the Libya Shield brigade to demand it to submit to the authority of Libya's security forces.

"As little as possible" / Chinatown ping.

[Telepathic Intruder]

"The Libyan prime minister, Ali Zidan, made a televised appeal for calm, and promised an investigation"

Was any investigation done the last time? Not by us, or president Zero. This is bound to happen more and more often now that Obama has radicalized Libya.

[Parley Baer]

We need to send Susan Rice to be staffed in Benghazi as our Ambassador. No protection of course and any reinforcements will be ordered to stand down.

[palmer]

a militia in the Libyan city of Benghazi opened fire on protesters gathered outside its base

The militia did not intended to open fire. They had just finished watching a u-tube video and things got a little out of control.

[a fool in paradise]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-president-obamas-speech-united-nations-general-assembly/story?id=14570970#.UbS8s96-lIg

Excerpts of transcript of Obama’s speech to the United Nations from 2011 (”MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”):

...I took office at a time of two wars for the United States. Moreover, the violent extremists who drew us into war in the first place – Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaeda organization – remained at large. Today, we have set a new direction...

...Yes, this has been a difficult decade. But today, we stand at a crossroads of history with the chance to move decisively in the direction of peace. To do so, we must return to the wisdom of those who created this institution. The UN’s Founding Charter calls upon us, “to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.” And Article 1 of this General Assembly's Universal Declaration of Human Rights reminds us that, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’ Those bedrock beliefs – in the responsibility of states, and the rights of men and women – must be our guide.

In that effort, we have reason to hope. This year has been a time of transformation. More nations have stepped forward to maintain international peace and security. And more individuals are claiming their universal right to live in freedom and dignity...

One year ago, the people of Libya were ruled by the world's longest serving dictator. But faced with bullets and bombs and a dictator who threatened to hunt them down like rats, they showed relentless bravery. We will never forget the words of the Libyan who stood up in those early days of revolution and said, “Our words are free now. It's a feeling you can't explain.”

Day after day, in the face of bullets and bombs, the Libyan people refused to give back that freedom. And when they were threatened by the kind of mass atrocity that often went unchallenged in the last century, the United Nations lived up to its charter. The Security Council authorized all necessary measures to prevent a massacre. The Arab League called for this effort, and Arab nations joined a NATO-led coalition that halted Qadhafi’s forces in their tracks.

In the months that followed, the will of the coalition proved unbreakable, and the will of the Libyan people could not be denied. Forty-two years of tyranny was ended in six months. From Tripoli to Misratah to Benghazi – today, Libya is free. Yesterday, the leaders of a new Libya took their rightful place beside us, and this week, the United States is reopening our Embassy in Tripoli. This is how the international community is supposed to work – nations standing together for the sake of peace and security; individuals claiming their rights. Now, all of us have a responsibility to support the new Libyan government as they confront the challenge of turning this moment of promise into a just and lasting peace for all Libyans.

So it has been a remarkable year. The Qadhafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, and Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him. Something is happening in our world. The way things have been is not the way they will be. The humiliating grip of corruption and tyranny is being pried open. Technology is putting power in the hands of the people. The youth are delivering a powerful rebuke to dictatorship, and rejecting the lie that some races, religions and ethnicities do not desire democracy. The promise written down on paper – “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” – is closer at hand.

But let us remember: peace is hard. Progress can be reversed. Prosperity comes slowly. Societies can split apart. The measure of our success must be whether people can live in sustained freedom, dignity, and security. And the United Nations and its member states must do their part to support those basic aspirations...

"WE came, WE saw, HE DIED!!!" - Sec. of State Hillary Clinton on the torture, abuse, and murder of a POW named Momar Gadaffi.

[MestaMachine]

What do you say when muslims act like muslims? There they go again? Send in mcclown?

Anyone wanting on or off this ping list, please advise.

Benghazi Index

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