Posted on 10/08/2011 3:20:59 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
TRIPOLI, Libya—Six weeks after the fall of Tripoli, the palmy days of rebel unity have begun to disintegrate into a spiral of infighting, political jockeying and even the occasional violent flare-up threatening to derail Libya's post-Gadhafi transition.
Regional rivalries between fighters from the western mountains and Tripoli have in recent days come perilously close to exploding into open warfare in the capital. In some neighborhoods, multiple leaders claim sovereignty for their groups amid a deepening battle over the makeup of a citywide military council.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Good news, for a change. Not only are the secularists fighting the islamists, but the islamists are fighting each other. Hah!!
"Everybody is getting their knives out," said Mohammed Benrasali, a leader from Misrata and head of Tripoli's civilian stabilization team.
Most Zintan's leaders back Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jabril, who is deeply unpopular in the capital, and other parts of Libya, and is especially mistrusted by many of the country's Islamist leaders.
"The problems with the Zintanis is they are all uneducated, they drink, they drive around at night in muddy pickup trucks with guns, and they won't leave," said a commander in Tripoli.
I think I like the Zintanis. They sound like red-neck good old boys. And the muslim brotherhood hate them!! How's that arab spring working out, huh?
Those wacky Arab Spring “rebels” are like a dog chasing a car. If the car stops, they haven’t a clue what to do with it. LOL!
Gravity still exists
The Sun continues to come up in the East
Night still follows day
How stupid do you have to be NOT to think these people will soon be at each others throats? Most of the countries in that part of the world were drawn up by men sitting hundreds of miles away in Europe. Within their boarders are always numerous groups that hate each other. The only way they have peace for a while is when some iron fisted dictator takes over the country and rules by force. Then the are united - only because they all hate the same guy.
We learned that the hard way in Iraq.
‘boarders’=borders
The only good thing about the Islamists is that they have a tendency to eat their own over who is the more “pure” in their ideology.
Secularist forces should be wise to use that as a wedge before they get marginalized.
I say, three cheers for tribal warfare. Muslims killing Muslims, keeping them too busy to kill us. And France, the main instigator of this NATO misadventure, can go fish for its oil.
"She was just a goat herder's daughter but all the camel jockeys knew her."
Yeah, they say it like it’s a bad thing. Covers about 90% of the people I know, girls included.
This whole SNAFU is an enemy of my enemy mess that Obama made. Khadafi was daffy, but we had him under our thumb.
Thanks La Enchiladita.
Libyan Council Forces Battle Qaddafi Loyalists Inside Sirte
October 07, 2011
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-07/libyan-council-forces-battle-qaddafi-loyalists-inside-sirte.html
And meanwhile progress appears to have been made in the long Sirte battle. Earlier I heard that the people from the east (Benghazi) were complaining that the people from the west (Misrata) were not fighting hard enough, or maybe the other way around?? Also tonight I heard mixed reports on the attempt to reopen the Tripoli synagogue. The Jewish fellow had to close up shop because of internet led protests, but others said he is welcome, but perhaps a bit too early.
http://news.yahoo.com/libyans-claim-gains-gadhafi-hometown-offensive-194655803.html
Yes, you are right so many of the borders in the Middle East and Africa were deliberately drawn up by the colonialist powers to include different tribes that were at odds. The old divide and rule principle. For example, there are Kurds in northern Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran and I can’t remember if there is one other country. Meanwhile some of the Kurdish elements in Syria are probably thinking about joining the Iraq Kurds, and the Turks are probably pooping bullets.
In Libya, the people of the Nafusa mountains referred to in this story are Berbers who had been forbidden to use their non-Arabic language by Gaddafi. There are Berbers in Tunisia, Algeria, and I think Morroco plus one or two others. I read somewhere that they are communicating more about their issues and culture as a result of all this.
Then there is Nigeria with the Yoruba (Christian?), Housa (Muslim?) and the Ibos who got creamed by the others several decades ago. I could go on but you probably know all this anyway.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
The script is always written before the play (sometimes). In that part of the world, the play normally turns out the way it was before the played script, or similar. In this case, (imho) the players hands strengthened are yet to enter upon the stage, and (imho) those on the stage (all there) may wind up as the losers. Expecting the word "unexpected", though (imho) wasn't.
LOL... I’m glad you picked up on that. The Zintanis (great name!!) seem like the only fun guys over there and, whaddya know?, they’re not islamists. Send ‘em some more brew or whatever...:):)
Well then, the Kurds and the Berbers might well petition the UN for nationhood status too. If these non-islamist tribes and clans start to assert themselves, could help to stave off the radical islamization of the area.
The U.S. and Europeans failed to foresee these complexities and nuances when imposing the western style of countries and borders. U.S. also failed in its promise to help the Kurds, vintage Gulf War I.
Just some thoughts.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.