THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Libyan people are finally rebelling against their despised ruler and his corrupt regime. But Gaddafi's strength in the Arab world was shamefully bolstered by his oil pact with Tony Blair, says Ian Birrell.As I stood on a hilltop overlooking al-Bayda less than a fortnight ago, the prosperity of the city was plain to see. It was fringed with new blocks of flats, cranes bristled on the skyline and the copper dome of the former king's palace, now a university, glistened in the winter sun.
Once, this busy city in the east of Libya was the home of King Idris. More recently, it benefited as the birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi's second wife, Safiya, a nurse who treated him after he suffered severe injuries in a car accident. Rumour has it the despot fell for her after she rejected a bribe to poison him. Now she is at the heart of the corruption that so blights this oil-rich nation, with much of the money ending up in her home town. So when the ''day of rage'' erupted here last week, with protesters burning municipal buildings and ripping down a ludicrous statue of the Green Book [Gaddafi's political testament], it was clear that Gaddafi was facing a genuine threat to his 41-year rule.
Today, al-Bayda is described as looking like a war zone, with blood on the streets, smoke rising from buildings and the authorities thought to have lost control. In nearby Benghazi, where I chatted to traders and dissidents over coffee, there are reports of massacres with hundreds of bodies turning up at hospitals and morgues. Young men are throwing home-made bombs against soldiers using heavy-calibre weapons, while airport runways are sabotaged to prevent the arrival of more troops.
''The military is shooting at all the protesters with live bullets, I've seen it happen with my own eyes,'' said a woman doctor in Benghazi yesterday. ''There was an eight-year-old boy who died from a gunshot to the head – what did he do to deserve this?" Similar horror stories are emerging from other towns and cities. Read on and comment >>> | Monday, February 21, 2011
