This is an excerpt from an interview the journalist Lisa Goldman had with a friend in Libya via skype. The account is disconcerting at the least and does not bode well for the things to come.
Q: What is the situation with the army? Are Libyan soldiers attacking demonstrators, helping or staying neutral? Do you know if soldiers are defecting to the opposition? If yes, are they doing so in significant numbers?
A: The Libyan army is one of the poorest and most neglected security sectors in the government. They are poorly fed , equipped, trained and paid. They are mostly ceremonial and Qaddafi does not trust them. So what we have here are private battalions with each of his sons owning the one named for him. So for example his son Khamees has a battalion belonging to him calling it “Kateebit Khamees.” Each is placed in private super huge barracks situated strategically around Tripoli for situations like these. These battalions are well-equipped, trained and paid and are extremely loyal not to the country but to the leader of their battalion.
So to answer your question the regular army is non-compliant and has mostly sided with the people. Remember they are poorly-equipped and so can be of only limited help. However, the battalions belonging to the regime itself are very much in the fight and are killing people wholesale. Still their numbers are not so great to cover this huge country so it seems they are complemented by mercenaries.
Q: How bad are the air strikes? What are they targeting?
A: I am not sure about the results of the air strikes since just before the assault started in Tripoli all the mobile phone lines were cut and no one standing outside can communicate anymore with anyone from a distance. I started to hear fighter jets roaring but not so loud because they were actually making sharp turns from a distance several times it seems over the same area . Then the TV confirmed what I did not even want to imagine. TV channels including Aljazeera, Al Hurra and others were talking about protesters being attacked by fixed-wing aircraft. What confirmed this was the footage of two Libyan Mirage F1 fighters defecting to Malta with their pilots announcing that they refuse to kill their people! (Click here to see photos of the Mirage fighter planes in Malta).
Q: To what extent are you (Libyans, in general) aware of world reaction to events in Libya? What do you (personally) think about world reaction? What would you like the world to do?
A: Libyans are disappointed and consider the world reaction as a very weak one. From the TV official announcements the US and the EU, for example, tried to be very careful with their condemnation. It was quite clear that they were weighing their options and the consequences of either angering a surviving Qaddafi and the shame of being silent towards this carnage. Oil contracts and work opportunities for their locals seem to have a higher priority than even frowning at a tyrant going berserk on his people. Only when Qaddafi’s chances proved to be weak did they take a bolder stance; that is when they started to actually condemn the killings – but a bit too late.
Read more on Lisa’s blog.
