After months of trying, rebel forces finally and quickly entered the capital city of Tripoli—busting through 42-year dictator Muammar Qaddafi's "ring of steel defense." Ecstatic Libyans are celebrating in the streets, honking their horns, jumping up and down, and chanting "down with Qaddafi! or Khaddafi! or however the fuck you spell it ... Gah!"
Libyan rebels are telling the AFP that they "expect to get an offer very soon" from dictator Moammar Qaddafi. According to Abdel Hafiz Ghoga of the rebel government, they've heard ("though contacts with France and South Africa") that Qaddafi is ready to "present a proposal"; even if the rumors are true (and it's in the best interests of Ghoga and the National Transitional Council to convince NATO that hostilities will end soon), the NTC has said it cannot accept a deal that would keep Qaddafi in power. But according to Rep. Mike Turner, NATO didn't even want that on the table: The congressman told Foreign Policy that Admiral Samuel Locklear had admitted to him that NATO forces were trying to kill Qaddafi, which, if true, would be a violation of the stated objectives of the NATO mission.
Six armed Western men, possibly British special forces, were caught on tape by Al Jazeera, seemingly corroborating rumors that SAS soldiers are on the ground in Libya acting as spotters for NATO air strikes. The presence of Western troops is... well, the Guardian calls it a "sensitive" subject, because the UN resolution authorizing air strikes explicitly forbids a "foreign occupation force of any form." As far as the British government is concerned, they don't exist: "We don't have any forces out there," the Ministry of Defense says.
Some 259 women reported being raped by forces fighting on behalf of dictator Moammar Qaddafi during the ongoing civil war in Libya, according to a questionnaire distributed to refugees by child psychologist Seham Sergewa. The question was added to the survey after Sergewa was contacted by three separate victims — mothers of children she was treating — who told similar stories of assault by militia fighting to keep Qaddafi in power:
Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi expanded on his brief but legendary comments from yesterday in a much longer address to the nation today. He rambled for well over an hour about random stuff, much like he did in his first speech to the United Nations in 2009. For example: "It's impossible for the youth to follow anyone else. If not Qaddafi, who else would they follow? Somebody with a beard?" Yes. Wait, what?
