COLONEL SIXX: THE LINK ABOVE TELLS HOW I AND OTHERS HAVE BEEN WARNING FOR THE U.S. TO GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. WE ARE NOT SUPRISED AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINING.
Muammar Gadhafi’s decision to pursue gold standard and reject dollars for oil payments may have sealed his fate
(FinalCall.com) – The war raging in Libyasince February is getting progressively worse as NATO forces engage in regime change and worse, an objective to kill Muammar Gadhafi to eradicate his vision of a United Africa with a single currency backed by gold.
Observers say implementing that vision would change the world power equation and threaten Western hegemony. In response, the United States and its NATO partners have determined “Gadhafi must go,” and assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner.
“If they kill Brother Gadhafi, I submit to you that American interests in Africa will come under severe strain,” warned the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on WPFW-FM’s “Spectrum Today” program with Askia Muhammad.
“That man has invested in Africa more than any other leader in the recent history of Africa’s coming into political independence,” he continued. The Muslim leader said America needs access to the mineral resources in Africa to be a viable power in the 21st century.
Minister Farrakhan further pointed out in the April 1 radio interview that the current plot to kill Col. Gadhafi comes at a time of great distress and decline for America. The fall of the dollar is a manifest loss of America’s prestige and influence among the nations of the earth and an indicator of her end.
“How’s America’s wealth today? How is she doing financially? What is the deficit? Some say it’s about $56 trillion counting Social Security and Medicare. That’s a big number. She’s printing money, but there’s nothing backing it,” said Min. Farrakhan.
In the book, “The Fall of America,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote, “One of the greatest powers of America washer dollar. The loss of such power will bring any nation to weakness, for this is the media of exchange between nations.”
“The English pound and the American dollar have been the power and beckoning light of these two great powers. But when the world went off the gold and silver standard, the financial doom of England and America was sealed,” he explained. Mr. Muhammad said further that “the Fall of America is now visible and understandable.
“Long has Allah (God) been gradually removing the power of the great and mighty America while few have noticed it. This has been done by degrees, and they do not perceive it.”
Mr. Muhammad warned America’s fall serves as a sign of fate for her European counterparts.
Analysts say introducing the gold dinar as the new medium of exchange would destroy dependence on the U.S. dollar, the French franc and the British pound and threaten the Western world. It would “finally swing the global economic pendulum” that would break Western domination over Africa and other developing economies.
Attacking Col. Gadhafi can be understood in the context of America and Europe fighting for their survival, which an independent Africa jeopardizes.
“Gadhafi’s creation of the African Investment Bank in Sirte (Libya) and the African Monetary Fund to be based in Cameroon will supplant the IMF and undermine Western economic hegemony in Africa.” —Gerald Pereira, an executive board member of the former Tripoli-based World Mathaba
“Gadhafi’s creation of the African Investment Bank in Sirte (Libya) and the African Monetary Fund to be based in Cameroon will supplant the IMF and undermine Western economic hegemony in Africa,” said Gerald Pereira, an executive board member of the former Tripoli-based World Mathaba.
The moves are also bad for France because when the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank in Nigeria starts printing gold-backed currency, it would “ring the death knell” for the CFA franc through which Paris was able to maintain its neocolonial grip on 14 former African colonies for the last 50 years.
“It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi,” said Prof. Jean-Paul Pougala of the Geneva School of Diplomacy.
“The idea, according to Gaddafi, was that African and Muslim nations would join together to create this new currency and would use it to purchase oil and other resources in exclusion of the dollar and other currencies,” said political analyst Anthony Wile in an editorial for The Daily Bell online.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Libya’s Central Bank is 100 percent state-owned and estimates that the bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. If Col. Gadhafi changed the purchasing terms of his oil and other Libyan commodities sold on the world market and only accepted gold as payment; a policy like that wouldn’t be welcomed by the power elites who control the world’s central banks.
“That would certainly be something that would cause his immediate dismissal,” said Mr.Wile.
Furthermore, pricing oil in something other than the dollar would undercut the pedestal of U.S.. power in the world. Although in trouble, the dollar is the reserve currency based on a deal made with Saudi Arabia in 1971 in which the Saudis, as the world’s largest oil producer, agreed to accept only dollars for oil, Mr. Wile observed.
The Libyan affair has sparked a divide in the world community with the African Union and nations like Venezuela, China and Cuba—and until recently Russia—on one side as voices of reason, caution and respect for international law and honoring the UN mandate which set the parameters for engagement in Libya.
On the other side are war hawkish America, France, Britain and Italy pursuing regime change and actively trying to assassinate Col. Gadhafi, though they deny that aim.
“Why all of a sudden, this rush to destroy Gadhafi?” asked Min. Farrakhan during his March 31 press conference on America’s Middle East and Libya policy. “I know why you are angry with him; because he never agreed with your policies when it came to sucking the resources of Third World peoples, and putting in place dictators that would be amenable to America’s policies.”
Other analysts concur that the control of Africa is front and center as the prize in the scramble to kill Col. Gadhafi and preserve Western domination on the world stage, making the African Union critical at this time.
The AU criticized NATO for bombing Tripoli, targeting Gadhafi family compounds and violating the stated UN mandate to uphold a no fly-zone and protect civilians.
AU negotiations to end the conflict were brokered by South African President Jacob Zuma, which the Libyan government accepted, but were discarded by the rebels who set preconditions—in conjunction with NATO—that demanded Col. Gadhafi’s removal.
The AU is the framework the Libyan leader was using to establish African self determination and economic self-sufficiency. Col. Gadhafi financed the restructuring of the former Organization of African Unity—formed by African leaders Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Toure of Guinea, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and others—into the AU and revived the concept of a United States of Africa with one continental army and a single currency backed by gold.
However critics of U.S. foreign policy objectives in Africa say efforts toward the continent becoming a unified bloc have been consistently weakened for fear that Africa will leverage more equity and control in the arena of global economics.
But the plan for an independent African currency backed by gold appears to be the real reason behind the frenzied attack on Col. Gadhafi.
“The US, the other G-8 countries, the World Bank, IMF, BIS (Bank for International Settlements), and multinational corporations do not look kindly on leaders who threaten their dominance over world currency markets.” —John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”
Whenever a government and leader arose that desired to use the resources of that nation for its people, America—through the CIA—would plan insurrections, coups, terrorist activities and even assassination of good leaders, observed Min. Farrakhan.
Despite the ire of Western foes, Muammar Gadhafi gained the clout to lead creation of a single currency because of strong oil profits versus a small population.
“The US, the other G-8 countries, the World Bank, IMF, BIS (Bank for International Settlements), and multinational corporations do not look kindly on leaders who threaten their dominance over world currency markets,” wrote John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” on Johnperkins.com. It is redolent of Saddam Hussein advocating similar policies shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq, he said.
“Gadhafi knew how to play the West at their own game. He dared to wield real economic power in the name of Africa and anyone who dares to do so will feel the full wrath of Empire,” remarked. Perrier.
With the hopes of breaking Col. Gadhafi, foreign governments froze nearly $70 billion of Libyan assets belonging to the Libyan Investment Authority, the 13th largest international investment fund in the world. Although designed to hurt Col. Gadhafi, it injures Africa, because Libya assists with development projects throughout Africa.
An example of such projects was installing independent satellite communications across Africa, cutting off an expensive dependency on Europe for the same services. Col. Gadhafi infused $300 million into the project after the IMF, America and Europe broke repeated promises of finance.
In the 1990s forty-five African governments started RASCOM—Regional African Satellite Communication Organization—so Africa would have its own satellite and control communication costs on the continent.
Before RASCOM, costs for telephone calls to and from Africa were the highest worldwide and the continent was burdened with an annual $500 million fee paid to Europe for satellite usage. African satellites cost a onetime payment of $400 million and no annual fee—a move for self determination led by Col. Gadhafi that agitated Europe.
The rebels and collaborators
Since the beginning of the hostilities, the 69-year-old Gadhafi has consistently called for ceasefires and a political solution only to be rebuffed and have NATO missiles aimed at him and his family. However, with the stakes so high, what kind of Libya will emerge if Col. Gadhafi is killed?
“It will not be the rebels and the transitional council who will take power in Libya—it will be the imperialist powers who take over and the implications for Libya will be a complete re-colonization,” said Mr. Pereira.
Some nations officially recognized the NTC as the new legitimate government; however the NTC will face severe challenges as a government post Gadhafi. The NTC and other rebel groups lack cohesive unity, strengthening possibilities for ongoing civil strife.
Furthermore, the insurgency has become a nightmare wrought with hard financial and military questions. Xinhua News-English reported the group is cash poor and has difficulty raising money; while the only commodity available to them is oil, which still belongs the Gadhafi government and is embroiled in UN sanctions.
“I don’t have any resources. Not a single dinar came in to the treasury,” lamented NTC oil and finance head Ali Tarhouni during a May 29 press conference. “We only exported one shipment (of oil) and got $150 million for that. So far we’ve spent $408 million on fuel. It’s not a good number.”
The Benghazi-based rebels include remnants of the monarchy deposed by the 1969 Al-Fateh revolution. Several times over the years, the royalists attempted assassination of Col. Gadhafi and destabilization of the revolution, but lacked military ability and popular support.
On May 24, U.S. assistant secretary of state Jeffery Feltman announced the NTC will establish an office in Washington at the invitation of President Barrack Obama. Comparable arrangements exist with France and Britain.
For now, after several months of military intervention, betrayal by former comrades of the revolution and continued assassination attempts by NATO, Muammar Gadhafi is still standing. For the imperialists however, his elimination means the future of their power in Africa.
“Make no mistake, if NATO succeeds in Libya it will be a massive setback for the entire continent,” said Mr. Pereira.
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – A federal jury on Friday found four New Orleans police officers guilty in the shooting deaths of two civilians in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and also convicted a former policeman of helping cover up the killings.
The jury’s decision means the deaths of Ronald Madison, 40, and James Brissette, 17, were the result of police willfully violating the victims’ civil rights but that the slayings were not murder.
Four people also were seriously injured in the shootings on the Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005, after the officers responded to a call about gunfire.
The five convicted officers could be sentenced to life in prison.
“Today’s verdict sends a powerful, a powerful unmistakable message,” said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, speaking to reporters outside the New Orleans courthouse.
The shootings occurred a few days after Hurricane Katrina had submerged parts of New Orleans under roof-high floodwaters, leaving thousands of people homeless and setting off chaos throughout the city.
In the death of Brissette and shooting of four others, officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso were found guilty of depriving citizens of their rights and using firearms in doing so.
In addition, Faulcon, the only defendant who testified at trial, was found guilty of violating civil rights and use of a firearm in the killing of Madison.
The officers also were convicted of various charges connected with the cover-up, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and violate civil rights, and false prosecution.
Prosecutors painted a picture of out-of-control officers firing indiscriminately on innocent bystanders in the incident while defense lawyers maintained the police saw guns in the hands of civilians and believed they were in danger.
They said chaotic conditions in New Orleans after Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people, heightened police officers’ expectations that civilians in the streets had and would use guns.
Faulcon testified he had been filled with “indescribable fear” at the time of the shooting.
The fifth officer, retired homicide detective Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, was convicted on 10 counts related to the cover-up, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, fabricating witnesses, falsifying victim statements, misleading federal investigators and falsifying evidence.
The jury deliberated more than two days.
A sixth officer who was charged in the cover-up will be tried separately.
WEST ALLIS – Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY’S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.
Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair.
Witnesses’ accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night.
Authorities have not given official estimates of the number of people involved in the attacks.
“It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people,” said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis.
“They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever.”
“It was 100% racial,” claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran from St. Francis who says young people beat on his car.
“I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my car, and they didn’t do one thing to this black couple that was in this car next to us. They just kept walking right past their car. They were looking in everybody’s windshield as they were running by, seeing who was white and who was black. Guarantee it.”
Eric, a war veteran, said that the scene he saw Thursday outside State Fair compares to what he saw in combat.
“That rated right up there with it. When I saw the amount of kids coming down the road, all I kept thinking was, ‘There’s not enough cops to handle this.’ There’s no way. It would have taken the National Guard to control the number of kids that were coming off the road. They were knocking people off their motorcycles.”
Another witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “it was like a scene you needed the National Guard to control.”
“To me, it looked like a scene out of a movie,” claimed the anonymous witness.
“I have not seen anything like this in my life. It was a huge mob, and it was a fight that maybe lasted one to two minutes.”
Roffers claimed that as he left the state fair with his wife, crowds near that entrance were large, and someone in that crowd .
“As we got closer to the street, we looked up the road, and we saw a quite a bit of commotion going on and there was a guy laying in the road, and nobody was even laying there. He wasn’t even moving. Finally a car pulled up. They stopped right next to the guy, and it looked like someone was going to help him. We were kind of stuck, because we couldn’t cross. Traffic was going through. Young black men running around, beating on people, and we were like ‘Let’s get the heck out of here.’ The light turned, and I got attacked from behind. I just got hit in the back of the head real hard. I’m like, ‘What the heck is going on here?’ I heard my bell ring.”
Roffers further described what witnesses said happened to the man who was lying in the street.
“People were saying he was on a bike. They tore him off his bike and beat on him. We were walking to the west on Schlinger. I was watching behind me a lot more diligently, making sure there wasn’t anybody coming to get us anymore.”
One person claimed that someone was knocked off a motorcycle.
TODAY’S TMJ4 video shows West Allis police handcuffing at least one person, but they won’t say how many people they took into custody.
Some witnesses described attacks on the State Fair Grounds as well.
Milwaukee Police said that their officers were sent to State Fair Park for “complaints of battery, fighting and property damage due to a large, unruly crowd.”
A police sergeant told TODAY’S TMJ4’s Melissa McCrady that the number of calls describing injuries are still coming in, so they could not give an accurate number of people who were injured.
That sergeant explained that some injuries were serious, and local hospitals were attending to the injured.
As of early Friday morning, Milwaukee Police said they had no one in custody.
One woman told police that she was sitting in her car with a window down when some teenagers reached through her window and started attacking her.
“I think once we get all the info in it’ll be just like that, like what happened in Riverwest,” said the police sergeant.
West Allis Police ask you to call them at 414-302-8000 if you have any information.
Eric: “I feared for my life”
Eric, who asked Newsradio 620 WTMJ not to use his last name, talked about the incidents that happened as he, his wife and a neighbor left the fair Thursday.
“We exited at the Schlinger and 84th exit, and we walked south about a block, and then went up and got our car, came back up and around down Schlinger. When we made a left hand turn, we were stopped in traffic. I looked toward the bridge, right before you get on the freeway, and all I saw was a road full of black kids, jumping over people’s cars, jumping on people’s hoods, running over the top of them.”
Eric then claimed that he saw hundreds of young black people coming down a sidewalk.
“I saw them grab this white kid who was probably 14 or 15 years old. They just flung him into the road. They just jumped on him and started beating him. They were kicking him. He was on the ground. A girl picked up a construction sign and pushed it over on top of him. They were just running by and kicking him in the face.”
Then, Eric talked about trying to get out of the car to help the victim.
“My wife pulled me back in because she didn’t want me to get hit. Thankfully, there was surprising a lady that was in the car in front of me that jumped out of the car real quick and went over there to try to put her body around the kid so they couldn’t see he was laying there and, obviously, defenseless. Her husband, or whoever was in the car, was screaming at her to get back into the car. She ended up going back into the car. These black kids grabbed this kid off the ground again, and pulled him up over the curb, onto the sidewalk and threw him into the bushes like he was a piece of garbage.”
Eric claimed that the victim in that beating was by himself, and that there was a split of white people on one sidewalk and black people on the other.
“There was nobody else around to help him. There were no other white people, period, on that side of the street. They were going in the opposite direction because, those people who were coming out of the fair that saw these people coming, they either went back into the fair or took off running south on 84th Street.”
Eric expressed anger at the State Fair Police for what he considered a lack of response.
“The thing that irritated me, the State Fair Police, the State Police, were down by the Pettit entrance to get in there,” said Eric. “There was probably 5 or 6 officers down there. That’s where all these kids came from. They came out of the Midway, across the front of the Pettit. They were still filing out of there. The State Fair Police, they knew this was going on. They knew these kids were beating these guys in between that exit and Schlinger at the next gate.”
“They were stopping traffic, and I said ‘What in the hell,’ excuse my language, ‘what are you guys doing directing traffic when there are 300, 400 black kids up the road beating the hell out of everybody, pushing people off of motorcycles?’ I was livid. I could not believe they were directing traffic.”
Fair worker: attacks not limited to outside fairgrounds
A witness told WTMJ that as he worked in a kiosk at the State Fair Midway, he saw what he described as “a Riverwest type mob. Easily between 50 – 100 kids all under 18 and all African American. They were running around knocking people over (young kids and adults), looting the Midway games (stealing the prizes), starting fights.”
The witness, who asked not to be identified, couldn’t say for certain if only white people were being attacked.
“It was just complete chaos. There were police on horses, lots of security guards, and EMT’s on the scene. They never got control of the area.”
A State Fair spokeswoman said that there were arrests made involving the incidents on the grounds.
He said that as the violence happened, he was “getting ready to grab my cash register and run.”
“Not to mention this type of behavior started around 7pm and forced me to close down my stand at 9pm. It scared the paying customers out of the midway.”
The man said hoping to bring family on Friday, but has decided not to.
“I was planning on bringing my two kids to the fair tonight. I won’t be. We’ll go to the zoo instead.”
Woman: Teenagers in mob didn’t attend rap concert
One woman who asked not to be identified tells us that contrary to some belief, the young people involved in the mob did not go to the rap concert that night.
“The mob of black teenagers involved in the beatings and damage outside of State Fair last night were not there for the MC Hammer concert,” said the woman.
“I attended that concert with three of my friends last night and the crowd was mostly white and adult (as are my friends and I). Any kids there seemed to be with parents.”
She described what she saw as she left the fair.
“As we came through the exit we saw a white boy lying in the street, in the fetal position right by the traffic light, and coming towards us was tons and tons and black teens – there had to have been over a hundred – in the middle of 84th Street and on the sidewalk headed south,” she said.
“Some who stopped to kick or punch him – or in the case of one girl drop kick him in the head – as they walked past. My friends and I started towards him to help him up and a black girl walked past telling us ‘ya’ll gonna get your ***** kicked’ repeatedly. As my friend stood in front of the boy trying to get him up one of the teens picked up a traffic cone, hit her in the back of the head and ran off. A car stopped, a white woman got out to try and help. Teens jumped onto the hood of the car and ran over it. She just kept saying ‘What is wrong with you!?’ ”
The witness also told us that not every African-American teenager outside the fair grounds acted violent.
“We continued to move towards the parking lot, through even more black teenagers. Thankfully this part of the crowd was not violent.”
Roffers: “What in the hell’s going on there?”
Roffers described his emotions and reactions to the attacks outside the park.
“I turned around and looked, there was this black kid standing there laughing, thinking it’s funny. My wife’s like, ‘Let’s get out of here.’ It’s one of those things, you don’t expect it. Your reaction to it is, first of all, quite surprised, then you get so angry, it’s like, ‘What in the hell’s going on there? Why are these guys acting like such hoodlums? What are they picking on anybody for?’ We were just like cattle being herded out of the park, and they were picking and choosing who they wanted to beat on.”
He said his injuries were limited to a headache.
Roffers said the attack wouldn’t stop him from attending the State Fair.
“We will be going back,” said Roffers.
“It’s a family event for us. We get together with our family and we do stuff at the park to enjoy the fair. My biggest concern is that the State Fair Park Police and West Allis get their heads out of their butts and figure out how to do some security over there. This isn’t the first year State Fair has been going on. They should know what the heck they’ve got to do and where they’ve got to have people in place by now.”
He said that the fear spread beyond those who he believed were the target.
“There were a lot of people scared,” claimed Roffers.
“There were even some young black girls. They were screaming. They were running across the road. This one girl was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. I’m all by myself.’ My wife heard her saying that. She said, ‘Walk with us. Stay with us and you’ll be OK.’ We told her we were going down the street. If she needed any assistance, we were just going down to our car. She needed to go quite a way.”
“There was this terror going on when you leave the place, you just wonder. Luckily, all the violence that was happening stayed right close by the park entrance. As we got a block away from the park, that’s when the cops started showing up.”
He said the lack of police and security presence will bring about his complaint up the various channels of State Fair and local police.
“They should be able to provide safety and traffic control,” said Roffers. “I’ve never worried about it before.”
He said he would give a written complaint to the State Fair and put in a call to West Allis Police, but that’s not all.
“I will be contacting the State Fair Park Board and I’m going to chew on their butts a little bit about what happened.”
State Fair spokeswoman: “Unfortunate situation, hopefully an isolated situation.”
State Fair Director of Marketing and Communication Kathleen O’Leary told Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s “Wisconsin’s Morning News” that the incidents should not stop people from coming to the fair.
“Certainly, don’t change your plans,” said O’Leary. “Please understand that this is an unfortunate situation, hopefully an isolated situation.”
Though witnesses had reported incidents inside the fair, she said the problems were mainly outside the fairgrounds.
“Not so much inside,” claimed O’Leary.
“We had complete control inside of what was happening inside of our gates. It’s what what spread into the neighborhoods.”
O’Leary also pointed out that the fair has “taken measures already with the bag checks, when you come into the fair,” but will increase authorities’ presence for the remaining days at the fair.
“We will be taking severe measures, significant measures. We are in task force already, circling back around, doing everything that we can to make sure the experience is enjoyable and that the safety is insured,” said O’Leary.
“They see the yellow security shirts. We have mounted police. We have bike police. We have our patrolling police. We have undercover police. That’s all because that’s exactly what we want. We want the safety measures intact at every turn.”
Alexander Cockburn said in an interview with Press TV that the commanding approach in some military units would “encourage atrocities and torture.”
He made his comments with regard to the April 4 trial of Army Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, who has been accused of organizing a team of soldiers to kill Afghan civilians.
“Throughout 10-15 years you can see many examples of complete failure of leadership… committing atrocities or encouraging atrocities in the case of torture, conniving at torture, commanding torture and then evading responsibilities,” he further explained.
Since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, more than 34,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in the country as a result of the war.
The United States currently has 100,000 troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan. The total number of coalition forces in the Asian country reaches 150,000. US President Barack Obama had earlier promised that the majority of the US forces would leave Afghanistan in 2011, but later said they would reside in the country up until 2014. Both US and UK authorities believe that at least a portion of their forces will stay in the war-hit country to help the Afghan authorities with the management of the internal affairs for several years to come.
Earlier in November, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said it is time for the United States to reduce its presence and military operations in Afghanistan.
“The time has come to reduce military operations…The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan . . . to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life,” Karzai noted.
In January 15, Human Rights Watch warned about the worsening security situation in Afghanistan.
In its annual report for 2010, the rights group said security has deteriorated in most regions of Afghanistan, despite the US troop surge last year.
It added that there was a ten percent increase in civilian casualties last year in the war-ravaged country.
The developments come as a recent report says US-led military operations have inflicted over USD 100 million in damages on public property in southern Afghanistan.
TRIPOLI, Libya – As Libyan rebels in the East continue their fight against embattled leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, many residents flee to the country’s Western border, away from the violence.
A man, who doesn’t want to give his name and speaks in broken English, says he worked as a surgeon in Benghazi before fleeing Libya’s troubled east with his family two months ago.
He now lives in a low set accommodation block on Tripoli’s southern outskirts that once housed Chinese workers.
“At least we have security here,” he says.
The Beijing Construction and Engineering Group were putting up 15,000 new units here, but work stopped when the foreign laborers fled the country back in March.
Now, their former billets house 73 Libyan families. The 480 internally displaced Libyans mark time in this compound watching television in stuffy common rooms while they wait to break their Ramadan fast.
There are no schools, no shops nearby and very few cars with which to leave the isolated building site. The grounds have yet to be landscaped and the development can only be reached via a winding dirt road. Despite these basic conditions, the man is glad to be here.
“They wanted to kill blacks there,” he says. “I’d be killed if I stayed.”
“They catch me with a gun in front of my wife and kids. They arrested me, tied me up and covered my eyes and took me to their camp for questioning about Muammar Qaddafi.”
It was only after local hospital officials confirmed his identity that he was freed. He left the city, his home for the past 21 years, and headed for the Egyptian border with his wife, two small boys and just two bags.
From Egypt, the family was taken to Tunisia and then to Tripoli and finally to this remote refugee center.
Food is brought in daily, consisting of fruit juice and rudimentary meals in aluminum wrapping.
As the family’s meal heats on an electric cooker in the small room where they also sleep, the 40-year-old doctor defends the Libyan leader’s violent crackdown on the uprising in the country’s East.
“What happened there was not a revolution. Imagine if some people in London go to a police station and stole guns and then came to your street and started shooting. What would your government do? That’s what happened in Benghazi.”
“Muammar Qaddafi represents to the Libyan people what George Washington is to the U.S. Bloodshed will open if Colonel Qaddafi leaves Libya. You couldn’t imagine what would happen here.”
For now, the housing development, that was to be called New Tripoli, will be home for the refugees. Five babies have already been born here, apparently all boys and all called Saif al-Arab after Qaddafi’s son who was reportedly killed in a NATO bombing raid early on in the war.
“There is nothing to do here,” says the displaced doctor.
“Everything for us has stopped. We just stay here and listen to NATO’s music.”
FULLERTON, Calif. (KTLA) — A second Fullerton City Council member is calling on the city’s police chief to resign after a mentally ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas, was beaten to death during a confrontation with six officers. And, the council member says, the chief is apparently staying mum in hopes that the public will soon forget about what happened.
“In my opinion, the chief should resign or he may be forced out of his post at some point,” Bruce Whitaker told KTLA on Thursday.
“I want the chief to put a human face on this and, rather than hiding behind legalities and rather than working through spokespersons, to get out in front and man up and basically communicate to the public,” he added.
Whitaker claims he was told late Thursday afternoon that Chief Michael Sellers and others are just waiting for the public to calm down over Thomas’ death.”Hunker down, wait for the passions to subside and basically with no new information being released it’s going to be it will just subside.”
Whitaker says he’s frustrated with the situation.
“I’m very angry about it because there seems to be a tone-deafness about where the public is at on this.”
Fellow council member, Sharon Quirk-Silva, has formally asked City Manager Joe Felz to call on the chief to resign.
If one more city leader steps forward calling for Sellers’ resignation, it will be a majority voice of the council.
Quirk-Silva says the chief has refused to answer questions about the July 6 incident, causing her to question his ability to lead.
The six officers involved in the deadly beating have put on administrative leave with pay with pay for “their safety and the safety of the public,” says the department.
But the police department has remained largely silent.
It issued a statement Wednesday saying, “This was tragic for our community. We are in the midst of an investigation.”
Chief Sellers declined an interview with KTLA.
Meantime, hundreds of angry citizens attended a City Council meeting Tuesday night, demanding the city explain what happened.
The meeting followed one day after a disturbing video surfaced showing witnesses describing in full detail the brutal beating that led to the man’s death.
The video was recorded on an OCTA bus just minutes after the violent confrontation occurred between 37-year-old Kelly Thomas and the six officers.
“The cops are kicking this poor guy over there. All these cops,” one female passenger says, adding that she saw the “whole thing.”
The passenger, visibly shaken, tells the bus driver that the officers were pulling Thomas’ hair and “kicking the (expletive) out of him.”
Marlena53at 12:53 PM August 05, 2011Won’t subside until the chief retires and the cops go on trial for murder.
james.cannon008at 12:21 PM August 05, 2011I just saw the photos of Kelly before he died. They are really really awful.
SandraKinserat 11:38 AM August 05, 2011KTLA 5 needs to get their facts right. The incident happened on July 5 and the Fullerton has stated that NONE of the officers received broken bones only soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue injuries are nothing more than bruises which the police probably gave each other in the frenzied beating of Kelly Thomas. Please join us and pass the information below on, the family would be appreciative.Kelly Thomas Moment of Silence-August 5’th
Location: OCTA Bus Station-Downtown Fullerton
Cross Streets: W. Commonwealth Ave. and Pomona Ave
S&P downgrade of US credit is 1 notch to AA-plus from AAA
5 August 2011
(Reuters) – The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world’s largest economy.
S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about growing budget deficits.
U.S. Treasuries, once undisputedly seen as the safest investment in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as the UK, Germany, France or Canada.
The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is negative, S&P said in a statement, a sign that another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.
WE STOP THE VIEWING OF THIS PROGRAM FOR A DISPATCH FROM:
Well, that was quick. I thought the party was all night. I was just getting dressed. Dress Whites. Clean for 4 million. Marine speak. You speak Marine?
That’s what I thought. You think you can speak Spanish because you can order uno taco. Brilliant. Now, go hit an oak tree while texting your brothers wife.
We have a problem that must be dealt with now. The police officers in this nation have lost their motherfucking minds.
At the same time we have thousands of soldiers and Marines returning to this nation that are not for no civilian bullshit. Police or not.
I heard one of those little bastards say something about “it’s going to be raining police”. He, nor the rest of the cops, have any idea that we ARE an umbrella.
Silly ass cops tasing, beating, killing, and covering up their crimes on the track from the North. They have tased pregnant women, shot and killed an eight year old girl in Detroit, broke into a house with an outdated warrant and ended up killing a dog belonging to the couple that lives in the home,etc. The pages of this blog are full of police bullshit.
On the track from the South, we have Airborne Rangers, Navy Seals, Special Forces Air Force airmen, soldiers and Marines from all over the United States that have spent at least 18 months in the desert in two illegal ass wars supposedly protecting these broke dick son of a bitches. We are tired. We have been killing for last seven years straight. Some of “us” have deployed for the fifth and SIXXTH time.
We are killers. At gatherings it goes something like this:
“This is a nice party”. “I don’t believe we have met”. “My name is Shit Head”. “I am a dumb fuck with the Dallas Police Department”. “And what it is you do for a living, Mr. Jones”? “
“First, it’s Major Jones to you”. “My occupation is making other people die.” “You are other people”. “Second, I do not talk to horses, turtles, dogs, or PIGS”. “Get the fuck away from me”.
Yes, a train wreck is coming. “Them” on the track coming from the North and “US” on the same track from the South. I am calling on all of “us” to be prepared to treat the police the way they need to be treated. They need military medical treatment. They need high velocity craniotomy therapy.
Here is what I think happened while we were away taking care of business. The “them” went poking their noses into cracks.
They stumbled into my bag of goodies and overdosed. They found the “Dose”. You never heard of the “Dose”? Nether did that last Iraqi I killed. Poor dumb bastard. The SIXX with the DOSE and he thought I was a tree.
Let’s see: 73 virgins per kill. Unknown number of kills. Times SIXX. Damn, how many virgins are there?
See, the dose is made of: one part gun powder, two parts lead, and SIXX parts succinylcholine . Yes, I am brilliant. Thank you. http://www.usnwc.edu/ Take aim at the Pons of (insert your name). Shoot just liked you did at The Palms. http://www.29palms.usmc.mil/
Squeeze,don’t pull the firing mechanism. Repeat. Even if you miss the pons, the medula obligata, and hit the fibula, you win.
You’re not familiar with medical terminology either?
O.K., what DO you know, how to shoot Bambi? You don’t make tea from the DOSE. Dr. Jekyll turns into Frankenstein. These happy ass hillbillies done DRANK the DOSE. I be damn.
There is no cure for the DOSE. It can only be treated.
In Texas, we are the wild card. The X factor. We will play your ass like a piano.
Rome is on fire and you are playing a banjo. Now, I am not going to even waste my time playing a game that I have long since mastered with rank amateurs.
Now, if the shoe fits, put it on and get your single digit, low frequency, goat smelling ass out of my office.
You look like a blind man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat that is not there.
Inability to control airway and/or support ventilations with oxygen and positive pressure
Adverse Reactions
Hypotension
Bradycardias
Dysrhythmias
Initial muscle fasiculations
Excessive salivation
Malignant hyperthermia (rare)
Allergic reactions
Succinylcholine may exacerbate hyperkalemia in trauma patients (hours post-trauma).
Description/Mechanism
Succinylcholine has the briefest duration of action of all neuromuscular blocking drugs, making it a drug of choice for such procedures as terminating laryngospasm, endotracheal intubation, and electroconvulsive shock therapy.
Like nondepolarizing blockers, depolarizing drugs also bind to the nicotinic M receptors for acetylcholine. However, because they cause an initial depolarization of the muscle membrane, they often lead to fasciculations and some muscular contractions prior to inducing paralysis.
You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
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