http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaddafi-says-west-should-go-20110401-1cror.html
Gaddafi says West should go Hadeel Al-shalchi, Ryan Lucas April 2, 2011 TRIPOLI: Muammar Gaddafi struck a defiant stance after two high-profile defections from his regime, saying he was not the one who should go, but the Western leaders who had destroyed much of his military with air strikes who should resign. Colonel Gaddafi's message was undercut by its delivery - a scroll across the bottom of state television as he remained out of sight. The White House said the strongman's inner circle was clearly crumbling with the loss of the Foreign Minister, Moussa Koussa, who flew from Tunisia to Britain on Wednesday. Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former foreign minister and United Nations General Assembly president, announced his departure on several opposition websites the next day, saying: ''It is our nation's right to live in freedom and democracy and enjoy a good life.'' Advertisement: Story continues below Colonel Gaddafi accused the leaders of the countries attacking his forces of being ''affected by power madness''. ''The solution for this problem is that they resign immediately and their peoples find alternatives to them,'' the Libyan state news agency quoted him as saying. His forces have regained momentum in the battle with rebels, retaking the town of Brega. The gains were made even as a spokesman for the rebels said a ceasefire was possible if Colonel Gaddafi pulled his forces out of cities and allowed peaceful protests against his regime. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the opposition's interim governing council based in Benghazi, made the offer during a joint news conference with the UN envoy, Abdelilah Al-Khatib. The US military's top officer has blamed bad weather in Libya for hampering the coalition air campaign and allowing Colonel Gaddafi's forces to advance. ''The biggest problem the last three or four days has been weather,'' Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told US senators. ''And that has more than anything else reduced the impact . reduced the effectiveness, and has allowed the regime forces to move back to the east.'' As NATO took over control of air strikes in Libya from the US, members of the military alliance warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they pushed against the Gaddafi regime. ''We've been conveying a message to the rebels that we will be compelled to defend civilians, whether pro-Gaddafi or pro-opposition,'' a US official said. The rebels said they were undaunted, taking heart from the departures in Colonel Gaddafi's inner circle. ''We believe that the regime is crumbling from within,'' an opposition spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, said in Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital. However, the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, and Admiral Mullen, in appearances before the House of Representatives and Senate armed services committees, argued against putting the US in the role of arming or training Libyan rebel forces, while suggesting it might be a job for Arab or other countries, notably France. The White House has said repeatedly that it has not ruled out arming the rebels, who have retreated chaotically this week under the pressure of a renewed eastern offensive by Colonel Gaddafi's better-armed troops. Associated Press, The New York Times [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
