This subject is critical and being debated here, by every political faction
possible,

as well as throughout the world.  In this debate, the issues are laid out
well, worth 

serious reading, and discussion with others.  It's long, so no afternoon
email.

Ed

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/23/debating_intervention_is_us_led_milita
ry

 

Debating Intervention: Is U.S.-Led Military Action the Best Solution to
Libya Crisis?

 

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi continue to advance on
rebel-held towns amidst ongoing U.S.-led air strikes. Gaddafi's deadly
crackdown on the Libyan uprising has sparked debate on longstanding
questions around international intervention. We host a debate between Libyan
poet, scholar and University of Michigan professor Khaled Mattawa, who
supports U.S.-led intervention, and UCLA law professor Asli Bali, who says
the U.S.-led coalition has ignored viable alternatives to military attacks.

 

Democracy Now: March 23, 2011

Guests:

Asli Bali <http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/asli_bali> ,
international law professor at the UCLA School of Law. She has written and
commented extensively on the question of international intervention in
Libya. 

Khaled Mattawa <http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/khaled_mattawa> ,
Libyan poet and scholar. He is an associate professor in the English
Language and Literature Department at the University of Michigan. 

 

AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. and allied air strikes on Libya have entered their
fifth day as part of an international effort to enforce a no-fly zone
approved by the U.N. Security Council. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's air force
and his long-range air defense systems have largely been destroyed,
according to the U.S. commander of the allied task force charged with
enforcing the U.N. resolution.

U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III said yesterday U.S. and allied
forces have launched 162 Tomahawk missiles and conducted more than 100
attacks with precision-guided satellite bombs since the operation began. But
he conceded air strikes had failed to stop Libyan government forces from
launching attacks against civilians.

Meanwhile, President Obama has been negotiating with coalition partners how
to step down from the U.S. leadership position in the coming days.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We will continue to support the efforts to protect
the Libyan people, but we will not be in the lead. That's with the
transition that I discussed has always been designed to do. We have unique
capabilities. We came in, up front, fairly heavily, fairly substantially,
and at considerable risk to our military personnel. And when this transition
takes place, it is not going to be our planes that are maintaining the
no-fly zone.

AMY GOODMAN: Late yesterday, Gaddafi made his first televised appearance
since the bombing campaign began. Speaking from the Bab al-Aziziya compound
targeted Sunday, he urged "all Islamic armies" to join him. Delivering a
defiant address, he vowed to continue fighting and told his supporters they
would emerge victorious in the war against rebels and international forces.

But in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC News yesterday, Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton suggested Gaddafi loyalists are seeking ways out for
the embattled leader. She said, "We've heard about other people close to him
reaching out to people that they know around the world-Africa, the Middle
East, Europe, North [America], beyond-saying, 'What do we do? How do we get
out of this? What happens next?'" Clinton said she is unaware if Gaddafi
himself had reached out.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: I'm not aware that he personally has
reached out, but I do know that people, allegedly on his behalf, have been
reaching out. So, that's why I say this is a very dynamic situation.

DIANE SAWYER: But are you indicating that there's someone close to him, on
his behalf, reaching out to say, "How do we get out? How does he get out?"

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: This is what we hear from so many
sources, Diane. It is a constant-

DIANE SAWYER: Today?

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: Today, yesterday, the day before. Some
of it-I'll be very-you know, this is my personal opinion-some of it is
theater. A lot of it is just the way he behaves; it's somewhat
unpredictable. But some of it, we think, is exploring: you know, "What are
my options? Where could I go? What could I do?" And we would encourage that.

AMY GOODMAN: To discuss the situation, we're joined by Asli Bali. Professor
Bali teaches international law at the UCLA School of Law. She has written
and commented extensively on the question of international intervention in
Libya. And we're joined by Khaled Mattawa in Ann Arbor. He's an acclaimed
Libyan poet and scholar and associate professor at the University of
Michigan.

Professor Mattawa, let's begin with you. Can you talk about your reasons why
you feel intervention is important?

KHALED MATTAWA: Well, the first immediate reaction that the intervention had
taken was to save the city of Benghazi. On the one day after the U.N.
resolution had passed, Saturday, Gaddafi went into Benghazi and killed
approximately 95 people and injured maybe twice or three times as that many
people. Clearly, he is going to subdue these towns with bullets and fire. He
is doing the same thing in Misurata. He's doing the same-[no audio]

AMY GOODMAN: We've just lost Khaled Mattawa at the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor. We're going to try to get that satellite back. But let us turn to
Professor Asli Bali. You are against intervention. Tell us why.

ASLI BALI: I would not say that I'm against intervention; I'm against or I
am critical of the current intervention. So, I'm not categorically against
intervention, and equally, I think that there were alternative forms of
intervention that might have been pursued that were not explored initially.
So, I think the binary choice that we face, which is do nothing or engage in
this kind of an extensive use of force with a relatively open-ended
authorization through the Security Council, is a false framing. I think that
there were alternatives available, both prior to the decision to engage in
the ICC referral in the first Security Council resolution and prior to the
decision to authorize use of force in the second Security Council
resolution, that might have been better alternatives, particularly if the
goal is to end the killing of civilians, which I think should be the
overwhelming goal of any attempted intervention of any form. So-

AMY GOODMAN: What are the alternatives?

ASLI BALI: For example, the International Crisis Group suggested, just on
the eve of the decision of the second Council resolution, that there should
have been a vigorous attempt to pursue a political solution, meaning demand
an immediate ceasefire from the Gaddafi regime, but initiate
negotiations-basically, make it possible for, A, peacekeepers to be put in
on the ground, which would actually produce a buffer between regime forces
and the civilian population, which is how you prevent civilians from being
killed. It's very difficult, as we're seeing now, to militarily decisively
either alter the balance on the ground or prevent civilians from being
killed from the air. But if you had a buffer on the ground through, for
example, a peacekeeping force of regional peacekeepers, that might have been
an alternative. So, one thing-

AMY GOODMAN: And how would those peacekeepers move in?

ASLI BALI: Well, the International Crisis Group's proposal was that you
initiate, as I said, a vigorous political engagement, which demands an
immediate ceasefire, backed by a threat to pursue use of force authorization
should that ceasefire not materialize, and then you negotiate the terms on
which a peacekeeping force is allowed in to the eastern provinces, probably
through Egypt, with the cooperation-it would have required, for example, the
support of the Arab League and the African Union, both of whom might have
been willing to provide that support. There was indication at that point-so
we're talking about two, three days before the Security Council decided to
authorize use of force-there was indication that both the African Union and
the Arab League were very concerned about the situation and desirous that
something be done-something, again, that would focus on ending the killing
of civilians.

So, you seek to negotiate a ceasefire, you seek to negotiate terms on which
peacekeepers can come in in order to produce a buffer, and then you create a
political framework for negotiation between opposition forces and the regime
in Libya in order to initiate a peaceful transition. So, the idea being,
explore alternatives that make it possible to end the killing of civilians
immediately and do no additional harm to civilians. I think that's really
the key for any intervention: does it meet the test of "do no harm."

But that's just one of many different proposals that were on the table. The
key here is, what were the alternatives between the two ends of the spectrum
that we are constantly told is the only framing-namely, do nothing or do
what's in fact being pursued now? The idea that these alternatives were not
seriously engaged or debated is, I think, really problematic.

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Asli Bali. She teaches international law at
UCLA School of Law. We are going to break. Then we'll come back to this
debate about intervention in Libya. This is Democracy Now!,
democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Back in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: Our guests for this discussion about intervention are Khaled
Mattawa, who is a professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, acclaimed
Libyan poet and scholar, and Asli Bali, who teaches international law at the
UCLA School of Law.

Khaled Mattawa, your feelings about why intervention is important right now?

KHALED MATTAWA: Well, let me respond to what the professor was saying. One
is the issue of a ceasefire. I agree that that should have been insisted
upon earlier, but-and with a U.N. mandate behind it. I mean, Mr. Obama had
said Gaddafi must go, he must stop killing civilians, but there wasn't any
sort of diplomatic effort to enforce that. That's one thing. It should have
been done earlier. There are lots of "should have beens" in this case, but
this is one of them.

But what we saw clearly, that Gaddafi was not going to respect a ceasefire,
and what his plan was, before the U.N. forces or the international forces
acted, was that he wanted to conquer Benghazi, conquer as much of the
country, place facts on the ground that would be contrary to any attempt by
the international community to intervene. And until this point, he has not
respected the ceasefire. So that really does not count very much.

Two things that are being talked about-and the professor knows this probably
better than most-is that the African Union is pretty much a Muammar Gaddafi
organization. Yes, they have had not bent to his will all the time, but
clearly a lot of these countries are-have made-are indebted to him. And I'm
kind of suspicious of how they would act, even though there had been some
interest among them and some African Union countries have voted for the
resolution. But the African Union, to insist upon it as if it's an
organization with any teeth or that it has a lot of moral weight behind it,
is really a questionable thing.

With the Arab League-Arab League has also been quite active, but again, the
Arab countries, many of them, are undergoing the same difficulties that
Gaddafi is going through. The Arab regimes are. And as we saw from Bahrain
and Yemen, both of these regimes had learned or had dealt with the crisis,
taking their cue from Gaddafi. They had started dealing with their crisis
much more peacefully, and when they saw Gaddafi's solution, that you
could-you just kill the protesters, and that worked, and in many ways, that
worked in rolling back the protest in Tripoli, then they went through the
same approach. So, basically, the Arab countries are under the same
situation. And a lot of them may not favor intervention just because of the
issue of national sovereignty and internal affairs.

But in this situation in Libya, we saw a government that is willing to kill
civilians, that is not going to stop this at any calls for reasonable
action. And finally, the reprisals that would have come out after the
Gaddafi regime would have controlled the country, all of these were
circumstances that we, the world, I'm glad, decided to not wait and see. So,
that's the issue of why an intervention was legitimate, considering how late
the process had been and how reluctant, which is a good thing. I think it
was very good that the United States and the European Union were reluctant
to engage. That, to me, is a good sign.

Now, as to peacekeepers becoming involved at this point, I think that would
be a good thing. You know, if we can have somehow to force Gaddafi to
release the thousands of people he has detained in Tripoli, many of whom are
being tortured as we speak, any of those contributions to loosening
Gaddafi's grip on the population and actually letting this transformation
occur peacefully, that would be a good addition to the process. But at this
point, I think what is being done in breaking down the Gaddafi's military
capabilities is very good. I say this as a Libyan. And as I see these
bombardments happening, I see my country's money being burned. And I'm very
concerned about the loss of resources. And as far as I know, the loss of
lives has been basically focused on those who are in Gaddafi's military. So
that's unfortunate, too. A lot of these people have really maybe not have
decided to join his military cause with much of their own decision making
involved. But Gaddafi is a monster. He really needs to be-his regime needs
to crumble.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that is the point?

KHALED MATTAWA: And I think the outcome for Libyans-

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa?

KHALED MATTAWA:-is going to better-

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa?

KHALED MATTAWA:-when he does.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa, do you believe that's the goal of this
intervention, the regime change, the toppling of Gaddafi?

KHALED MATTAWA: Well, what is the alternative? I think it is a reluctant
decision, but what is the alternative? Is the alternative to maintain
Muammar Gaddafi in power? What is going to come after Muammar Gaddafi? You
saw that really what was-the way he is running the country now, it is him,
his two of his sons or three sons running the country, and one or two or
three aides that are speaking to the press. And that's it. We don't really
have a state. Where is the prime minister? Where are the-where is the
cabinet? Where is the state's structures that he supposedly had in place?
Why aren't they rising to speak on his behalf? My understanding is that his
cabinet are under house arrest, and some of them are kept near him in Bab
al-Aziziya. This guy does not have a state anymore. And yes-

AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to President-

KHALED MATTAWA:-he might be able to resuscitate it again,

AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to what President-

KHALED MATTAWA:-but this is done. It's finished.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to what President Obama said, what he told reporters
yesterday, saying that humanitarian concerns are not the only factor driving
U.S. intervention there.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Not only do we have a humanitarian interest, but we
also have a very practical interest in making sure that the changes that are
sweeping through that region are occurring in a peaceful, nonviolent
fashion. And when we can have some impact on that, with a relatively modest
contribution, as part of a broader international effort, then I absolutely
believe that the costs are outweighed by the benefits. And that is what
drove my decision.

AMY GOODMAN: That was President Obama. And Asli Bali, I'd like you to
respond to that, as well as what the New York Times described
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/africa/23libya.html>  as "the
tension and confusion [laying] bare the unwieldiness of the coalition -
which American officials conceded had been put together on the fly."

"'This is complicated,' Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said to reporters
with him in Moscow." He said, "This command-and-control business is
complicated. We haven't done something like this, kind of on the fly before.
So it's not surprising to me that it would take a few days to get it all
sorted out."

ASLI BALI: Yeah. I think that basically the way to think about the
authorization that the Security Council engaged in is that a decision was
taken as to a tactic to be employed here-namely, use of force with a
relatively open-ended mandate from the skies-without a clear strategy and
certainly without any consensus as to what that strategy is going to be. So,
as Professor Mattawa just suggested, for some people, the strategy here is
regime change. There's no alternative, as he suggested. For others, it's
pushing Gaddafi's forces back to some more acceptable line outside of the
eastern provinces and then imposing perhaps a ceasefire. At that point, all
bets are basically off, from what I can gather. It doesn't seem as if
there's much thinking beyond this. So, either, on the one hand, you exceed
what the Security Council has authorized by pursuing regime change, or you
pursue what the Security Council has authorized-namely, a ceasefire-and you
risk potentially freezing a situation on the ground that results in some
form of partition.

I think these are the kinds of criticisms that are really worth engaging in
thinking about this particular intervention. The question shouldn't be,
should there have been some intervention to end the killing of civilians? I
think we can all agree that the killing of civilians is deeply problematic.
The question is, what is a constructive way to stop that from happening?
Aerial bombardment risks ongoing civilian casualties. So there's a whole
host of ways in which to think about this no-fly zone or no-drive zone, or
however you think about the use of force that's been authorized from the
skies. Connecting that to the goal of ending the killing of civilians is, I
think, difficult to manage.

You know, one thing that commentators have pointed out-and I think this is
right-is, when you have readily mobilized air resources, then that appears
to be the solution to many kinds of problems. In other words, if you have a
big hammer, everything looks like a nail. But in this instance, having
committed to this particular tactic, I think what we're seeing now is the
absence of a clear strategy. I think it's encouraging that Secretary of
State Clinton suggested that there are negotiations, potentially back
channels, taking place to have the Gaddafi regime exit in some negotiated
transition out into exile. That would be, I think, an ideal outcome from all
perspectives, in terms of a rapid transition to a post-Gaddafi scenario that
doesn't involve more shedding of blood.

There were many ways to get to that scenario that would not have entailed
even the first Security Council authorization, since, for example, the ICC
referral, the referral to the International Criminal Court, is
counterproductive insofar as it says to the regime that you're going to face
a form of international accountability that disincentivizes exile, that
disincentivizes the regime from leaving rapidly. So, from the outset, I feel
as if the Security Council's interventions in this instance have been, I
think, poorly framed if the goal here has been rapid transition to a
post-Gaddafi scenario with sparing of the civilian population, of killing.

One more thing I just wanted to add on President Obama's comments, since you
asked. He notes that one thing that we're pursuing here beyond humanitarian
considerations is some degree of international and American leadership in
the context of the Arab democratic uprisings. And while I think it's
certainly important to support those uprisings, I think there are a number
of other motivations that one needs to consider in putting on the table. For
one thing, I would challenge Professor Mattawa's assessment that the
situation in Libya has a causal relationship to the decision to use force in
Yemen or Bahrain. Those outcomes are taking place simultaneously, and we
have, for the most part, the same coalition of forces that are prepared to
intervene in the Libyan case are more or less supporting both the Bahraini
and the Yemeni regimes' strategies. And I think that's a very troubling
intervention of its own in the course of Arab democratic uprisings.

In addition, I think that there were considerations in the Libyan case: the
isolation of the regime, the fact that it represents a relatively weak
military force with very few allies in the region, the fact that it borders
on the Mediterranean and gives rise to the possibility of major migration
flows to Europe, should there be a long protracted conflict there, and that
it sits atop energy sources that would destabilize energy markets. I mean, I
think these are all important considerations that, frankly, we have to
concede are among the motivations. That's not to say that any intervention
is bad because of mixed motivations; that's not the argument. But one has to
be clear-eyed about why it is that this coalition has been willing to
proceed in this instance and is not, on the other hand, prepared to
intervene, let alone forcefully, in any way, really, politically, with
response to the repression that we're seeing in Bahrain and Yemen.

AMY GOODMAN: Khaled Mattawa, a lot there to respond to, and add to that what
Professor Chomsky has just said: "It is also a civil war, and intervening in
a civil war is complicated business." Chomsky said, "We may not like it, but
there is support for Gaddafi," and warned that direct military intervention
in Libya will turn out to be a serious mistake.

KHALED MATTAWA: There is some support for Gaddafi. The problem is that the
supporters of Gaddafi, who, in political sentiment, may amount to up to 15
percent of the population, are also-a great number of them are involved in
the-in the current killings. And so, you can have a heavily armed minority
that is engaged in killing and say that that's a support for Gaddafi. I
think that support for Gaddafi is very problematic and should not be given a
lot of weight, particularly if these people, a large percentage of them, are
engaged in killing. The challenge is if Gaddafi were ever willing to have a
national question or a debate about his legitimacy. He would never allow
this. He would lose by a wide margin. Any form of dissent of Libya would not
be allowed. So, Gaddafi's popularity is small, but is also a number-a large
number of it is engaged in suppressing the majority of the population. So
that discounts Mr. Chomsky's claim.

Now, as far as the whole situation, it is complicated. It is not going to be
an easy solution. I understand that. There is the process of state building
that needs to begin. It needs to get really started. It's begun on the east,
and it needs to be supported with much more acceptance and legitimization of
the Transitional National Council. The support of other parts of the western
part of Libya, the regions that had been crushed-Zawiyah, Zuwarah, Zintan,
all of these regions-that's very important. I mean, you have to remember
that Tripoli itself came out against Gaddafi and was sniped to death. And
so, the support of the change is there. And a regime change to support that
process, I think, would also be a good thing for the region, in the sense
that what are the Gaddafi's reactions to all of this? He will very likely be
a destabilizing force on Egypt and Tunisia. The whole issue of a
humanitarian crisis, which had begun and loomed in the beginning, first few
weeks, would begin again, and can be enticed. I mean, the idea of African
migrants being brought into Libya and unleashed on Europe, that's something
that Gaddafi talked about openly. So, the world will be involved longer than
it had imagined.

There were missteps, I agree. I think letting an out for Gaddafi early on
would have been a smart move. The Transitional National Council in Benghazi
had also basically stated to him more than once that if he were to leave,
they would not pursue him. So, that's still an option. But Gaddafi doesn't
think this way. And I think it's very important. You know, the first
reaction he had to the crisis was to send one of his sons to beat up the
people of Benghazi. And when things came to Tripoli, he brought his second
son to threaten the population by killing it. And he said, "It's ours. Libya
is ours." This is the mindset of the dictator. And when they say "ours,"
they mean theirs, meaning this family that's been brutalizing Libyan people
for a long time. So, creativity is called upon and will be called upon
again.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa, talk about-

KHALED MATTAWA: Agreed. And that all options-

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa?

KHALED MATTAWA:-should be on the table in terms of-

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa, can you talk-

KHALED MATTAWA:-helping establish a different Libya. But also, if the option
of this transition can take place with less violence, namely that al-Gaddafi
can somehow agree to remove himself, I think that would be great. I think
the Libyans are not really interested in increasing the violence. And as
much as there is a call for vengeance against Gaddafi, most people would be
relieved if he were to just relinquish power and reside somewhere else.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Mattawa-

KHALED MATTAWA: In peace, which I doubt he will ever allow to happen.

AMY GOODMAN:-do you think the Western powers should intervene in Bahrain and
Yemen, as well? Do you think the NATO forces should just sort of move across
northern Africa and the Middle East?

KHALED MATTAWA: No, I don't think so. Well, you just heard what the
President of Yemen just said: he is willing to resign at the end of the
year. And that is something that is new. It took a lot of popular protest to
do this. What-the impact of the Libyan situation was this, and I will repeat
this point, was that, for a moment of time or for a few days, it worked for
Libya to kill civilians and to subdue the violence. Now, that's what Ali
Saleh may have thought, and the King of Bahrain also was probably thinking
along those lines. But a lot had happened in Yemen to lead to this point,
and a lot will likely to happen in Yemen to actually bring Ali Saleh
down-namely, the resignations of the cabinet. This happened in peace in
Yemen. And as far as I know, these people have not been killed, who
resigned. In Libya, it would not have been allowed to happen. In Bahrain,
the discussion about a constitutional monarchy has been there, is part of
the discussion. I think that may be something that the U.S. can still
pressure the Bahraini king to do. Of course, Saudi Arabia is the real power
broker there, more than the United States. But I think there is still much
more room to make to force Yemen and Bahrain to change, either for the
President to step down faster and for the King to bring about a
constitutional monarchy, where the majority Shiites can actually be the
majority.

AMY GOODMAN: Asli Bali, we give you the last word.

KHALED MATTAWA: And I think that these are acceptable situations...

AMY GOODMAN: Your comments right now on-as we have to wrap up and go to our
next segment, your comments on what you see is going to happen?

ASLI BALI: I just think it's important to remember, again, slightly in
contrast to what Professor Mattawa said, that there are civilians in all
parts of Libya, clearly. There are civilians in the west, there are
civilians in the east. We're seeing-

AMY GOODMAN: Are we going to see a partition of the country?

ASLI BALI:-a massive bombing campaign, which could yield civilian
casualties, and I think that would be very divisive. I don't know-if the
strategy continues that we're seeing now, and we do in fact continue the
no-fly zone and insist on a ceasefire line, which is what the Security
Council authorizes, the resolution authorizes, it's hard to know what other
result would come other than a partition at this point.

AMY GOODMAN: And what would that mean?

ASLI BALI: Well, that's a very open-ended question. I mean, that's precisely
the thing around which there is no strategy at this point that I can
identify. Doesn't appear to be any consensus around either partition or
regime change among the allies that are undertaking this action.

AMY GOODMAN: Khaled Mattawa, we just have a minute, but let me ask you this
two-part question. One is, what would partition of Libya mean? And two is,
who is this provisional government that has been set up yesterday?
The-Mahmoud Jabril heading up the new government as an interim prime
minister, as a kind of interim government. Opposition spokesperson Nisan
Gouriani telling Al Jazeera, "The provisional national council is a
legislative body, but we need an executive body to take control and provide
an administration." First, the division of the country, then the new-what is
this resistance government? And we only have a minute.

KHALED MATTAWA: The division of the country is unfortunate. Everyone, from
day one, in Tripoli, in Benghazi, all wanted to maintain a united Libya. The
division of the country, if it does happen, I hope it will be temporary. And
it will be the cause of the Libyan leadership that's now in the east and the
vast population in the west to reunite the country. It will be unfortunate,
but that's exactly what Gaddafi is counting on. Right now, Gaddafi is
telling the people of the West that it's an eastern conspiracy and so forth.
So Gaddafi wants this division because it will give him a part of the
country. The rest of the Libyan population does not wish it, and I'm sure
the Transitional National Council does not wish it and wants to reunite the
country.

AMY GOODMAN: And who is Mahmoud Jabril?

KHALED MATTAWA: So, that's-

AMY GOODMAN: Who is Mahmoud Jabril?

KHALED MATTAWA: I hope it is temporary.

AMY GOODMAN: We just have 30 seconds.

KHALED MATTAWA: I don't know what it will mean for the country exactly, if
it were to be divided. What we will have, we will have, I think, perhaps
time to actually begin to contemplate the future of the country without
Gaddafi, in some peace, eventually expecting that Gaddafi would implode, his
regime would implode, and we will have a united country. But the desire for
unity is great all over Libya. And Gaddafi is hoping to maintain a zone from
which he could cause trouble on the liberated areas.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us, Khaled Mattawa,
acclaimed Libyan poet, scholar, professor at University of Michigan,
speaking to us from Ann Arbor, and Asli Bali, teaching international law at
UCLA School of law. I'm glad to have you in New York for this day.

This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a young man, an American, a Libyan
American, joins with the resistance. His family knows he's been shot, but
they don't know if he's been killed. Is he dead or missing? We'll hear from
him directly, two days before he was shot, and then we'll talk to his mother
in Washington. Stay with us.

 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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