Things We Thought We Knew About Libya

Combine the fog of war, a government notorious for deception, and reporters desperate for scoops, and you get an environment rife with speculation and contradiction on even the most basic facts.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

MUAMMAR AL-QADDAFI IS SURROUNDED

… or maybe we have no idea where he is.

Remember immediately after the fall of Tripoli when it was reported that the Libyan leader was holed up inside his compound at Bab al-Aziziya on the outskirts of Tripoli? The compound was taken and there was no sign of him. Or when he was likely at his farm near the airport? Also now captured. Or when he was "nearly captured" at a safe house in central Tripoli in Aug. 24? Or when he was at least somewhere in Tripoli? Now, as rebels close in on his hometown of Sirte, rebel leaders continue to say they have "a good idea where he is." (Or perhaps he's actually in the desert town of Bani Walid.)

From now on, claims that Qaddafi is "surrounded" or that his whereabouts are known should be taken with a grain of salt until he's actually in custody.

MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images; DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS/AFP/Getty Images; WATHEK QUSAI/AFP/Getty Images; ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images; GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Image

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Joshua E. Keating is an associate editor at Foreign Policy.

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Thousands of Libyans are fleeing to Tunisia to escape the violence. The Tunisian government has in listed the aid of England and France to assist turn these unwanted refugees back to Libya. The extent from the help so far continues to be using several aircraft. It's unclear the way the planes is going to be used and when they actually have arrived.

Nov the Libyan government will facilitate the traditional need for the UN to achieve and gaze after better treatments for the oil fields within the Brega region. Some have claimed the uprising to become entirely media produced and engineered through the UN, The main one World Government, as well as Obama, sitting President of the US.

 

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