Protesters stormed the Benghazi headquarters of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) Saturday while its chairman was still in the building.
People in Benghazi, birthplace of the revolt which forced out former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have been protesting for weeks to demand the sacking of Gaddafi-era officials and more transparency about how the NTC is spending Libyan assets.
The attack is a serious blow to the self-appointed but internationally recognized NTC, and underscores growing discontent over the way it is running the country.
Remember how so many people said that purging Iraq of Baathists contributed to Iraq's civil unrest? I thought that was BS, personally, since you could hardly expect the millions of Iraq victims of the Baathists to just accept the continued dominance of the Baathists--but just as well paid technocrats. You can debate what extent de-Baathification should have been. But not the general idea.
And now Libyans, who were blessed by leaders who understood how counter-productive it is to purge the government of former exploiters and prison wardens, are strangely upset that after struggling to free themselves from the exploiters and wardens that the exploiters and wardens seem to still have an important role in the new exploiter- and warden-free Libya. And without government transparency, who knows what those "ex" Khaddafi loyalists might be up to.
Silly Libyans. Just because they "won" the civil war they expect their enemy to have "lost?"
They really need to fully digest that nuance thing.
UPDATE: So failing to purge Khaddafi supporters is angering the anti-Khaddafi winners and it is failing to prevent Khaddafi loyalists from resisting:
Supporters of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi seized control of the town of Bani Walid on Monday after clashes with a militia loyal to the new government in which four people were killed, witnesses told Reuters.
A resident of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) south-east of Tripoli, said the sides fought using heavy weaponry, including 106 mm anti-tank weapons, and that 20 people were wounded.
Not to worry, the Libyan air force is preparing to cope.
Or is that no-fly zone to protect the Libyan people from (the new) government's air power still in force? Just wondering.
UPDATE: And now the new government is thumbing their nose at the international community:
Libya said on Monday that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi would face trial at home, threatening a showdown with the International Criminal Court which may decide to prosecute the son of Libya's former dictator in The Hague.
I'm beginning to think that Arabic lacks the word for nuance. Doesn't the new Libyan government know that blood-stained henchmen everywhere respect the rulings of the ICC and simply hang their heads in shame rather than fight when the ICC says they've been bad boys?
