Gaddafi Says He Will Fight Back

skyNEWS:

Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has threatened attacks on allied targets in the Mediterranean in a phone call to state television.

The Libyan leader called the broadcaster to warn of retaliation for Western strikes on his country.

He declared the attacks “an assault against a sovereign state, an assault against Libya” and claimed the Mediterranean had been turned into a “real battlefield”.

The leader went on to inform civilians that “arms depots” had been opened so they could defend Libya.

He also called upon “nations of the Arabic world” to support the “victorious Libyan people” in stopping what he called “lunatic aggression that has no justification whatsoever”.

It had been rumoured that Col Gaddafi was to make a television address, but an appearance in person could reveal his location to UN allies.

The country has said it considers a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire by its forces no longer valid following the launch of air and sea strikes, and demanded an urgent meeting of the council.

The statement followed a television address by Libyan congress leader Abul Qasim Al-Zwai, during which he claimed UN forces had attacked civilian targets.

He said: “I am very sorry and saddened that my country tonight is facing a barbaric and armed attack from Western countries.”

He said a rocket attack had been launched on “several locations” including Tripoli and Misratah, and described it as “an attack that has caused some real harm against civilians and buildings”.

“The claim that this aggression is for the protection of civilians is contradicted by what has really happened on the ground.

“The number of civilians who have been hurt or harmed by this aggression tonight – the number is filling up our hospitals and ambulances are doing their best to save as many lives of civilians as possible.”

Al Jazeera:

n a roughly 15-minute address on Sunday, his second since the air raids began and during which he never appeared on screen, Gaddafi promised a “long war” that his forces would win. The promise to fight comes after Libyan foreign minister Musa Kousa responded to a United Nations resolution authorising force to protect civilians by promising to institute a cease fire.

“We will fight for every square in our land,” Gaddafi said. “We will die as martyrs.”

Promising that the Libyan “people are behind him and ready for all-our war,” Gaddafi repeated his claim that his regime had “opened the depots” and distributed weapons among the populace.

He drew allusions to other US-led wars, including Vietnam, as well as the Crusades, saying that air attacks by French, US and British forces amounted to a “cold war” on Islam.

He also promised retribution against Libyans who sided with the foreign intervention.

“We will fight and we will target any traitor who is cooperating with the Americans or with the Christian Crusade,” he said.

Gaddafi mentioned the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the bloody US intervention in Somalia and the ongoing campaign to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

All, he said, were examples of the kind of defeat the US was about to endure in Libya.

“You don’t learn,” he said. “You”re always going to be destroyed.”

Related Links:

Operation Odyssey Dawn aka Beginning of a Long and Adventurous Journey

Libya No-Fly Zone = Humanitarian Imperialism