Joy and tears as Eid arrives in post-Gaddafi Libya

[nofurylike]

By Samia Nakhoul
Aug 29, 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/2...TP20110829

The first Eid al-Fitr, the great feast that closes the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to be celebrated by Libyans after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi is marked by a shortage of everything from water to money.

Yet nothing seems able to spoil the celebration of freedom -- what the people of Tripoli are calling the Eid of Victory.

After almost 42 years of Gaddafi's rule, this Eid will live in Libyans' memory.

-snip-

WORTH THE SACRIFICE

Zeid Al Akari, 60, a driver, said: "It's OK if we have shortages, if we have to sacrifice for this day, which is a day of freedom. This year we are going to make do with anything. The most important thing is that we got rid of this despot."

-snip-

###

[jaxx]

What a celebration they will have! It's very moving to see how they value their freedom and the costs it has brought to them are worth the outcome.

[nofurylike]

(08-31-2011 08:10 AM)jaxx Wrote:  What a celebration they will have! It's very moving to see how they value their freedom and the costs it has brought to them are worth the outcome.

yes!! WHAT a celebration!!!
i LOVE that: "It's very moving to see how they value their freedom and the costs it has brought to them are worth the outcome." it is so true and so moving!!

thank you, jaxx!

[jaxx]

Found this too about the celebration:

'Gadhafi made us hate our lives ... We come here to express our joy'

<..> Streaming in after dawn, worshippers packed Tripoli's Martyrs' Square — the renamed Gadhafi-era Green Square — chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), Libya is free."

Fighters on rooftops guarded against any attack by Gadhafi loyalists and sniffer dogs checked cars. Even the interim interior minister, Ahmed Darat, was searched.

<..> "This is the most beautiful Eid and most beautiful day in 42 years," said Hatem Gureish, 31, a merchant from Tripoli. "Gadhafi made us hate our lives ... We come here to express our joy at the end of 42 years of repression and deprivation."

'It's as if I own the world'
Fatima Mustafa, 28, a pregnant woman wearing a black chador, said: "This is a day of freedom, a day I cannot describe to you. It's as if I own the world. I'm glad I haven't given birth yet so my daughter can be born into a free Libya."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44340873/ns/...l5QJWp5p7k

Gives me goosebumps.

[nofurylike]

(08-31-2011 09:19 AM)jaxx Wrote:  Found this too about the celebration:

'Gadhafi made us hate our lives ... We come here to express our joy'

<..> Streaming in after dawn, worshippers packed Tripoli's Martyrs' Square — the renamed Gadhafi-era Green Square — chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), Libya is free."

Fighters on rooftops guarded against any attack by Gadhafi loyalists and sniffer dogs checked cars. Even the interim interior minister, Ahmed Darat, was searched.

<..> "This is the most beautiful Eid and most beautiful day in 42 years," said Hatem Gureish, 31, a merchant from Tripoli. "Gadhafi made us hate our lives ... We come here to express our joy at the end of 42 years of repression and deprivation."

'It's as if I own the world'
Fatima Mustafa, 28, a pregnant woman wearing a black chador, said: "This is a day of freedom, a day I cannot describe to you. It's as if I own the world. I'm glad I haven't given birth yet so my daughter can be born into a free Libya."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44340873/ns/...l5QJWp5p7k

Gives me goosebumps.

OMG, that is tremendous!! thank you so much for adding that, jaxx!!
goosebumps here too!
i could quote it ALL!!

[Cha]

Unreal! I can't imagine what they've gone through and now so close. I just read the rebels extended the deadline for his surrender and he responded with "Let Libya burn". What would we expect?

Quote: The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gadhafi bastions across Libya, had shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. "In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity" and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.

Rebel leaders were aware that Gadhafi was likely hiding in a stronghold of the powerful Warfalla tribe, Libya's biggest at about a million strong in a population of six million, NBC News producer Paul Nassar in Libya said.

>more<
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44353589/ns/...ibya-burn/

[nofurylike]

(09-01-2011 08:46 PM)Cha Wrote:  Unreal! I can't imagine what they've gone through and now so close. I just read the rebels extended the deadline for his surrender and he responded with "Let Libya burn". What would we expect?

Quote: The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gadhafi bastions across Libya, had shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. "In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity" and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.

Rebel leaders were aware that Gadhafi was likely hiding in a stronghold of the powerful Warfalla tribe, Libya's biggest at about a million strong in a population of six million, NBC News producer Paul Nassar in Libya said.

>more<
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44353589/ns/...ibya-burn/

what a MONSTER!!! he MEANS it, too - he has proven that, again and again. the rebels WANT to spare the town, and more lives, and he just says that?! MAD man!!

thank you so much for adding that, Cha! it really shows the difference in the people involved.