Some various links on Libya.

[the_future_modernes]

Kucinich files suit over U.S. involvement in Libya

Antiwar Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) filed suit in federal court Wednesday seeking to halt the U.S. military action in Libya, saying it is unconstitutional.

Kucinich and Republican Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, another longtime war critic, led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the latest challenge to the White House's authority to conduct the campaign without seeking congressional approval under the War Powers Act.MORE

White House sees no need for congressional approval on Libya

Calling the U.S. military operation in Libya "limited," the White House says that congressional authorization is not required to continue involvement in the coalition effort there.

That determination was explained in a 30-page memo sent to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, just shy of the 90th day of the engagement of U.S. assets in the Libya campaign.

Lawmakers have become increasingly uneasy over the administration's interactions with Congress about the scope and duration of U.S. involvement in the NATO-led mission.MORE

Truth dispatch: Updates from Libya

However, there is a new dimension to the air embargo on Libya. Attracted to the Libyan–Tunisian border by refugees, most African guest workers from sub-Sahara and pan-Sahel African nations, fleeing the fighting in their country, find that scores of international aid workers now occupy the tourist hotels of Djerba, the once popular Tunisian resort that has fallen on hard times after tour operators cancelled excursions following the Tunisian revolution earlier this year.

Today, prior to crossing into Libya, this reporter is witnessing representatives of the ‘misery industry’, young international aid workers with groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross, EU and International Organisation for Migration, lounging around the tourist hotels mingling with German and French pensioners eager to take advantage of the special travel packages being offered by a depressed Tunisian tourist industry.

Not only is war good for the weapons industry but refugee crises brought about by Western-implemented wars, fattening the wallets of NGOs anxious to cash in on the human misery created by Pentagon and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) overt and covert military operations. Meanwhile, here in Djerba, near the Libyan frontier, it's pool-side and cold Heinekens for the NGO community here to ‘save’ the Libyan refugees.MORE

In Libya's Gasoline Shortage, Women Get A Break

For Libyans, one of the main hardships caused by the worldwide campaign against their leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is a nationwide shortage of gasoline.

Fighting has nearly ground to a halt the oil-rich nation's ability to refine fuel. A naval blockade keeps any fuel tankers from leaving or reaching the North African nation's ports.

The shortage has led to cars lining up as far as the eye can see outside Libyan gas stations providing what little fuel is left at normal prices. But being a woman there means you may not have to wait as long to fill up.

That's because Gadhafi's government has set aside one gas station for women only. It has nothing to do with Libya being Muslim or segregationist when it comes to the sexes like some Arab countries.

In fact, Gadhafi is seen by many in Libya as an emancipator of women. He elevated many of them to powerful posts to create allies to help bolster his regime.

But Libyan officials say for safety reasons, the government feels it's best for women not to be out all night in gas lines. Even in the daytime, frustrated male drivers can be seen arguing with Libyan authorities and scuffling among themselves while they wait for their turn at the pump.MORE

Libyan rebels wrest western mountain villages

Libyan rebels have wrested two key villages in the western mountains from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the country's embattled leader, as they continued to push deeper into government-held territory south of the capital, Tripoli.

The two villages in the mountain area about 150km south-west of Tripoli had been used for months by pro-Gaddafi forces to shell rebel-held towns.

"The revolutionaries now control Zawiyat al-Babour and al-Awiniyah after pro-Gaddafi forces retreated this morning from the two villages," Abdulrahman, a rebel spokesman in the nearby town of Zintan, told Reuters.

In Gharyan, a Gaddafi-held town that forms the gateway from Tripoli to the mountains, there was an undercurrent of tension as the frontline moves closer to the capital.

A rebel spokesman in Nalut, a town in the western mountains, said there were no casualties from the shelling on Wednesday.MORe

African Leaders Demand Halt to NATO Bombing Campaign in Libya

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- African leaders today demanded an immediate end to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's bombing campaign in Libya and called for the African Union and United Nations to take the lead in reaching a political solution.

"We have not voted for a substitute for bombing of one group by the other," South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters in New York, referring to the UN resolution authorizing military action against Libya leader Muammar Qaddafi's regime, which her government supported. "All forms of military intervention and bombing must stop now."

Nkoana-Mashabane and ministers of Mali, Mauritania, Uganda and Republic of Congo, which formed the AU's Ad Hoc Committee on Libya, expressed their concern about the NATO bombing campaign to the UN Security Council. Adoption of a draft statement demanding a "complete end to violence and all attacks against and abuses of civilians" was blocked by the U.S. and other Western nations.MORE