A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Red Cross Pulls Out of Benghazi

The ICRC has pulled out of Benghazi, expecting an imminent attack on the city. Earlier, the Qadhafi regime had threatened to attack the city by midnight, but there are also reports that the rebel forces are waging counterattacks near Ajdabiyya. Qadhafi may succeed in the military conquest of his own people, but I would expect we will see a growing guerrilla war, especially in the east. He may find himself someday bracketed in Libyan history books with General Rodolfo Graziani (the "Butcher of Fezzan" and ‘Umar al-Mukhtar's executioner). Of course, Graziani was a colonialist and a member of the Fascist Party of Italy, but other than that . . .

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