Gadhafi denounces Libya’s ‘traitors’ and the West as fighting continues

TRIPOLI, Libya — In a defiant speech broadcast early Wednesday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi derided opponents who have seized the eastern half of the country as
“traitors” and blamed foreigners and al-Qaida for perpetrating the
unrest roiling the North African state he has ruled for more than four
decades.

Gadhafi was speaking to young members of the Zintan
tribe in the capital late Tuesday, and his words were broadcast across
the country hours later. The speech appeared to put to rest rumors
reported in some international media that the 68-year-old leader was
considering stepping down.

Meanwhile, reports of bloodshed continued in two rebel-controlled coastal enclaves in western Libya.
In opposition-held Misurata, a doctor reached by telephone said the
city’s main hospital is treating patients suffering from gunshot trauma
without pause.

“I see so many patients I have lost count,” he said.

Rebel-controlled Zawiya, 30 miles west of the
capital, remained under siege, with telecommunication access cut off.
Libyans with friends and relatives in the city of 210,000 struggled to
get information. Ahmed, a 28-year-old law student in Tripoli,
said he managed Tuesday and Wednesday to speak to friends trying to
escape the city, which was bombarded with artillery and tank fire and
had no running water or electricity.

“There is a lack of everything, food and medicines,”
said Ahmed, who asked that his last name not be published. “People are
scared to go out because the militias can shoot them.”

Gadhafi did not speak about the strife in the two
cities, though state television repeatedly broadcasts claims that
Zawiya has been retaken. The Libyan leader claimed that the United States, Britain and France, which are contemplating a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Gadhafi’s forces from launching airstrikes, are seeking to control the country’s oil as part of a colonialist plot.

“The U.K, France,
U.S. and colonialist states were wondering how a bunch of Libyans could
take control of their own petroleum,” he said to the gathered
loyalists. “Their goal is to return. Now, 90 percent of Libya’s petroleum (income) goes to Libya
and 10 percent goes to the American company. They want to reverse this,
giving 90 percent to the American company and 10 percent to Libya. The British want to return to their bases again.”

He referred to an alleged conversation between a
British diplomat and an opposition figure in rebel-controlled Benghazi
as evidence that the West is plotting to establish dominion over Libya, which suffered under Italian rule in the 1920s and 1930s.

“Should the Libyan people want to live again under the Americans and Europeans’ boots, then they are welcome,” he said.

He repeated government assertions that al-Qaida was
involved in the unrest, accusing it of brainwashing “weak and
vulnerable” youth, and called on the West to help Libya fight extremists.

“Libya is fighting the same group you are fighting, i.e., al-Qaida or the Bin Laden group,” he said. “Now they surfaced in Libya. As you are helping in Algeria, come and help in Libya.”

Gadhafi reserved his harshest comments for the
Benghazi-based National Transitional Council, led by former Libyan
Justice Minister Musta Abdul Jailil, whom he called a traitor and an
“agent” who had long been under suspicion in Tripoli. He appealed to the ordinary people of Benghazi to rise up against the transitional government.

“On one side (the transitional government) were apt
to betray,” he said. “Those are traitors. On the other hand, some are
captives in the hands of the group recruiting our children. There is no
solution for the people of Benghazi but to take to the streets, men
women and children, and save Benghazi from treachery.”

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