Libya's Revolution: Violence Against Protesters Backfires

[Turborama]

By Shashank Joshi | Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute
February 21 2011. Last updated at 10:20 GMT


Despite the difficulty obtaining information about what is going on in Libya,
images and testimony are leaking out, especially via social media

=snip=

Yet in Libya, the regime's violence has been massive and indiscriminate, and mitigated by the most cursory of references to a national dialogue.

In part, this rests on the regime's assumption of loyalty from the security forces, bound tighter to the regime than their Egyptian counterparts and lacking the same prestige amongst their people that served as a check on the young officers in Tahrir Square.

Even so, reports indicate that the Libyan regime has been compelled to rely on special forces units and foreign mercenaries.

Police and army units in Benghazi have been defecting, and the military is likely fractured along tribal and other lines.

Full article well worth reading in its entirety: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12523007

* Col Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969
* Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km
* Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%
* Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)