Qaddafi's son promises weapons to followers

Saif Gaddafi in a YouTube video in which he apparently spurs on followers, and offers weapons to civilians to attack protesters.

/ YouTube

It is believed at least 1,000 people have been killed in the uprising in Libya since the violence began two weeks ago. Yet in an interview with CNN broadcast Sunday, Muammar Qaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, denied that his father's regime is killing civilians.

"Show me a single attack, show me a single bomb," he told Christiane Amanpour.

However, a video has surfaced online in which Saif Qaddafi appears to spur on a crowd of followers to commit violence against the opposition, and promises weapons to them, even brandishing an automatic.

In the video, apparently taken in Tripoli, Saif talks to a group of supporters who are chanting, "Only God, Muammar & Libya!"

"We need high spirits!" Saif tells them.

"Listen, listen brothers: the people have said the police force have joined the protesters. But today we will prove the opposite," he says. He then asks if they need weapons: "Yes, yes, yes," they reply.

"You will receive all the support, all the facilities and weapons," Saif said. "Everything will be OK, and you will be victorious."

The crowd breaks into chants of "Only God, Muammar & Libya," and "Al Jazeera, you despicable, we need no other than our leader Qaddafi."

"Today we're not inviting you for rice and meat," Saif continues - a phrase suggesting we mean business. "This is what I want to tell you today."

The crowd yells, "We will show them (the protesters), we will bring (the country) back. The people need Col. Muammar."

"Listen, listen, this is your country," Saif said. "Now we shall leave, and you have all the backing. . . . The protesters you confront are nothing; they are bums, brats and druggies. Today, brothers, Tripoli that you live in, will be cleared [of protesters]."

The crowd then chants, "With spirit and blood, we support you, our leader."

"I am shall leave now, and I will send you weapons," Saif said. "Tonight I will return with more people and weapons."

The crowd chants, "Only God, Muammar & Libya."

The origin of the video and its translation, provided by the Libyan Outreach Group, could not be independently verified.

To view the video click on the player below.

[RedWings_ninety_one]

Apparently, when you begin protesting, you revoke your civillian status.

[Nikos_Retsos]

Saif al-Islam is still in denial, and that is understandable. He was planning to inherit his father's position, and have a life as a head of state. Now that plan is scrapped by the Libyan people, but he is still irrational enough to believe that giving weapons to close
associates of his family can turn things around for him. But doing so will just guarantee his demise - not a future grandeur as a leader.
The Libyan revolution is in full swing now, and it just needs to settle down.

The Gadhafi family seems to be boxed inside Tripoli now, while the rest of Libya has ditched them. And handing out $ 400 to each family in Tripoli to buy some peace inside the city won't help them recover the rest of the country. Worse yet, if the Gadhafis want to leave Libya, they have no place to go because they are considered as criminals around the world.
Plus, even if they decide to flee to some friendly countries, such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chad or Niger, they would have to live daily with the fear of assassination. Len Trotsky met that fate in Mexico, and Anastasio Somoza met that fate in Paraguay. There is no safety anywhere for global outcasts - except, perhaps, inside North Korea. Elsewhere even Al-Qaeda will hunt them for calling its jihadist recruits hallucinogenic drug users!

There is an Pan-Arab awakening across Middle East, and Gadhafi was so confident that his iron fist in Libya was so solid that he didn't bother to make amends quick enough - like the Saudis do now. Now the Gadhafis have been awakened by a public wave of social discontent that have never imagined, and they are at loss on what to do next. And I believe that the people around Gadhafi will soon start to realize that they don't want to be the last to die for a buffoon and his family who want to be the eternal rulers of Libya against the wishes of
its population. The Gadhafis brag that they will stand and fight "until death do them apart" - rather that lose their privileges, or flee the country. I hope they get their wish,
which, in turn, will mean "justice" to the Libyan people. The Libyans want nothing less than a complete "catharsis" of the Gadhafi regime. Amen! Nikos Retsos, retired professor