Journalists no longer welcome say Rebels in Libya
- Posted By: Bryan Chan
- Posted On: 10:08 p.m. | March 13, 2011
By Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times
I literally shot from the hip at the front lines Sunday. I had no other choice and did not raise the camera to my eye as retreating rebels abruptly turned their wrath on members of the Western media covering the nearly month-long Libyan uprising. Amid the chaos and panic at the gates of Ajdabiya, rebel fighters immediately singled me out — telling me in no uncertain terms that I should leave.
An irate middle-aged man pushed me back, yelling at me in Arabic while gesturing menacingly with a Kalashnikov held close tightly to his chest. According to my interpreter, he laid the blame for a quick succession of rebel battlefield defeats on photographers and reporters, who had compromised their positions and revealed their lack of weaponry with pictures and words.
His red and bleary eyes bulging, he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. He wore a kaffiyeh scarf tightly wrapped around his head, and his tone was all business. I backed off and shot surreptitiously with a camera hanging from my neck.
I waited a few minutes and again tried to get better access. Again I was told no. As I walked away, a man shouted from the crowd: “Go home! You are no longer needed here!”
It was a complete about-turn after three weeks of being warmly welcomed as a friend and ally in the fight against Moammar Kadafi. Deep down, I knew the honeymoon wouldn’t last. It was just too good to be true. In the rebels’ opinion, their recent losses had nothing to do with poor training, a lack of strategy, weak leadership and overall incompetence. People often blame the messenger for bad news.
On the road back to Benghazi, I saw two carloads of Africans prostrate on the ground. One rebel waved a pistol over the terrified men’s heads and questioned them in Arabic. I jumped out of the car to take pictures but three men immediately ran in my direction, raised their weapons and told me to get lost. It’s just too hard to win an argument against loaded guns.
Back in Benghazi, dusk settled as I arrived at the courthouse square to gauge the public mood and get some pictures. I met a man I had befriended over the last two weeks, and he was stunned to hear that Kadafi’s forces were bearing down. All this time, the revolutionary government has been sticking to their delusional message that everything is OK — and the people buy it completely. In an environment like this, it’s almost impossible to work.
I returned to my hotel and caught the tail end of a news conference with the head of rebel military forces, Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, who used to be the interior minister in Kadafi’s regime. Recent battlefield setbacks did not force a retreat or constitute defeat, he said. Rather, they are part of a brilliant strategy to lure loyalist forces into a trap. Yes, maybe. But that’s just not the way it looks
Times reporters David Zucchino, Jeffrey Fleishman and I plan to stay in Benghazi one more day. And if Kadafi continues his unimpeded march, we will be quickly pulling out.
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alex· Watch yourself out there and get home safe! There will always be a next one (sadly).ReportReply
esmu·
i'm saddened to hear of your treatment. but please take everything into context, the freedom fighters thought they would have the backing of the West, thinking that they really did practice what they preach when talking about supporting democracy. They now feel let down by the whole world and know that they have to do this on their own.
They were naive and untrained when they let reporters in the front line, the US military always put reporters under strict guidance when they reporting from the front line during the Iraq invasion, always being made to say that they couldn't divulge their exact location.
The Libyan freedom fighters are not professional soldiers, please do not hold this against them. They are just volunteers who were heady with the euphoria that after 42 years of oppression (I won't go into the details, as no one from the West could even comprehend the servitude and indignity these proud people had to live under), they could finally be free.
All I can say is, it is sad that Libyan coverage is not being maintained, much like the West's response, but for the Libyans reading
