WEBVTT - Benghazi: Episode 2 - We Will Stay Here 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:22.910 Pushkin. Hey Leon here, Before we get to this episode, 0:00:22.991 --> 0:00:24.631 I want to let you know that you can binge 0:00:24.671 --> 0:00:28.911 the entire season of Fiasco Benghazi right now ad free 0:00:28.951 --> 0:00:32.311 by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Sign up for Pushkin 0:00:32.351 --> 0:00:35.711 Plus on the Fiasco Apple podcast show page, or visit 0:00:35.751 --> 0:00:48.791 Pushkin dot Fm slash Plus now onto the show. Previously 0:00:48.911 --> 0:00:50.071 on Fiasco. 0:00:50.551 --> 0:00:53.671 He's been called the world's number one terrorist, a madman 0:00:53.711 --> 0:00:57.471 who exports terrorism around the world, Colonel Murima Coduti. 0:00:57.591 --> 0:01:00.151 The first time in almost a quarter century, the US 0:01:00.431 --> 0:01:02.751 has diplomatic ties with Libya. 0:01:03.031 --> 0:01:05.831 We were sent out there and told just to go 0:01:05.871 --> 0:01:06.871 find what you can find. 0:01:07.111 --> 0:01:12.271 Chris Stevens was always willing to open a conversation with 0:01:12.351 --> 0:01:15.791 people from pretty scary Islamist backgrounds. 0:01:16.031 --> 0:01:19.791 Nobody demonstrated or protested in Goddafi's Libya. 0:01:19.191 --> 0:01:20.671 But they didn't really care anymore. 0:01:20.671 --> 0:01:21.671 They'd lost everything. 0:01:24.911 --> 0:01:29.591 Hamis Gadaffi arrived in Houston, Texas on January twentieth, twenty eleven. 0:01:30.751 --> 0:01:35.271 While in town, Hamis, one of Mumar Gadaffi's sons, was 0:01:35.311 --> 0:01:38.831 scheduled to visit a NASA facility and the Port of Houston. 0:01:41.511 --> 0:01:43.711 There's a photo from the trip in which Camise can 0:01:43.751 --> 0:01:45.871 be seen smiling with the chairman of the Houston Port 0:01:45.911 --> 0:01:49.631 Commission and ten other men in suits. Camise was around 0:01:49.671 --> 0:01:52.271 thirty at the time, and in the photo he looks sharp, 0:01:52.471 --> 0:01:55.311 wearing jeans and shiny other shoes, with a sport coat 0:01:55.431 --> 0:01:59.671 and a simple black necktie. Camisa's visit to Houston was 0:01:59.711 --> 0:02:02.271 part of a wide ranging tour of the United States 0:02:02.831 --> 0:02:07.471 sponsored by a large American infrastructure firm with business in Libya. 0:02:07.591 --> 0:02:10.431 According to Camisa's schedule, the trip was to inclclude a 0:02:10.511 --> 0:02:14.631 VIP tour of Universal studios and visits to Apple, Google 0:02:14.711 --> 0:02:18.151 and Intel. Whether he ended up doing all that we 0:02:18.191 --> 0:02:21.231 don't know for sure, because it wasn't reported on at 0:02:21.271 --> 0:02:24.111 the time. The specifics of what Camise actually did in 0:02:24.151 --> 0:02:27.270 the United States are fuzzy. One of the few people 0:02:27.311 --> 0:02:30.710 who knows some of the details is Colonel Brian Linville. 0:02:30.951 --> 0:02:34.591 Hamis went to the United States not as a part 0:02:34.711 --> 0:02:39.631 of an official government function per se. Instead, at that 0:02:39.751 --> 0:02:44.031 time he was working on his master's degree at a 0:02:44.071 --> 0:02:48.871 school in Spain and was really interested in the business 0:02:48.991 --> 0:02:52.751 management aspects of the United States. 0:02:53.311 --> 0:02:56.671 At the time of Camise's American safari, Lynnville was a 0:02:56.671 --> 0:03:00.271 Foreign Area officer in the US Army. He was living 0:03:00.311 --> 0:03:03.351 in Tripoli and serving as a diplomatic liaison to the 0:03:03.351 --> 0:03:04.271 Libyan military. 0:03:04.911 --> 0:03:08.831 Foreign area officers like myself refer to ourselves hyphenated as 0:03:08.871 --> 0:03:13.591 soldier diplomats because it really does incorporate the aspects of both, 0:03:13.631 --> 0:03:15.271 and you can't separate the two. 0:03:16.111 --> 0:03:18.631 Linnville accompanied camise on the part of his trip that 0:03:18.751 --> 0:03:22.031 was planned in coordination with the Department of Defense. The 0:03:22.111 --> 0:03:24.550 DoD had agreed to take camise on tours of the 0:03:24.671 --> 0:03:28.311 US Air Force Academy West Point and the National Defense University. 0:03:29.031 --> 0:03:32.310 It fell to Linnville's escort Camiste to each of those stops. 0:03:32.631 --> 0:03:35.271 I sincerely believe he wanted to go and observe and 0:03:35.391 --> 0:03:39.031 learn and take back something that might be to the 0:03:39.071 --> 0:03:41.871 benefit of his country, his military. 0:03:42.751 --> 0:03:44.911 For most of the trip, Camisee tried to keep his 0:03:44.991 --> 0:03:46.151 identity under wraps. 0:03:47.871 --> 0:03:53.031 He was extremely hesitant to allow himself to be identified 0:03:53.071 --> 0:03:57.151 as Kaddafi's son. Everywhere we went. He asked that we 0:03:57.191 --> 0:04:01.231 introduce him as Captain Camise not as Captain Kadafi. He 0:04:01.271 --> 0:04:04.911 wanted to disassociate himself from any stigmas that might be 0:04:04.991 --> 0:04:06.591 associated with that name. 0:04:06.791 --> 0:04:10.191 In the United States officials are saying no to being 0:04:10.311 --> 0:04:11.391 leader Momar Kadafi. 0:04:11.551 --> 0:04:14.151 Does anybody think that Momarkadafi is not a terrorist? 0:04:14.231 --> 0:04:16.751 This is a man who simply does not accept a 0:04:16.871 --> 0:04:20.351 responsibility for Libya's a terrorist past. 0:04:20.671 --> 0:04:27.431 Camis knew that we'd had Araqi past, and his purpose 0:04:27.591 --> 0:04:30.671 wasn't to make waves or to ruffle any feathers. 0:04:31.231 --> 0:04:34.431 Camis's American hosts didn't want to ruffle his feathers either. 0:04:35.271 --> 0:04:37.591 He and his brothers were important to the American government 0:04:37.791 --> 0:04:40.511 because they were widely understood to be the future of Libya. 0:04:41.391 --> 0:04:45.711 Whatever happened after Muamar Gadaffi eventually died, his sons would 0:04:45.751 --> 0:04:48.791 be a huge part of it. In the meantime, it 0:04:48.871 --> 0:04:51.431 was possible they could serve as a positive influence on 0:04:51.471 --> 0:04:51.950 their father. 0:04:52.351 --> 0:04:57.390 With Camis, we knew that he had the potential to 0:04:57.471 --> 0:05:01.510 talked to his dad and explain what he'd seen and 0:05:01.591 --> 0:05:05.151 encouraged the Libyan government to make some changes. 0:05:05.791 --> 0:05:08.431 Not all of Gadafi's sons inspired this kind of faith 0:05:08.911 --> 0:05:11.190 or enjoyed equal standar in the eyes of the West. 0:05:12.431 --> 0:05:14.511 The Kadafi boys were a motley assortment. 0:05:15.111 --> 0:05:18.070 Perhaps the most respected of the Gaddafi brothers was Saif 0:05:18.231 --> 0:05:21.871 al Islam, whom you heard about in episode one Scyphal. 0:05:21.951 --> 0:05:27.191 Islam, as the heir apparent, took on a much larger 0:05:27.351 --> 0:05:31.391 role than his other brothers, and much more political role, 0:05:31.911 --> 0:05:36.951 whereas the other brothers struggled to find. 0:05:36.671 --> 0:05:37.231 Their way up. 0:05:38.031 --> 0:05:41.551 Those other brothers included Matassim, who once paid Beyonce a 0:05:41.631 --> 0:05:44.391 rumored two million dollars to perform at a New Year's 0:05:44.431 --> 0:05:47.710 Eve concert in Saint Bart's and Sadi, who was caught 0:05:47.791 --> 0:05:50.671 using steroids during a stint as a professional soccer player 0:05:50.711 --> 0:05:55.710 in Italy. By comparison, Camisee did not attract much attention 0:05:56.591 --> 0:05:58.911 while his brothers made headlines in The New York Times. 0:05:58.951 --> 0:06:02.191 In Gawker, Camis seemed to fly under the radar as 0:06:02.231 --> 0:06:06.271 he worked towards an MBA in Spain. But back home 0:06:06.311 --> 0:06:08.231 in Libya he had another role. 0:06:08.791 --> 0:06:16.311 He was the commander of the regime's most important and 0:06:16.431 --> 0:06:20.431 probably best equipped, best trained regiment, of the thirty second 0:06:20.511 --> 0:06:21.431 Enhanced Brigade. 0:06:21.911 --> 0:06:24.471 The thirty second Enhanced Brigade was one of the few 0:06:24.511 --> 0:06:27.591 elite units of the Libyan military, which on the whole 0:06:27.751 --> 0:06:31.630 was underfunded and poorly organized. This was at least in 0:06:31.711 --> 0:06:35.111 part because Colonel Gaddafi liked it that way. As he 0:06:35.191 --> 0:06:38.471 saw it, if a military coups were ever attempted against him, 0:06:38.751 --> 0:06:41.111 it would be much easier for his loyalists to defeat 0:06:41.151 --> 0:06:43.270 a weak army than a strong one. 0:06:43.351 --> 0:06:48.191 He focused on developing specific regime protection forces that he 0:06:48.271 --> 0:06:52.711 knew were loyal and were manned by family members or 0:06:53.071 --> 0:06:55.711 tribal members that were loyal to him and loyal to 0:06:55.751 --> 0:06:56.710 the Kadafi government. 0:06:57.111 --> 0:06:59.111 And so camisse led the main one of those. 0:06:59.831 --> 0:07:00.710 Yes, that's correct. 0:07:01.431 --> 0:07:04.631 While Camisee traveled the United States, the Middle East was 0:07:04.671 --> 0:07:09.391 experiencing a historic convulsion. A little over a month earlier, 0:07:09.471 --> 0:07:12.911 in December of twenty ten, a street vendor in Tunisia 0:07:12.991 --> 0:07:15.911 had doused himself in paint dinner and lit himself on fire. 0:07:17.111 --> 0:07:20.111 It was a protest against corrupt local authorities who had 0:07:20.151 --> 0:07:23.351 harassed him and confiscated the scale he used to weigh 0:07:23.351 --> 0:07:23.951 his produce. 0:07:24.791 --> 0:07:28.631 His closest friends, anguished by Mohamlet's actions, took to the 0:07:28.671 --> 0:07:30.951 streets and began a popular uprising. 0:07:31.511 --> 0:07:34.271 When words spread about what the produce vendor had done 0:07:34.311 --> 0:07:38.271 and why Tunisians poured into the streets in protest. 0:07:37.991 --> 0:07:43.391 Anger erupted onto the streets. Today, while police rushing a 0:07:43.471 --> 0:07:47.751 crowd carrying banners reading yes we can. It was enough 0:07:47.791 --> 0:07:50.831 to bring down the government and force the nation's president 0:07:50.871 --> 0:07:51.911 to flee. 0:07:52.031 --> 0:07:55.231 Before long, the president of Tunisia was forced from power, 0:07:55.471 --> 0:07:58.271 and the revolutionary mood started spreading to Egypt. 0:07:59.031 --> 0:08:02.071 Just listen to the chance roaring in downtown Cairol, the 0:08:02.231 --> 0:08:04.471 hundreds of people walking to the streets. 0:08:04.471 --> 0:08:06.591 It's unprecedented for people to. 0:08:06.591 --> 0:08:08.671 March to the streets this way as an act of 0:08:08.751 --> 0:08:11.271 protests without security is he's trying to prevent them. 0:08:11.311 --> 0:08:15.271 On January twenty fifth, twenty eleven, protests erupted in Tariar 0:08:15.351 --> 0:08:19.031 Square in Cairo as thousands of Egyptians demanded that President 0:08:19.071 --> 0:08:22.591 Hosni Mubarik stepped down. It was the beginning of what 0:08:22.631 --> 0:08:24.551 would come to be known in the West as the 0:08:24.631 --> 0:08:25.271 Arab Spring. 0:08:25.311 --> 0:08:27.831 Of course, a wave of protests has swept through the 0:08:27.871 --> 0:08:31.031 Arab world, and now many are wondering how far that 0:08:31.111 --> 0:08:33.830 wave will spread and what it means to the rest 0:08:33.831 --> 0:08:34.670 of the Middle East. 0:08:34.550 --> 0:08:38.310 Including Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt on February eleventh. 0:08:39.111 --> 0:08:42.550 That same day, Kamiska Dafi was in Chicago sitting in 0:08:42.590 --> 0:08:45.910 on a class at Northwestern University taught by Deepak Chopra. 0:08:46.830 --> 0:08:49.910 The class was called the Soul of Leadership, and at 0:08:49.910 --> 0:08:52.951 one point Chopra brought up Mubarik and the Egyptian Revolution 0:08:53.231 --> 0:08:59.711 as Camise took extensive notes. After his visit to Chicago, 0:08:59.950 --> 0:09:03.071 Camise flew to DC, where Brian Linville took him to 0:09:03.111 --> 0:09:07.671 the National Defense University. At a roundtable discussion with American 0:09:07.670 --> 0:09:11.670 government officials, a US ambassador asked Camise the question that 0:09:11.751 --> 0:09:13.190 was on everyone's mind. 0:09:13.271 --> 0:09:15.430 And he said, you know, I can't pass up this opportunity. 0:09:15.631 --> 0:09:18.470 I want to ask what are your thoughts on and 0:09:18.590 --> 0:09:21.551 the uprisings that are going on? And I think Camise 0:09:21.670 --> 0:09:24.111 shocked the room when he said, I think it's a 0:09:24.151 --> 0:09:28.111 good thing. I think it's good that the people of 0:09:28.151 --> 0:09:32.871 the region are finally having an opportunity to express themselves 0:09:32.910 --> 0:09:36.310 in this way. And you could have heard a pin 0:09:36.391 --> 0:09:37.631 drop in the room. 0:09:37.991 --> 0:09:41.071 From DC, Camise traveled to New York City, where he 0:09:41.151 --> 0:09:44.591 toured the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The 0:09:44.590 --> 0:09:46.790 next day, he was scheduled to take in a performance 0:09:46.830 --> 0:09:50.391 of Mamma Mia on Broadway. Brian Linnville, who was supposed 0:09:50.430 --> 0:09:52.351 to meet Camise in New York. Was still at his 0:09:52.391 --> 0:09:55.631 hotel in Washington when he heard about unsettling reports coming 0:09:55.670 --> 0:09:56.870 out of Libya. 0:09:57.030 --> 0:09:59.471 On the news. There were reports that there been some 0:09:59.631 --> 0:10:02.350 uprisings in eastern Libya around Benghazi. 0:10:02.391 --> 0:10:05.150 Well, in a rare show of unrest, hundreds of opponents 0:10:05.190 --> 0:10:06.511 of Libyan leader. 0:10:06.351 --> 0:10:08.711 Moammar Gadaffi clashed with police overnight. 0:10:08.910 --> 0:10:11.310 Lynnville was getting ready to travel to New York when 0:10:11.351 --> 0:10:12.310 he got a phone call. 0:10:12.950 --> 0:10:17.990 My cell phone rings and it's Camisi's handler. Well that 0:10:18.111 --> 0:10:21.311 the handler says, Hey, Camisi is cutting his trip short 0:10:21.550 --> 0:10:22.670 and he's flying back. 0:10:22.511 --> 0:10:23.631 To Libya tonight. 0:10:24.391 --> 0:10:26.631 And that was it. We both knew what was going down. 0:10:27.030 --> 0:10:29.430 The Arab spring had arrived in Libya. 0:10:31.231 --> 0:10:33.591 When you say you knew what was going down, like 0:10:34.151 --> 0:10:36.550 you mean you understood what he was going back there 0:10:36.590 --> 0:10:36.870 to do. 0:10:37.391 --> 0:10:40.871 Oh yeah, for sure, Hamis was going to go back 0:10:40.871 --> 0:10:43.070 to Libya and play a prominent role in putting down 0:10:43.111 --> 0:10:46.631 the uprisings. I think we were both airborne at the 0:10:46.631 --> 0:10:49.670 same time, different planes, and we both probably got back 0:10:49.670 --> 0:10:53.111 to Triple Hit about the same time. Then ultimately we 0:10:53.111 --> 0:10:54.670 would go on to be on the opposite sides of 0:10:54.710 --> 0:10:55.391 the battlefield. 0:10:57.790 --> 0:11:02.231 I'm Leon Nafok from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This 0:11:02.670 --> 0:11:04.910 is Fiasco Benghazi. 0:11:04.590 --> 0:11:07.951 Dramatic showdown between a dictator with a ruthless grip on 0:11:08.111 --> 0:11:11.311 power and a population demanding freedom. 0:11:11.590 --> 0:11:14.071 My mother knew she might not see us again. 0:11:14.151 --> 0:11:16.990 It's easy for people to say you take the consequences 0:11:17.030 --> 0:11:18.511 if something bad happened. 0:11:18.151 --> 0:11:20.271 And I just said to him, you've just guaranteed your 0:11:20.310 --> 0:11:21.510 future as an ambassador. 0:11:21.550 --> 0:11:24.111 He went in into Benghazi in the height of a war. 0:11:24.511 --> 0:11:25.670 It was pretty remarkable. 0:11:26.871 --> 0:11:31.631 Episode two, We Will Stay Here, in which Libya revolts 0:11:31.950 --> 0:11:35.550 and a beloved American diplomat makes his mark in Benghazi. 0:11:39.070 --> 0:11:46.550 We'll be right back. There was a joke that went 0:11:46.550 --> 0:11:49.071 around in early twenty eleven that summed up how a 0:11:49.111 --> 0:11:51.711 lot of Libyans felt at the beginning of the Arab Spring. 0:11:52.590 --> 0:11:55.550 It had to do with Libya's geographic position in North Africa, 0:11:56.070 --> 0:11:58.271 sandwiched between Egypt and Tunisia. 0:11:58.710 --> 0:12:02.910 The Tunisians were joking about us. They say that we 0:12:03.070 --> 0:12:08.271 asked Libyans to sit down so we can't see Egyptians 0:12:08.871 --> 0:12:11.950 and in spite of them, to start their revolution. 0:12:13.070 --> 0:12:16.830 This is Iman Bugagis in twenty eleven. She was an 0:12:16.910 --> 0:12:19.950 orthodonist on the teaching staff at the University of Benghazi. 0:12:21.111 --> 0:12:23.830 The joke she's referring to here basically meant that no 0:12:23.830 --> 0:12:26.470 one was expecting the Libyan people to join in when 0:12:26.471 --> 0:12:30.110 the revolutionary wave started sweeping the Arab world, because we 0:12:30.111 --> 0:12:30.871 were hopeless. 0:12:31.590 --> 0:12:38.391 They knew the autrocity of Gavefi and we felt that also. 0:12:39.310 --> 0:12:41.831 We felt that we never kick out Gembefi. 0:12:42.511 --> 0:12:46.310 But sometime in early February, social media posts started circulating 0:12:46.511 --> 0:12:49.831 calling for mass protests to take place in Libya. On Thursday, 0:12:49.871 --> 0:12:54.151 February seventeenth. It was being called a day of rage. 0:12:55.351 --> 0:12:59.071 Brian Linnville, the American Army Liaison, says the Gadafi regime 0:12:59.111 --> 0:13:01.590 started quietly mobilizing for potential unrest. 0:13:03.550 --> 0:13:05.790 It was apparent that the regime was nervous. 0:13:05.871 --> 0:13:06.071 Right. 0:13:06.190 --> 0:13:12.231 We noticed a definite uptick in security forces in downtown Tripoli, 0:13:13.030 --> 0:13:16.951 and there was a certain tension in the air because 0:13:16.991 --> 0:13:20.391 you'd watch on Al Jazer and every other news agency 0:13:20.430 --> 0:13:25.511 as these governments started to topple across the region and everybody 0:13:25.590 --> 0:13:27.030 was asking can it happen here? 0:13:27.710 --> 0:13:31.431 On February fifteenth, the Kadafi regime arrested a prominent lawyer 0:13:31.471 --> 0:13:36.550 in Benghazi named Fati Turbil. It was seemingly a precautionary measure. 0:13:37.590 --> 0:13:40.351 Turbil was best known as a representative of the families 0:13:40.391 --> 0:13:43.030 whose loved ones had been killed at Abu Salim prison 0:13:43.151 --> 0:13:46.871 in nineteen ninety six. As you heard in episode one, 0:13:47.190 --> 0:13:50.070 the Kadafi regime had been allowing the families to protest 0:13:50.151 --> 0:13:55.071 every Saturday outside the courthouse in Benghazi. Fati Turbil, who 0:13:55.111 --> 0:13:57.831 was helping the families in their fight for restitution and 0:13:57.871 --> 0:14:01.231 who had also lost relatives in the massacre, often joined them. 0:14:01.710 --> 0:14:05.191 They were the mothers, the sisters. 0:14:04.670 --> 0:14:10.111 The wives of political prisoners, and always they were They 0:14:10.151 --> 0:14:14.991 were asking, They were making noise and requesting to know 0:14:15.070 --> 0:14:18.431 the fate of their relatives and what had happened. 0:14:18.430 --> 0:14:22.631 They wanted the truth because at that time, even at 0:14:22.631 --> 0:14:28.471 that time, there was no clear admission of the regime 0:14:28.471 --> 0:14:30.191 of what happened exactly. 0:14:30.871 --> 0:14:34.671 Gaddafi apparently thought that arresting Turbil would silence anyone who 0:14:34.751 --> 0:14:39.511 might be thinking of revolution. Instead, soon after Turbil's arrest, 0:14:40.111 --> 0:14:42.911 a group of fifteen to twenty women, all family members 0:14:42.951 --> 0:14:46.551 of abously imprisoners, gathered outside the building where Turbil was 0:14:46.590 --> 0:14:47.110 being held. 0:14:47.871 --> 0:14:51.511 They came in front of the intelligence headquarter, and what 0:14:51.590 --> 0:14:54.990 they were saying was wake up, wake up, being Ghazzi. 0:14:55.191 --> 0:15:00.231 This is the day that you were waiting for Knu 0:15:00.271 --> 0:15:10.191 the Nudi Yban Ghazzi had Yomtrai. It walked up at 0:15:10.231 --> 0:15:17.671 the sentence, they walked us. After that people started gathering. 0:15:17.710 --> 0:15:23.311 It was very strange to see women protesting and with 0:15:23.991 --> 0:15:28.311 all of this courage. So the people and the youth 0:15:28.431 --> 0:15:32.751 started to come and then they walked till the city center, 0:15:32.791 --> 0:15:35.471 which was a few kilometers. 0:15:37.351 --> 0:15:40.990 Later that night, Fati Turbil was allowed to go free. 0:15:41.471 --> 0:15:44.470 But like the self immolation of a street vendor in Tunisia, 0:15:44.951 --> 0:15:48.151 Turbill's arrest had sparked something unconfirmed. 0:15:48.271 --> 0:15:52.031 Video it's claimed, shows protesters outside a police station in 0:15:52.071 --> 0:15:56.031 Benghazi on Tuesday. They've come to demonstrate against the arrest 0:15:56.071 --> 0:16:02.911 of human rights lawyer Fati Turbill. After dark, the protesters 0:16:02.991 --> 0:16:07.471 regroup outside the city's security directorate, their chance turn against 0:16:07.511 --> 0:16:10.151 the government and the forty one year long rule of 0:16:10.191 --> 0:16:11.231 Mama Gaddafi. 0:16:12.471 --> 0:16:16.551 On February seventeenth, the day of Rage, Iman and Bugegis 0:16:16.631 --> 0:16:18.831 left her home to join a protest on the steps 0:16:18.830 --> 0:16:22.911 of the Bengazi courthouse. She was joined by her sister, Salwah, 0:16:23.431 --> 0:16:27.471 another lawyer who've been helping the Abu Sulim families. As 0:16:27.471 --> 0:16:30.271 they headed to the courthouse, the sisters didn't know if 0:16:30.271 --> 0:16:31.711 they were to return home alive. 0:16:32.351 --> 0:16:35.951 We left our children with my mother, and my mother 0:16:36.071 --> 0:16:38.470 knew and we knew that she might. 0:16:38.351 --> 0:16:39.350 Not see us again. 0:16:40.871 --> 0:16:44.231 We didn't talk about it. We thought that it's something 0:16:44.271 --> 0:16:47.351 we have to do regardless, So we didn't what if, 0:16:47.391 --> 0:16:49.351 what if? No, no, no no, But they thought about that. 0:16:49.751 --> 0:16:52.711 You know, we have something we have to do. It's 0:16:52.791 --> 0:16:55.911 our responsibility, the older generation. We have to do something. 0:16:57.111 --> 0:17:01.511 You know, we have a students, We have children who 0:17:01.830 --> 0:17:05.830 deserves better life. They deserve to live in peace, to 0:17:07.590 --> 0:17:08.551 have good education. 0:17:10.151 --> 0:17:12.630 Iman joined her sister in front of the courthouse just 0:17:12.671 --> 0:17:17.951 before one pm. At first, the protesters made relatively modest demands, 0:17:18.311 --> 0:17:21.470 calling for a constitution and social reforms, not full on 0:17:21.551 --> 0:17:25.750 regime change. But as the afternoon wore on, the crowd 0:17:25.830 --> 0:17:28.631 kept growing and many of the new arrivals were young 0:17:28.671 --> 0:17:32.991 people who were less restrained in their ambitions. They didn't 0:17:33.031 --> 0:17:37.991 just want change, they wanted Gaddafi gone. Imman initially tried 0:17:37.991 --> 0:17:40.590 to discourage them because she was afraid that Gaddafi would 0:17:40.590 --> 0:17:42.430 simply kill them all if they called for his ouster. 0:17:43.951 --> 0:17:46.551 But by four o'clock she could tell the tide had turned. 0:17:47.390 --> 0:17:50.110 A revolution that started and there was no going back. 0:17:51.431 --> 0:17:58.230 For seven eight hours, we were just chanting about Libya. 0:17:58.311 --> 0:18:03.870 It was the first time that we say it's our country, 0:18:03.911 --> 0:18:06.230 we love it. It was like a love song, you know. 0:18:07.590 --> 0:18:10.831 All of a sudden we recognized how much we love 0:18:10.870 --> 0:18:15.071 our country. This is our country, we love it, We 0:18:15.231 --> 0:18:16.470 love you, you know. 0:18:16.671 --> 0:18:18.551 It was unbelievable. 0:18:19.870 --> 0:18:23.191 Declaring love for Libya was revolutionary in and of itself. 0:18:24.350 --> 0:18:27.911 Colonel Gaddafi had only ever encouraged love for Colonel Gaddafi. 0:18:29.431 --> 0:18:33.110 He didn't use the name Libya for anything, so for 0:18:33.150 --> 0:18:38.191 a long time he replaced Libya with himself. So at 0:18:38.231 --> 0:18:42.750 that time, we just moved away that curtain and Libya 0:18:42.830 --> 0:18:47.311 returned to us, and we discovered how much we love 0:18:47.390 --> 0:18:48.110 our country. 0:18:50.511 --> 0:18:53.910 It was a euphoric moment. Even though the revolution was 0:18:53.951 --> 0:18:57.110 just starting, the mere act of public descent felt like 0:18:57.150 --> 0:19:01.551 a victory. On February eighteenth, a man climbed up a 0:19:01.630 --> 0:19:04.471 utility pole in Benghazi and hung the old flag of 0:19:04.511 --> 0:19:07.830 the Kingdom of Libya, red, black and green with a 0:19:07.830 --> 0:19:09.751 star and crescent in the center. 0:19:10.110 --> 0:19:14.351 Are screaming, you know it's ourn flag. It came back 0:19:14.431 --> 0:19:14.870 to us. 0:19:15.830 --> 0:19:18.870 Thousands of protesters in Benghazi joined together to sing a 0:19:18.911 --> 0:19:23.471 protest song called Salfa Napka Hunah we will stay here. 0:19:27.191 --> 0:19:33.231 For the first time, we were singing for our country 0:19:34.551 --> 0:19:38.671 and we were saying that we will stay here. Libya 0:19:38.751 --> 0:19:39.590 will stay here. 0:19:41.791 --> 0:19:45.830 The unrest wasn't limited to Benghazi. Within a week, protests 0:19:45.870 --> 0:19:49.950 were occurring throughout Libya. The response from the Gadafi regime 0:19:50.191 --> 0:19:51.350 was quick and violent. 0:19:52.671 --> 0:19:56.071 Dramatics showdown between a dictator with a ruthless grip on 0:19:56.231 --> 0:19:59.391 power and a population demanding freedom. 0:19:59.471 --> 0:20:03.230 Kaddafi is lashing back with force and brutality on a 0:20:03.271 --> 0:20:06.031 scale not yet seen in the revolutions that have been 0:20:06.071 --> 0:20:07.950 sweeping across the Arab world. 0:20:08.471 --> 0:20:11.350 Reports of casualties have come from all over the country. 0:20:11.791 --> 0:20:16.391 Sources suggest Libyan security forces shot and killed demonstrators. 0:20:16.991 --> 0:20:20.991 With borders closed and telephone and internet jam, it's impossible 0:20:21.071 --> 0:20:23.711 to get an accurate picture, but there are reports of 0:20:23.830 --> 0:20:25.430 massacres by the military. 0:20:27.350 --> 0:20:30.751 Army attache Brian Linnville returned to Tripoli from his trip 0:20:30.751 --> 0:20:34.711 with Kamiska Dathi on February nineteenth, just two days after 0:20:34.711 --> 0:20:38.270 the Day of Rage. By this point the uprising had 0:20:38.311 --> 0:20:40.031 reached the Libyan capital as well. 0:20:40.471 --> 0:20:43.390 As soon as the sun went down, we could hear 0:20:44.511 --> 0:20:49.031 outside like echoing through the streets, this chanting, this low roar, 0:20:49.590 --> 0:20:54.311 angry people in the streets. Shortly after that, we started 0:20:54.350 --> 0:21:00.311 hearing gunfire, and that gunfire developed into machine gun fire, 0:21:00.951 --> 0:21:04.870 and we started seeing tracers shoot across the sky, and 0:21:04.911 --> 0:21:08.110 the chanting got worse and worse throughout the night. It 0:21:08.191 --> 0:21:12.551 was all night long, and looking out across the city 0:21:12.590 --> 0:21:14.991 and hearing all the gunfire, you knew people were dying. 0:21:15.590 --> 0:21:18.391 There's no way it could be any other outcome. 0:21:19.830 --> 0:21:22.710 Like February twentieth, Human Rights Watch had put the country 0:21:22.711 --> 0:21:26.071 wide death toll at one hundred and seventy three. Two 0:21:26.110 --> 0:21:29.231 days later, Colonel Gaddafi appeared on state television from his 0:21:29.311 --> 0:21:35.150 compound in Tripoli. Gaddafi looked like a ghoul, his skin 0:21:35.431 --> 0:21:39.390 gray and pallid, ranting for over an hour. He vowed 0:21:39.431 --> 0:21:42.470 to never relinquish power and called in his supporters to 0:21:42.551 --> 0:21:47.830 track down protesters and search for them Zengazenga roughly Ali 0:21:47.870 --> 0:21:50.630 by Ali, until the country was clean of dirt. 0:21:51.311 --> 0:21:54.830 Momar Gaddafi is not leaving without a fight. He's trying 0:21:54.870 --> 0:21:58.430 to extinguish protests like these that keep popping up. A 0:21:58.511 --> 0:22:01.431 number of people killed ranges anywhere from three hundred two 0:22:01.471 --> 0:22:05.111 one thousand, and residents say militiamen are roaming the streets 0:22:05.150 --> 0:22:08.751 firing their weapons. Some fear that will trigger a civil war, 0:22:08.911 --> 0:22:10.071 and they were begging. 0:22:09.711 --> 0:22:12.511 The war to get Please, we need to help. 0:22:12.711 --> 0:22:15.830 The US is considering sanctions to put pressure on Gadaffi. 0:22:16.350 --> 0:22:19.430 In the meantime, protesters say they will continue to march 0:22:19.431 --> 0:22:22.350 in the streets and won't stop until Gaddafi is no 0:22:22.471 --> 0:22:23.271 longer in power. 0:22:24.350 --> 0:22:25.391 Good out, noon, everybody. 0:22:25.511 --> 0:22:29.231 On February twenty third, President Barack Obama addressed the nation 0:22:29.350 --> 0:22:31.910 from the White House, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 0:22:32.031 --> 0:22:33.231 standing by his side. 0:22:33.390 --> 0:22:37.991 We strongly condemned the use of violence in Libya. This 0:22:38.150 --> 0:22:42.430 violence must stop. This is not simply a concern of 0:22:42.471 --> 0:22:47.031 the United States. The entire world is watching, and we 0:22:47.031 --> 0:22:51.870 will coordinate our assistance and accountability measures with the international community. 0:22:52.350 --> 0:22:57.111 Obama underscored the uprisings in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia were organic, 0:22:57.630 --> 0:23:01.151 not the result of foreign interference region, but he made 0:23:01.191 --> 0:23:03.791 it clear that the protesters had America's support. 0:23:04.471 --> 0:23:07.830 This change doesn't represent the work of the United States 0:23:07.951 --> 0:23:12.271 or any foreign power, presents the aspirations of people who 0:23:12.271 --> 0:23:15.711 are seeking a better life, and throughout this time of transition, 0:23:15.751 --> 0:23:18.271 the United States will continue to stand up for freedom, 0:23:18.791 --> 0:23:21.511 stand up for justice, and stand up for the dignity 0:23:21.951 --> 0:23:23.991 of all people. Thank you very much. 0:23:24.671 --> 0:23:27.590 Obama's expression of solidarity with the rebels in their fight 0:23:27.590 --> 0:23:30.830 against Gaddafi masked his reluctance to allow America to be 0:23:30.911 --> 0:23:34.711 caught in the crossfire, and with violence in triplely escalating, 0:23:35.031 --> 0:23:37.750 the US decided to abandon its embassy and get its 0:23:37.791 --> 0:23:42.031 diplomats out of Libya. The day after Obama's address, The 0:23:42.150 --> 0:23:44.991 nineteen staffers still working out of the embassy in Tripoli, 0:23:45.110 --> 0:23:49.031 including Brian Linnville, were tasked with destroying everything so that 0:23:49.110 --> 0:23:52.991 sensitive information didn't wind up in the wrong hands. One 0:23:52.991 --> 0:23:54.951 of Lynnville's deputies showed him what to do. 0:23:55.870 --> 0:23:59.471 He's like, all right, sir, take this sledgehammer, take that computer, 0:23:59.751 --> 0:24:02.031