The rebels seem divided on what Ramadan will mean for the fight
On the first day of Ramadan, inconclusive fighting continued herve leger discount in the east and west. Outside the besieged oil refinery town of Brega, rebels reported that they had pushed Gaddafi’s heavy artillery back. In the west, one of Gaddafi’s last strongholds in the mountain region, the town of Tiji, was still a battlefield.
In an interview published Sunday, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet warned that “impatience is never a good adviser” and said the rebel fighters will not be able to take the Libyan capital by themselves.
“Things have to move in Tripoli. To put it clearly, the population has to rise up. The month ahead will naturally be intense. There will not be, I think, a pause because of the month of Ramadan,” Longuet said.
The rebels seem divided on what Ramadan will mean for the fight. “During Ramadan, we can’t stop. If we stop, this will go on forever,” said Jumar Kharboush, a paramedic, who had just taken the town of Jawsh on Sunday. He was wearing goggles in the sand storm and looked like an extra in a Mad Max serial.
“Look at what Moammar Gaddafi has turned us into,” Kharboush said. “We’re doctors and lawyers, but look at us.”
His squad of middle-age fighters was lying in the shade, exhausted by dust, heat, the sound of automatic weapon fire. “We hate killing each other. Every time I leave my mother, she cries. But what can I do?”
Nearby, Akmed Salah, a dentist, said: “Maybe during Ramadan we will hold what we have. We herve leger black will fight, of course, but take a more defensive posture, so as to spend a little time with our families.”
The prophet Muhammad himself waged war in the Battle of Badr against the infidel Makkan idolaters during Ramadan in 624.
“Sure! I like Michele Bachmann. For real,” he said of the Minnesota Republican and one of the most strident critics of the administration. “We’re all standing there around and Michele walks up to see Gabby because she cares about her…There is a basic humanity here, man. It matters, between people. I know that sounds corny.”
He then recalled what he said was one of the most emotional moments he ever saw. Hubert Humphrey, the former vice president and US senator from Minnesota, was dying of cancer and made an appearance on the Senate floor.
“He could hardly walk. He walked into the well,” Biden said, recounting a moment from more than three decades ago. “And Barry Goldwater got out of his seat, hugged him in the well, and the both embraced each other for a good three minutes, crying. These were arch, arch, arch ideological enemies. There’s a lot of humanity left here.”
Processing your request, Please wait....
