Libya: Fact or Wild Rumour?

Romania or Libya? Doesn't seem to be much difference

The first casualty in any war zone or scene of chaos is the truth. And that is definitely the case with Libya. With journalists having to rely on hearsay, we are falling in the trap of accepting as fact what essentially are embellished and often untrue rumours. The similarities with the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and Libya 2011 are uncanny. To help you sort the shit from clay, here are a list of rumours that were accepted as fact, and even reported by the media, at the time of the 1989 Romanian Revolution which were later found to be either exaggerated or untrue:
- Wounded being put to death through headshots in hospitals
- Imminent use of an nuclear weapon in order to raise Timisoara to the ground
- Timisoara having been raised to the ground
- Genocide in Timisoara with 60,000 dead
- Slaughter of pregnant women and their fetuses
- Arab and North Korean terrorists/mercenaries fighting for Ceausescu
- Brainwashed orphan terrorists who worshipped Ceausescu were the ones firing on demonstrators
Now, with Libya 2011, we have (unconfirmed) reports being passed off as fact stating:
- A Libyan air force plane crashed near Benghazi after its crew bailed out because they refused to carry out orders to bomb the city
- Al Arabiya reporting 10,000 dead, labelling it a 'genocide', while the figure in other sources, such as the Guardian's Martin Chulov in Benghazi, saying it is more like around 250
- African 'mercenaries'
The mercenary rumour is a very serious issue. The rumour of 'Arab mercenaries' in Romania played on the near-universal hate Romanians had of the 'rich' Arab students in pre-1989. By implicating Arabs as the ones responsible for shooting the Romanian demonstrators was just an excuse to allow racist animosities to come to the fore. Once this rumour gained ground in revolutionary Romania, self-appointed police officers started arresting anyone who 'looked Arab' under the suspicion of being a 'mercenary' and ordinary Romanians, within the uncontrolled chaos, were able attack and harass Arabs in the country at will. The same is happening in Libya whereby alleging 'African mercenaries' are the ones committing atrocities allows Libyans to have free range to arrest and take out crude justice on anyone black, regardless of whether they are involved somehow in the military or not. This is hardly the foundations for a properly functioning democracy and civil society.

So be wary when reading reports about Libya. Just like in 1989 Romania, we will not really know what has happened in Libya, though going on past experience, we should not expect things to have been as idealistic or extreme as portrayed now.