A ferry chartered by the U.S. government has evacuated Americans and other foreigners out of Libya and arrived at the Mediterranean island of Malta.
A ferry evacuated American citizens, after it sat for three days in a Libyan port. Many question why the military was not sent to assist in evacuation. The Chinese military evacuated 12,000. The Turks evacuated 8,000 Turks.
Several U.S. officials told CNN there is a vigorous debate inside the administration about whether to involve the military because of concern it could cause provoke Gadhafi and the Libyan regime.
Libya’s deputy U.N. ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi is urging the international community to intervene and demand Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi stop the killing of government opponents. Ibrahim Dabbashi told reporters at Libya’s U.N. Mission Gadhafi is ‘a mad man’.
Dabbashi also asked country leaders to stop sending any arms. Speaking from Misurata, east of Tripoli, Salem Abu Haggar, a television director said the local population had captured 13 mercenaries fighting alongside pro-regime forces, including Mauritanians, Algerians and Palestinians.
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FT.com Gaddafi forces open fire on protesters