The LGCA report concludes that NATO intends for its member countries to land the contracts to rebuild Libya's Communications infrastructure at a cost of more than $2 billion Libyan Dinars (Page 9).
At a meeting last night with six graduate students in
English from Al Fateh and Al Nassar Universities, it was explained by 21-year-old Amani, who just started a job with
the Libyan Sports Channel, that while she really misses the Internet (also cut
by her government for "security reasons") due to not being able to chat with
Facebook friends, her mobile phone, even with limited range, still works in
certain areas, and the government has cut the per-minute cost in half from .015
Libyan Dinars to .007 LD per minute (about 4 cents). Surely the cheapest in the
World!
According to the students, the cut was made so that families can keep in close contact "during our crisis." Amani and her friends explained that they also receive free medical and dental care and full college tuition that costs just 15 Libyan Dinars per semester or about $8 every four months. I ask them each what they paid for books and school supplies out of their pockets per semester and the average was approximately $20 per semester.
These may be factors that partially explain the results of public opinion polls that are showing ratings for the Libyan leader in the 85% to 90% range in Western Libya according to Amani and her student friends. The high ratings reflect less near unanimous support for Colonel Qaddafi. One suspects, and the students agree, than a quality of this country's tribal people once under attack from NATO, the population in the West at least is rallying around its government. Still the Libyan leaders' positive support ratings double the 42% Time-CNN polls this past weekend for President Obama.
Jeffrey Feltman might want to visit some of Libya's universities, including Al Fatah which was bombed by NATO on 6/17/11, as students were inside classrooms sitting for their final exams. He will find a growing culture of resistance to NATO bombing their families, but also support for a ceasefire and dialogue to end this ill-conceived criminal enterprise.
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