Exclusive: Christiane Amanpour Interviews Saif Gadhafi
March 17, 2011 — -- The United States and its allies appear poised to take military action on the heels of a U.N. resolution earlier this evening imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and authorizing "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.
Only hours earlier, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed to show no mercy to protesters, saying he would crush the rebellion with a final assault.
Late Thursday, after the U.N. resolution, ABC News' Christiane Amanpour spoke to Gadhafi's son Saif, who was in Tripoli. What follows is a transcript of their conversation.
Christiane Amanpour: Gadhafi Saif is joining me from Tripoli. Can you tell me where you are?
Said Gadhafi: I'm in Tripoli right now.
CA: Are you hiding? Are you worried?
SG: Hiding from whom?
CA: Well, as you know, the U.N. has taken a resolution that would potentially involve air strikes against your father's air defenses and various military emplacements.
SG: I think we are in our country and with our people. As I said before, we live here so we are in our country with our people. And we are not afraid.
CA: What is your father's reaction, your reaction to this resolution that's just been taken?
SG: First of all, it was unfair because, as you know, as you know, from the beginning we told to everybody there were no air strikes against civilians, no bombing of civilian districts or demonstrations. And thousands of those reports showed they were false. And this is No. 1. No. 2, even if you see last week what happened. The army and Libyan volunteers did fight the armored militia and liberated five Libyan cities from them. Have we seen a single civilian casualty? Even the terrorists or the armed people, they just surrender. So there was no bloodshed in Libya.
CA: Let me ask you this. What are you going to do with Benghazi? People in Benghazi are cheering this U.N. resolution because they're afraid of your father's forces.
SG: Listen, this is a big mistake. In Benghazi, we have 1.5 million people. If you are listening to 1,000 or 2,000, that's a different story. But believe me, the people there are living in misery and it is a big mess. You know, the armored militia yesterday, they killed four young boys in Benghazi. Why? Because they were against them. Everybody is terrified because of the armed militia. They live in terror. Nightmare. Armed people are everywhere. They have their own courts. They execute the people who are against them. No school. No hospital. No money. No banks. Do you think the people are happy? Of course not. We are receiving every day on TV, every day, hundreds of calls from Benghazi. Every day people are crying saying, "Please come and liberate us from this nightmare." Those terrorists. The people are not happy there. Are you happy if you're in a city which is controlled by gangsters and armed people and armed militia?
