Duress

Much has being made of the unbelievable reports by some Maltese reporting from Tripoli. First there was Chris Fenech’s jaw-dropping interview with the Times and now there’s a Mario Micallef on l-Orizzont claiming that the situation in Tripoli is completely normal. I know Chris Fenech well enough to think that the man has a very reasonable thinking machine between his ears and I am more prepared to believe that his words were either misinterpreted or that his first interview was given under a state of shock.

Having said that however I am beginning to have the nagging suspicion that these Maltese interviewees are only telling half the story. Living in a controlled environment like Libya might have its perks (money, sun and sea) but it is still living under a regime all the same. I am not trying to make excuses for the confusing interviews here, I am just trying to understand. Is it possible that persons like Chris Fenech would not like to be quoted on the Times of Malta because they still have possessions in Libya that could be harmed?

Here is another person who is back from Tripoli writing today on facebook (40 minutes before I typed this post):

This is a message from a very dear friend of mine who is in her home in tripoli: shooting everywhere ****.. and some of the guys are hiding in our garden… pray for us … they are firing now ..please say it to everyone and everywhere.. we are underattack…

I’ve blanked out the name for a reason. This might just be the right time to protect the identity of persons who are reporting this information. Foreign news stations have interviewed people in Libya and people leaving Libya. More often than not their names are not given or false names are given instead. There must be a reason for that and if that reason is good enough for SKY, Al Jazeera and CNN then it should also be good for the bumblers at the Times.