A woman in Tripoli, Libya's capital, speaks with Anderson Cooper and issues a plea for help to the rest of the world.
February 25, 2011

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Via CNN:

A woman in Tripoli, Libya's capital, speaks with Anderson Cooper and issues a plea for help to the rest of the world.

This is an excerpted part of a 15min segment aired last night on A360 with Anderson Cooper.

COOPER: Are you -- you're scared to go out in the streets?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very scared. no, we close the door. We close the window. We don't go out. But nobody is leaving the house and we all stay together in one room in the center of the house.

COOPER: I hear fear in your voice and I hear sadness in your voice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very much -- is very much stress, very much sadness and hopelessness, because, you know, we can't go outside. I wish I can go outside and protest, say OK, they arrest you, they beat you, they do something.

But the problem is, you go outside, they're going to shoot you. This is not protest. You cannot protest. I wish we can protest. We cannot protest. I will have to find another way to say -- this is not protest. This is massacre.

COOPER: I hope you know that people around the world are watching and praying and wanting to do something. I hope you know that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Thank you for your efforts for the scene and effort -- thank you for the people who care. But I'm telling you -- I don't mean to be rude. Please, don't misunderstand me. But the only way something can happen is to put the right kind of action, the right kind of movement. And the first step, make Libya a no-fly zone. If you make Libya a no-fly zone, no more mercenaries can come in.

Then after that, because this crucial, real thing -- you know, we listen closely to Mr. Obama. We listen closely to the European Union. We listen closely to what's happening in South America. We listen to closely to all the Arab nations, what they are saying. They are not saying read between the lines.

We are dying. And the problem is, OK, you are -- I'm talking to you and you are listening to me and you are seeing the videos and people are talking to you from inside, outside of Libya. But the action -- there needs to be action. How much more waiting, how much more watching, how much more people dying?

COOPER: How much longer can you hold on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

You know, I feel like -- sometimes, really, like I'm going to go crazy. And then, sometimes, I have to say, no, no, you have to be stronger than that. Your freedom is not something easy. It's not cheap. You have to fight for your freedom.

COOPER: You told my producer before that you have reached the end point. What do you mean when you say you have reached the end point?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody has had enough. We have had enough a long time, not just this last week or this month or this year, or even before things happening internationally in neighboring countries.

We have all had enough. But what I mean in the end point, that I don't care. Like -- like, I'm talking to you now, you know? This is not safe for me, not safe for my family.

COOPER: You know you're taking a great risk right now? You know you're taking a great risk?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A great risk. And I ask -- I ask of you and CNN and anybody to please just come and see what is going on, you know, because, even though this is great risk on anybody who comes inside of Libya, but you cannot believe, as much as we -- we don't even know how many people died.

I'm expecting -- not because I'm overestimating, but when we know how many people died -- I just keep hearing names, names. I'm making a list of paper of each time I hear of people dying. And we can't even get the bodies. We don't even know who we should say I'm sorry for the loss of some -- your family member.

We cannot move. We cannot do anything. And the problem is nothing will change in Libya unless drastic, important measures taken from outside, because this man, he is crazy. He doesn't care about you or what you think. You already understand he doesn't care about his people. He doesn't care if I die. He doesn't care if he burns the whole city. He doesn't care if all of us in Tripoli die, all of us in Libya will die.

He doesn't care. I don't -- he said this in his speeches. He is not even just saying. He is doing. His action is telling you what's happening. He doesn't care. He wants us all to die.

COOPER: I can hear...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the only way we can fix this is if somebody takes action, if you just make Libya a no-fly zone.

He's bringing African mercenaries because he has so much money. He can buy people with money. He don't care. They go inside to kill us, to rape us, to destroy our country, to -- enough.

COOPER: I don't want to keep you on the phone for too long, just for safety reasons. So, please stay safe. And we will talk to you tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

And I -- I hope I was able to -- I hope you understand me. And thank you for your patience with me. And thank you, CNN, and thank you, America, for listening and for caring. Thank you very much.

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