Tripoli before Gadhafi's fall

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Before Moammar Gadhafi lost his grip on Libya's capital, foreign journalists assigned to cover his side of the war were largely confined to a luxury hotel in Tripoli, allowed to venture out on bus tours organized by bureaucrats.

At one point, a die-hard Gadhafi loyalist told journalists that the airplanes buzzing overhead were Libyan air force planes, claiming NATO airpower had been defeated.

While still under pressure to show him their allegiance, residents of Tripoli were apprehensive about the imminent fall of the only leader many of them had ever known. …