NATO crimes in Libya

145 days of non-stop bombing

Five months (145 days) into the bombing campaign, it is no longer possible to believe the initial official version of the events and the massacres attributed to the "Gaddafi regime". Moreover, it is now essential to take into account Libya’s legal and diplomatic rebuttal, highlighting the crimes against peace committed by television propaganda, the war crimes perpetrated by NATO military forces, and the crimes against humanity sponsored by political leaders of the Atlantic Alliance. NATO, the largest military coalition in history, has failed after five months of bombardments to overthrow the one it designated as a "tyrant." In the current NATO war on Libya, the citizens of European and North American NATO countries are being treated to the largest propaganda blitz by their governments in cahoots with corporate media outlets since the U.S.-led invasions and occupation of Iraq. The situation on the ground in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, could not be more different from what is being portrayed by Western news networks and newspapers. Every Friday, a large demonstration in support of the regime is organized in a different city and all experts are unanimous in considering that Colonel Gaddafi enjoys at least 90% of popular support in Tripolitania and 70% across the entire country, including the "rebel" areas. The difference between those in the West who believe that Gaddafi is a tyrant who fired on his own people, and those in Libya who believe that he is a hero of the anti-imperialist struggle, is that the former live in an illusion created by TV propaganda, whereas the others are exposed to the concrete reality on the ground. It is true that, until now, international justice has been the justice of the victors or the powerful. More recently, we saw how NATO used the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to try to justify post facto that the war in Kosovo was "the first humanitarian war in History," according to the expression employed by Tony Blair. In the case of Libya, the violations of international law are countless. Plundering the assets of a state, establishing a naval blockade and bombing infrastructure to cause people to suffer, attacking an army inside its barracks and ordering the assassination of enemy leaders or, failing this, terrorizing them by murdering their families, all amount to war crimes. NATO, as an organization, is legally responsible for the material and human damage of this war. France has played a central role in preparing for this war since October 2010 by organizing a failed military coup and then, as early as November 2010, by planning with the United Kingdom the bombing of Libya and the landing of ground troops on its soil, which was then believed to be feasible, and finally by actively conspiring in the lethal unrest in Benghazi which led to the war. In addition, France, more than any other power, has deployed Special Forces on the ground - without uniforms, no doubt - and violated the arms embargo by supplying the insurgents, either directly or through Qatari airplanes. Not to mention that France has violated the UN freeze of Libyan assets, funnelling part of the fabulous cash from the Libyan Sovereign Fund to the CNT puppets, to the detriment of the Libyan people who wanted to guarantee the well-being of their children in the face of oil depletion. These gentlemen from NATO, who hoped to escape international justice by crushing their victim, Libya, in a few short days so that it would not survive to pursue them, will be disenchanted. Libya is still there. She is filing complaints with the International Criminal Court, the Belgian courts (whose jurisdiction NATO falls under), the European Court of Justice, and the national courts of aggressor states. She is undertaking steps before the Council of Human Rights in Geneva, the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations... /by Thierry Meyssan

All Tribes Support Gaddafi

Recently, the 2,000 sheikhs and representatives of the tribes held a meeting in which they decided there was to be no partition of Libya, that the west has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of Libya and that Libyans do not have the right to kill each other. Even if Gaddafi falls, NATO has no hope of eliminating the entire tribal structure of the Libya, which embraces all families and clans. Instead NATO is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the people with every missile that smashes into another building. Here's what those 2,000 Tribal Leaders had to say about British aggression, in a statement approved unanimously on June 3. Sheikh Ali, head of the Tribal Leaders, delivered it to Joanna Moriarty and other members of the global fact finding mission:

"The Libyan people have the right to govern themselves. Constant attacks from the skies, at all hours of the day have completely disrupted the lives of the families of Libya. There has never been any fighting in Tripoli, yet we are bombed every day. We are civilians and we are being killed by the British and NATO. Civilians are people without guns, yet the British and NATO protect only the armed crusaders from the East by acting as their attack army. We have read the UN resolutions and there is no mention of bombing innocent civilians. There is no mention of assassinating the legitimate authorities in all of Libya.The Libyan People have the right to select their own leaders. We have suffered occupation by foreign countries for thousands of years. Only in the last 41 years have we Libyans enjoyed property ownership. Only in the last 41 years have we seen our country develop. Only in the last 41 years have we seen all of the Libyans enjoy a better life, and know that our children will have a better life then we have had. But now with the British and NATO bombings of our country, we see the destruction of our new and developed infrastructure.We leaders see the destruction of our culture. We leaders see tears in the eyes of our children because of the constant fear from the “rain of terror” in the skies of Libya from the British and NATO bombings. Our old people suffer from heart problems, increased diabetes and loss of vigor. Our young mothers are losing their babies every day because of the stress of the British and NATO bombings. These lost babies are the future of Libya. They can never be replaced. Our armies have been destroyed by the British and NATO bombings. We cannot defend ourselves from attacks from anyone.As Tribal Leaders of Libya, we must ask why have the British and NATO decided to wage this war against the Libyan people? There are a small percentage of dissidents in the east of Libya that started an armed insurrection against our legitimate authority. Every country has the right to defend itself against armed insurrection. So why cannot Libya defend itself? The Tribal Leaders of Libya demand that all acts of aggression, by the British and NATO, against the Libyan People stop immediately."

War Crimes in Libya

The NATO missile attack that killed Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al Arab Gaddafi, along with his friend and three of Muammar Gaddafi's grandchildren on April 30, was an attempt to kill Muammar Gaddafi himself. The only reason why Muammar Gaddafi survived the blast was that he was away from the main residence. Muammar escaped the fate of his son and grandchildren by only about 500 feet. The residence was hit by bunker buster bombs fired from a U.S. warplane. One of the warheads did not detonate and was later removed from what remained of a bedroom in the home. There are still small body parts lying underneath the rubble of the residence. Obama's order to kill Gaddafi is reminiscent of George W. Bush's order to kill Sadaam Hussein at the outset of the U.S. war against Iraq, an assassination order that was also a violation of international and U.S. law.

Rapes are now ongoing acts of war in rebel-held cities, like an organized military strategy, according to refugees. It's a story CNN won't report: Late at night there's a pounding on the door in Misurata. Armed soldiers force young Libyan women out of their beds at gun-point. Hustling the women and teenagers into trucks, the soldiers rush the women to gang bang parties for NATO rebels—or else rape them in front of their husbands or fathers. When NATO rebels finish their rape sport, the soldiers cut the women's throats. Rebels have gone house to house through Misurata, asking families if they support NATO. If the families say no, they are killed on the spot. If families say they want to stay out of the fighting, NATO rebels take a different approach to scare other families. The doors of "neutral homes" are welded shut. NATO forces have cut off food and medical supplies throughout Libya. But the seas are plentiful with fish in Mediterranean waters. Brave fishermen have taken their boats out of port, trying to harvest fish for the hungry population. To break their perseverance, American drones and British war planes steadily fire missiles on the fishing boats, deliberately targeting non-military vessels to chase them out of the waters. An international journalists' group sharply criticized NATO air strikes against Libyan television, which killed three people and injured 15, saying they violated international law and U.N. resolutions. NATO said the bombing of the Libyan TV's satellite dishes was in compliance with the U.N. mandate authorizing the strikes to protect the civilian population. When one side decides to take out a media organization because they regard its message as propaganda, then all media are at risk. In conflict situations, international law is clear that unarmed journalists cannot be treated as combatants, irrespective of their political affiliations. This reminds of the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbian TV in Belgrade, which killed 16 people. At the time, NATO said the station was a legitimate target because it was a "propaganda mouthpiece" for the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. NATO attacked the Great Manmade River pipeline in Libya which literally brings water across the desert to millions of Libyans and farms in western and southern Libya as well as to the capital Tripoli and Benghazi. The Manmade River project is not only a life-sustaining source of water for millions of Libyan people and a core part of Libya’s agriculture, it also stands as a source of national pride and identity. That's the right way to "protect civilians from an evil dictator". Gaddafi himself called it “the eighth wonder of the world”. They started the project in 1983 with an extraordinary session of the People’s Congresses and 25 billion dollars later, it was completed. Funding came from profits from the very oil industry that NATO countries hope to privatize. NATO’s strikes seem to have been extremely deliberate in their planning. First, they targeted a key section of the water supply line itself, then the next day or so, they targeted the only facility which makes the replacement sections of the pipes. Their intentions are crystal clear; they intend to kill perhaps a million Libyan by depriving them of life’s basic necessity, water. This cowardly action is beyond the definition of a war-crime and has moved into a different realm altogether. on August 9, NATO aircraft committed a massacre of civilians in the village of Majer, near Zliten - 85 people lost their lives, including 33 children, 32 women and 20 men. The massacres and killing were never by Gaddafi's forces, but rather from terrorist elements with links to Al-Qaeda, liberals, counter-revolutionaries, thugs, common criminals, Islamist fanatics and opportunists, whose space is labelled "The Opposition" while the west continues to label the terrorists as "rebels". And NATO's part in this has been massive. Until June 7, NATO flew 11,000 sorties, in which it murdered or injured 4,711 people - at least 856 of these were innocent civilians, 109 were children. At least 523 civilians were seriously injured and 3,332 received minor injuries. White phosphorous is being used against Libyan government positions now that NATO is getting desperate. NATO's bombing campaign has directly and negatively affected the livelihoods of some 3.5 million people in Africa because the construction projects in which 3.5 million foreign workers made their livings, have stopped. Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy have the blood of hundreds of innocent people on their hands. The stupidity of recognizing a group of ragtag, disorganized terrorists as a government in Libya is not for the first time. Remember Kosovo? The terrorists, stupidly referred to as "rebels" in western corporate media, are now violently fighting each other, as could have been predicted by anyone willing to see the real picture. The criminals of NATO are trying to completely rewrite hundreds of years of diplomatic protocol. Bing, we create a government here, bang, we eliminate a population there. Last reports were that NATO helicopters were shooting at anything that moved in Benghazi, since their terrorist clients were run off, wantonly killing civilians, just like during the US exit from Vietnam. NATO. As it has become patently obvious, taking as a starting point the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the support for the KLA terrorist organization, the abuses committed in Afghanistan, the illegal invasion of Iraq and the horrific human rights abuses committed there, culminating now in the five-month bombing campaign against Libya, NATO is not a peaceful defensive organization. It is an offensive military organism which goes looking for wars if none exist, against targets that do not affect the security of its member states. It is an organization which violates human rights, violates the UN Charter, violates international law and violates the Geneva Conventions with countless acts of despicable cowardice. NATO is only existing threat to international security with the UK and USA with a 100% presence in all conflicts. The last five Prime Ministers of the UK have been involved in six wars! If this isn't evil, what is? Since when and under what international laws is a children's school a legitimate target? Since when and under what international law is it allowed to purposefully precision-bomb a family home and murder children? Since when and under what international law is NATO permitted to bomb, bomb, bomb, day after day after day, supporting terrorists?

Next Step: Ground Invasion

America is preparing for ground attacks on Libya, which could start in October. As stalemate grips Libya, a NATO spokesman says the use of ground troops may be the only way to move the situation forward. While Britain’s prime minister ruled out ground troops, now his Defense Secretary tells Parliament they plan exactly that. But UN members are angered at the number of civilian deaths from NATO bombing, and are unlikely to welcome an escalation of the conflict. Remember, UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorized the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to “protect civilians” from air attacks by Muammar Gaddafi loyalists. This war on Libya has nothing to do with protection of civilians, protecting civilians was the claim, but grabbing the country’s resources is their real goal. United States and its European allies will certainly launch a ground invasion of Libya, if the airstrikes are not effective. There is still little sign of progress for either side in the conflict, so there is a need for a new UN resolution to approve sending foreign troops in. In the meantime, civilian casualties from allied bombing continue to mount. With international opposition on the rise, NATO states face an uphill task to make the case for more war. Clearly what we are seeing unfolding in Libya is a pre-existing war plan, by NATO, by the British, by the French, by the Americans to attack Libya. The West has been covertly arming the opposition to Gaddafi in hope of grabbing control of the oil and different parts of Libya. The Libyan government promises “hell” for NATO if it sends in ground troops. Some agree such a war may be tougher, than expected. In the meantime, the EU has a plan to send up to 1,500 troops to Libya to "convoy humanitarian aid". The UN is far from keen, saying it may only go ahead as a “last resort”. Russia has voiced concern that Europe plans an invasion under the guise of a relief effort. Germany was skeptical over the campaign from the very beginning and said it will not give its troops for a ground operation. However, Berlin said it would back a UN-mandated humanitarian operation, which would be necessary for the EUFOR Libya plan to be implemented. The troops on the ground would coordinate air strikes and help prevent friendly fire incidents. The move, however, would require a UN Security Council mandate, since UN Resolution 1973, which gave the green light for the aerial operation, explicitly forbids any ground invasion. The international community looks on, the international media remains silent and the truth about what is happening in Libya is shocking NATO to the core. That is precisely why in recent weeks, since the brilliant Libyan victory in the Battle of Al-Brega against NATO's terrorists (it is claimed around 100,000 foreign bearded Islamist fanatics crossed over the frontier from Egypt just before mayhem broke out), a battle in which a smokescreen clouded the skies so that NATO's jets could not (illegally) intervene in an internal conflict to protect the terrorists against Libyan government troops, NATO has been pouring more and more mercenaries into their fight. At least one million people are ready to defend Libya if an international ground military campaign begins. Hundreds of thousands of rifles were being distributed to civilians to defend the home front. NATO troops will have to fight for every city corner and every building to "bring democracy" to this proud country. It's obvious that the Libyan people are a fine, noble, courageous, proud people willing to endure. They cannot be defeated. From March 19th until July 8th, 1,108 Libyans were killed by the attacks of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and 4,537 were injured, of whom 717 were seriously injured, reports the Ministry of Health in Libya and reported by TeleSUR special envoy on the North African country, Rolando Segura.
The UNSC resolution 1973 authorises "all necessary measures" (that is military action) to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack. Repeating, "all necessary measures." Therefore, the international community is put on notice that since deaths, injuries and destruction to civilian infratruture are being caused by NATO, countries should begin to implement plans to provide the government of Libya with all means of air defense weapons, as well as other weapons designed for self defense, in order to prevent further NATO attacks.

NATO getting desperate

Istina o Libiji (video/srb)

Children of the Revolution - UK Riots

In London and other British cities, young people burned cars and buildings, looted stores and fought with police. The riots broke out after a still-unresolved shooting by police in a poor North London neighborhood. On Saturday a small crowd including Mark Duggan’s mother and fiance gathered outside a Tottenham police station to demand a senior officer explain how Mark had been shot dead by police. After hours of waiting outside no explanation was forthcoming. On 6 August the peaceful march in Tottenham, calling for police answers over their fatal shooting of Mark Duggan was followed by rioting and looting in Tottenham. The spread of news and rumours about the previous evening's disturbances in Tottenham sparked riots during the night of 7 August in the London districts of Brixton, Enfield, Islington and Wood Green and in Oxford Circus in the centre of London. However, that was just the spark. Many Londoners initially assumed the violence was a backlash from chronic unemployment, slow economic recovery and cuts to public service spending by the country’s new government. The riots were concentrated in neighborhoods with large African and Caribbean populations, which have a history of tension with the police. Following a massively increased police presence, London was quiet on 9 August, but copycat actions continued in Birmingham and Nottingham and spread to Leicester, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in the midlands and to Bury, Liverpool, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Sefton and Wirral in the north-west of England. On 10 August, London remained quiet whilst hundreds of arrests were being made there by the police. Three men were killed in Birmingham in a hit-and-run incident related to the disturbances. Looting and violence continued in two locations around Manchester and Liverpool. "Independet observers" say the rioting was not based on specific political or economic demands, but they acknowledge there are underlying reasons that so many young people are willing to take part in looting, arson and vandalism on a scale the country has not seen in many years. So this is not people expressing their anger against an oppressive state? A majority of people are just looting to loot, with no reason, just because they want to do it. Simple as that? Rrrright... Well I don't think so. Politicians were quick to dismiss the unrest in the British cities as pure criminality but the truth is that “there are some disaffected, alienated, but in fact very clever people out there from the underclasses who are incredibly bitter about the lack of opportunity – and they are incredibly ambitious as well.

The internet exploded with comments, some of them pertinent, others ridiculous. "Hang the bastards" was a typical statement from the more reactionary elements of society; "Revolution" was the keyword from those fantasising about a Leftist New Order installed in London. Parallels were drawn between the Libyan "uprising" and the English "uprising", calls were made for a no-fly zone to be implemented over England, which would entail the arming of the "rebels", the immediate labelling of the Cameron Government as illegitimate because it had "lost control" and clearly was "not fit to govern". One wonders what would really have happened if outside forces had done to England what the UK has done in Libya. So what was it this time? Wait a minute, what was all that about the Members of Parliament scandal with expense accounts? What was all that about obtaining plasma TVs, and washing machines and gardeners and maids all paid for by the British taxpayer? So basically, those youths being jailed today for four or five or six or seven months, for stealing a plasma TV screen or pinching a packet of bubble gum, are being ruled by those who sat in their crystal ball of excellence, doing the same thing, yet instead of looting shops, got the same goods by looting the British taxpayer. So MPs got their plasma screens legally by stealing from the British taxpayer and these "hoodlums" got 6 months for doing the same thing, yet ended up without the screen?

PM David Cameron eventually came up with a “zero tolerance” approach to street crime. The same rough tactics were originally introduced in the US and see even minor offences prosecuted vigorously to send out the message that no law-breaking will be tolerated. The use of water cannon was approved shortly after the rioting started. As another preventive measure, the Cabinet has threatened the possible disruption of social messaging networks such as twitter and facebook, for they have been widely used by rioters to co-ordinate their action. (some months ago, those social networks were praised for spreading democracy through North Africa and Middle East). After the condemnation of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia etc for cutting social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook during their social unrest, it was a surprise to hear the British Press openly discuss limiting their use as a way of curtailing communication amongst the rioters. A 17-year-old who posted a Facebook message saying "come on rioters" has been banned from social networking sites for 12 months. He was ordered to complete 120 hours' community service, a 12-month youth rehabilitation order and observe a curfew between 7pm and 6am for three months. The court heard that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wrote the message at 9.45am on 9 August. It read: "I think we should start rioting, it's about time we stopped the authorities pushing us about and ruining this country. It's about time we stood up for ourselves for once. So come on rioters – get some. LOL." He had no more than 400 friends on facebook. The boy added: "I meant it as a joke which is why I wrote LOL at the end."The police were alerted and when they arrived "he had already deleted the post." Criticism is growing of the sentences imposed on some convicted rioters after two other men were jailed for four years for posting messages on Facebook inciting people to create disorder in their home towns. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, from Northwich Town, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Latchford, Warrington, were sentenced at Chester crown court after admitting using the social networking site to try to organise riots. No trouble resulted from their actions. Blackshaw set up an "event" on Facebook called Smash Down in Northwich Town for the night of 8 August but no one apart from the police, who were monitoring the page, turned up at the meeting point outside a McDonald's restaurant. Blackshaw was promptly arrested (same thing happened in China, not long ago when only CNN crew showed up at McDonald's). Defence lawyers and civil rights groups have also criticised "disproportionate" sentences as official figures show nearly 1,300 suspects have been brought before the courts. Judge Elgan Edwards sentenced Blackshaw to four years in a young offenders' institution and said he had committed an "evil act". "This happened at a time when collective insanity gripped the nation. Your conduct was quite disgraceful and the title of the message you posted on Facebook chills the blood." It has been reported that courts have been advised by senior justice clerks to deal harshly with offences committed during the disturbances. The advice is said to tell the courts that they can ignore existing sentencing guidelines and hand down heavy sentences. This could never happened in Libya, Tunis, Egypt or Syria because overthere fake facebook and Twitter accounts are made by CIA. When there are real people behind "organizing riots" it "chills the blood". When it happens in UK, then it is called collective insanity. Iran has called on the British police to exercise restraint against people protesting over the killing of a Black man in London. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged the British government to order the police to stop their violent confrontation with the people, IRNA reported in the early hours of Tuesday. Mehmanparast asked the British government to start dialogue with the protesters and to listen to their demands in order to calm the situation down. The Iranian official also asked independent human rights organizations to investigate the killing in order to protect the civil rights and civil liberties. The African Union has adopted a unilateral resolution to deploy army troops and care packages to England as looting and violence spread from London to other major cities. Spokesperson Charity Khumalo said “We can no longer stand by while these savages tear themselves apart.”

As of 15 August, about 3,100 people have been arrested, of whom more than 1,000 have been charged. Arrests, charges and court proceedings continue, with courts working extended hours.
Five people have died and at least 16 others have been injured as a direct result of related violent acts. An estimated 200 million pounds worth of property damage was incurred, and local economic activity was significantly compromised. A petition was submitted to the UK goverment proposing that any convicted rioters have their benefit payments cut. This petition has been signed by over 200,000 people. So much for the purely criminal aspects, but many say other underlying causes of the riots are poor parenting, unemployment, poor job prospects, austerity cuts removing many support mechanisms, especially for the young. However, throwing kids in prison and giving them a criminal record is not the answer; community-based rehabilitation schemes, which Cameron and Osborne closed, are.