10 May 2011 — Stop NATO
- NATO Warplanes Blast Tripoli
- In Second Strike, NATO Destroys Libyan Children Commission Building
- Video: NATO Air Strikes Target Libyan Capital
- Video And Text: NATO Bombards Tripoli As UN Calls For Ceasefire
- NATO Air Missions Against Libya Near 6,000
- Mediterranean: The New Vietnam
- Libyan War: Evicting China And Russia From The Mediterranean
- AFRICOM’s Libyan Expedition
- Libya 1911: The Genesis Of Aerial Bombardment
- Baghdad: Russia Warns Against Foreign Use Of Force In Middle East
NATO Warplanes Blast Tripoli
www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/10/libya-blasts-idUSLDE74900520110510
Reuters
May 9, 2011
Blasts heard in Tripoli from apparent NATO strikes
TRIPOLI: Five blasts were heard from apparent NATO missile strikes targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli on Tuesday, a Reuters witness reported.
No other details were immediately available.
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Agence France-Press
May 9, 2011
Jets carry out heavy bombing in Libyan capital
TRIPOLI: Jets screamed in low over Tripoli early on Tuesday, carrying out a series of strikes in quick succession, after witnesses reported two others near state media offices a few hours before.
Jets carried out eight strikes in roughly three hours in an unusually heavy bombardment of Tripoli, which is usually hit by at most two or three strikes at a time.
Four explosions rocked the Libyan capital shortly after 2:00 am (0000 GMT) on Tuesday, shaking the windows of a hotel housing journalists. They were quickly followed by two more blasts.
Sirens and shouts could be heard in the distance following the air strikes, as sporadic shots from assault rifles and heavier weapons rang out and jets continued to overfly the city.
Late on Monday, witnesses reported two explosions in the capital as jets flew overhead, adding that smoke was rising from a site near the offices of Libyan television and state news agency JANA.
At least one strike hit a building that had been previously bombed on April 30, a minder on a government-sponsored trip to the site said, adding that the building housed various civil society organisations.
The roof of part of the building was blown away along with one wall, and the basement was visible through the destroyed floor. A guard at the site said the building was hit around 11:00 pm (2100 GMT).
A soaring communications tower sits in a parking lot near the building.
There were no reports of casualties in the Monday strikes.
The blasts came after NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said time was running out for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who “should realise sooner rather than later that there’s no future for him or his regime.”
…
NATO took command of operations over Libya on March 31.
The Libyan regime said on May 1 that Seif al-Arab Kadhafi, one of the Libyan leader’s sons, and three of his grandchildren were killed in a NATO air strike on a compound in Tripoli.
The regime termed that strike a bid to assassinate Kadhafi.
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In Second Strike, NATO Destroys Libyan Children Commission Building
af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE7482A420110510
Reuters
May 9, 2011
Libya says NATO hit children commission building
TRIPOLI: Libyan officials took foreign journalists on Tuesday to see what they said was the result of a second NATO strike in just over a week on a government building housing the high commission for children.
The old colonial building, situated in Tripoli’s Dahmani neighbourhood, was completely destroyed but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The officials said the NATO strike occurred on Monday night and involved a missile.
Two telecommunications towers are sited 100 metres (330 ft) and 700 metres (2,300 ft) from the building, which had been damaged in what Libyan officials said was the previous strike on April 30.
Neither of the towers appeared to have been damaged.
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Video: NATO Air Strikes Target Libyan Capital
en.rian.ru/video/20110510/163955659.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
May 10, 2011
NATO airstrikes targeted Tripoli
Video
At least five NATO airstrikes targeted Tripoli in the early hours of Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke into the sky over the Libyan capital.
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Video And Text: NATO Bombards Tripoli As UN Calls For Ceasefire
rt.com/news/libya-nato-strikes-un-humanitarian-aid/
RT
May 10, 2011
NATO bombards Tripoli as UN calls to halt violence
Video
The Libyan capital Tripoli has been hit by another heavy bombardment.
Reports suggest numerous airstrikes were carried out by NATO fighter jets early on Tuesday. The UN humanitarian chief has called for a pause in hostilities, from all sides.
According to witnesses, eight airstrikes were carried out by NATO forces within a period of about three hours, which is unusually intense, Al Jazeera informed. Blasts were also heard in Muammar Gaddafi’s compound.
The country’s authorities announced on Tuesday that four children were wounded by flying glass as a result of the NATO strikes. They added that two of the children were seriously hurt and are in intensive care in hospital.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced on Monday that the military campaign alone will not solve the conflict in Libya.
“We will keep up the military pressure, and in parallel, I think we should step up the political pressure to further isolate the Gaddafi regime and support the Libyan opposition,” he said.
The NATO chief announced earlier that time was running out for Muammar Gaddafi as he is becoming more and more isolated.
According to the United Nations, as of early May, over 710,000 people have fled Libya escaping the violence since the anti-Gaddafi protests started in the country.
On Monday, the organization’s humanitarian chief Valerie Amos called on all sides of the conflict to take a pause in hostilities to allow food, water and medical supplies to be delivered to the country’s population, the Associated Press reported. Amos cited reports of widespread food shortages, which “paralyze” life in Libya.
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NATO Air Missions Against Libya Near 6,000
www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_05/20110510_110510-oup-update.pdf
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
May 10, 2011
NATO and Libya
Naples, SHAPE, NATO HQ
…
Air Operations
Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 08.00GMT) a total of 5968 sorties, including 2372 strike sorties have been conducted.
Sorties conducted 09 May: 146
Strike sorties conducted 09 May: 46
…
Key Hits
09 May: In the vicinity of Tripoli: 3 Command & Control Facilities.
In the vicinity of Mizdah: 15 Ammunition Storages.
In the vicinity of Misurata: 1 Tank, 1 Command & Control Node.
In the vicinity of Sirte: 2 Ammunition Storages.
Arms Embargo Activities
A total of 20 ships under NATO command are actively patrolling the Central Mediterranean.
20 Vessels were hailed on 09 May to determine destination and cargo. 2 boardings (no diversions) were conducted.
A total of 884 vessels have been hailed, 36 boardings and 5 diversions have been conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.
…
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Mediterranean: The New Vietnam
www.euroweeklynews.com/columns/craig-ireland/the-new-vietnam.html
Euro Weekly News
May 9, 2011
The new Vietnam
Craig Ireland
The Vietnam War lasted 20 years and an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu in the Mediterranean basin is unsettling. As with most wars an incident critics describe as a black flag operation ignited American involvement in Asia with catastrophic regional consequences. That incident was the Gulf of Tonkin engagement when the North Vietnamese were goaded into attacking the U.S.N destroyer Maddox.
The Americans needed to draw a line in the sand to stop what they saw as the advance of Communism. Where then are the similarities?
Armed insurrections, not to be confused with civilian unrest such as that in Tunisia and Egypt, are raging in Syria and Libya. There is little secret that the CIA and the NATO alliance is overtly siding with those seeking to overthrow legitimate internationally recognised governments. There is reason for this.
Both China and Russia encroached upon what the NATO alliance see as a Western sphere of influence. As recently reported in the Euro Weekly News their warships now cruise the Mediterranean. They have been joined by those considered as potentially hostile such as Iran.
Their warships are here because of what some people believe is China’s economic colonisation of Africa which has largely filled the vacuum left by Western de-colonisation. As with all trading empires there is a need for a protective military presence.
China has massive investment in Libya. 30,000 Chinese nationals were engaged on numerous projects, mostly civil engineering in return for oil concessions. Since the outbreak of NATO-led hostilities 29,000 workers have been evacuated.
Russia’s now abandoned Rosoboronexport’s contract with Jamahiriya will lead to a $4 billion loss if Gaddafi is toppled. Tatneft, Gazprom, and Russian Railways (RZD) have a multi-million euro presence. The head of Russian Technologies Chemezov predict losses of $4.6 billion
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary and a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, told Iran’s Press TV: “We want to overthrow Gaddafi and Syria’s Assad because we want to clear Russia and China out of the Mediterranean.”
“China has massive energy investments in eastern Libya. This is an American effort to deny resources to China just as the U.S. and Britain denied resources to the Japanese in the 1930s.”
This resulted in the Japanese retaliatory attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into World War Two.
Syria and Libya recently welcomed Russian and Chinese warships. The Russian naval base in Syria offered access to the Mediterranean region; it has enough firepower to protect its routes to the Atlantic and the great trade routes to Latin America. Those countries are becoming favourably inclined towards Russia and China.
The United States and its European allies see a growing threat to their own interests. Western-backed insurrections are warnings to Russia and China to back off. Not surprisingly both China and Russia have expressed profound displeasure at what they see as illegal barring of access to international waters. They argue that they too have legitimate commercial interests in the region which need protecting.
If a decision is made by either to play the NATO alliance at their own game the Western alliance could find itself in a no-win war stretched across the Mediterranean geopolitical fault line.
If that happens the nations of the Mediterranean could find themselves the new Cambodia and Vietnam in the clash of civilisations.
The outcome is anyone’s guess but holiday homes used as sniper’s dens quickly lose their market value.
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Libyan War: Evicting China And Russia From The Mediterranean
www.presstv.ir/detail/179070.html
Press TV
May 9, 2011
‘Rome arms Libyans on US order’
Following Libya’s National Transitional Council’s announcement that Italy has agreed to supply revolutionary forces with weapons, former Assistant Secretary to US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts told Press TV that Rome’s decision was made on behalf of Washington.
The following is the transcript of the interview:
Press TV: What do you think of Italy’s role in the ongoing war in Libya?
Roberts: Well, Italy is an American puppet state and will do whatever Washington tells them to do, I don’t think Italy has a role as an independent country and so I don’t really pay any attention to what Italy says.
Press TV: The National Transitional Council spokesman has said they are going to receive arms from Italy shortly, but the head of the council has said they have not received anything yet. What is your take on any agreement between them?
Roberts: No its not, what the UN security council issued is a no-fly zone; that means to stop Libyan air force planes from flying in the air. It doesn’t mean that NATO countries can come to the military aid of the rebels.
You see, in my opinion, and I may be mistaken, but my opinion is that there is no legitimate rebellion in Libya. It’s a CIA operation and the US government is trying to get China out of Libya because China has extensive energy investments in Libya and also in two other North African countries, and the US is very disturbed by the recent reports from the International Monetary Fund that China will surpass the US as the number one economic power within five years.
So Washington is trying to evict China from the Mediterranean and that is why the Libyan so-called rebellion is unique. It did not take place in the capital city and it is also an armed rebellion which is not previously characteristic of the Arab protests.
It originates in the east where China’s oil investments are located and so what this is is an effort to evict China from Libya.
Press TV: If the situation that’s going on in Libya as you say is the US with ulterior motives for the humanitarian intervention that it initially claimed to happen what will constitute an end game for what’s going on in Libya right now?
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Well, the end of the game would be probably to partition the country and eject China from the east which would be under the new CIA operation.
It’s possible that Washington would go further and send troops and overthrow Gaddafi but it would meet Washington’s objectives simply to separate the oil regions in order to get China out of the Mediterranean.
For the same reason Washington is focused on Syria, because in Syria the Russians have a very large naval base in which they intend to keep aircraft carriers and Washington does not want the Russians with their navy in the Mediterranean.
And so what has happened is while Washington was caught off-guard by the Arab protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain, they quickly learned that they could use Arab protests as a cloak behind which to hide while China and Russia are evicted from the Mediterranean
And in my opinion that’s what all this is about. It’s certainly not about humanitarian concerns, I mean how can the Americans or Washington be concerned about humanitarian issues when they are continually murdering people in Pakistan and in Afghanistan and wherever else?
So it has nothing to do with humanitarian concerns. It has to do with evicting two other world powers from the Mediterranean region.
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AFRICOM’s Libyan Expedition
www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67844/jonathan-stevenson/africoms-libyan-expedition
Foreign Affairs
Council on Foreign Relations
May 9, 2011
AFRICOM’s Libyan Expedition
How War Will Change the Command’s Role on the Continent
Jonathan Stevenson
Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College and co-chair of its Africa Regional Studies Group
-[I]n 2007, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, Ryan Henry, noted that the Command “would involve one small headquarters plus five ‘regional integration teams’ scattered around the continent,” and that “AFRICOM would work closely with the European Union and NATO.” These remarks planted suspicions among African officials of the United States’ “militarization” and “recolonization” of the continent.
-[M]uch of AFRICOM’s time was spent providing technical and financial support to cooperative governments and helping to coordinate training for the AU’s five regional Africa Standby Brigades – which are intended eventually to become the continent’s peacekeeping and intervention forces. Though fitful, these efforts have borne fruit. They culminated in a two-week peacekeeping simulation held in October 2010 in Addis Ababa, which involved African security forces, AFRICOM, and European military forces.
Until Operation Odyssey Dawn began in Libya on March 19, U.S. Africa Command – the United States’ newest combatant command, established in October 2008 – was largely untested. There was reason to worry that AFRICOM, which would lead the operation, was too green, and its mandate too soft, for it to perform up to U.S. standards.
Yet in launching the U.S. intervention in Libya, AFRICOM, led by its commander, General Carter Ham, acquitted itself well. On the first day of the operation, it coordinated the combat operations of 11 American warships and dozens of aircraft, fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and delivered 45 Joint Direct Attack Munitions to ground targets.
By March 23, AFRICOM-led coalition forces had steadily expanded the no-fly zone from northwest Libya and parts of central Libya to the entire coastline. And on March 26, AFRICOM began coordinating operations to destroy armored vehicles, effectively (if not with specific intent) providing close air support to rebel forces…
There was, however, political backlash to AFRICOM’s active fighting role in the conflict. Although the three African non-permanent members of the UN Security Council – Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda – had acquiesced to UN Resolution 1973, the bill that green-lighted the intervention, the African Union unequivocally opposed it. After the campaign began, the AU even tried to arrange a cease-fire, under which Libyan leader Muammar al Qaddafi would have opened channels for humanitarian aid and undertaken negotiations with the rebels but would also have been allowed to stay in power.
Qaddafi, of course, had been the driving force behind the creation of the AU, in 2002…
Many African leaders…could well view Operation Odyssey Dawn as a harbinger of new liberal interventionism in Africa, and AFRICOM as its principal instrument and a potential threat to regime security. Now, especially if NATO and the Obama administration eventually use ground troops to ensure Qaddafi’s ouster, as retired U.S. Army General James M. Dubik suggested it should in an April 25 New York Times op-ed, AFRICOM will have a hard time reestablishing its bona fides with African governments, which were fairly tenuous even before the Libyan intervention.
AFRICOM was created…to bring U.S. military activities in Africa, which had been inefficiently divided among three existing commands (European Command, Central Command, and Pacific Command), under a single one…[I]n 2007, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, Ryan Henry, noted that the Command “would involve one small headquarters plus five ‘regional integration teams’ scattered around the continent,” and that “AFRICOM would work closely with the European Union and NATO.” These remarks planted suspicions among African officials of the United States’ “militarization” and “recolonization” of the continent.
That perception seemed to jibe with the United States’ unabashed interests: ensuring physical and diplomatic access to African oil and gas…
Until Operation Odyssey Dawn, however, AFRICOM had managed to ease Africa’s fears. The Pentagon located the command’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany – electing to end increasingly fraught efforts to find a continental headquarters – and AFRICOM’s biggest sustained military effort had been the…Africa Partnership Station, a group of U.S. Navy ships dispatched for six months of the year to train African maritime forces…
The command’s sole ground presence in Africa was the 2,000 troop-strong Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, which operated in permissive countries and through multilateral channels…And much of AFRICOM’s time was spent providing technical and financial support to cooperative governments and helping to coordinate training for the AU’s five regional Africa Standby Brigades – which are intended eventually to become the continent’s peacekeeping and intervention forces. Though fitful, these efforts have borne fruit. They culminated in a two-week peacekeeping simulation held in October 2010 in Addis Ababa, which involved African security forces, AFRICOM, and European military forces. Retired Nigerian Major General Samaila Iliya, co-director of the exercise, acknowledged the urgent need for the Africa Standby Force and deemed the exercise a success.
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Africa as in Washington, the intervention in Libya is increasingly interpreted as signifying the Obama administration’s shift from a realist foreign policy to a more idealist and interventionist one. And France’s significant military involvement in Cote D’Ivoire in April, after Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to step down from power…would tend to bolster African fears of neocolonialism.
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Ramped up AFRICOM-assisted military exercises and planning programs would communicate a commitment to steady operational partnership…
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Libya 1911: The Genesis Of Aerial Bombardment
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13294524
BBC News
May 10, 2011
Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era
By Alan Johnston
-By bringing aircraft to the battlefront, the Italians were doing something new.
This was only eight years after the pioneering Wright brothers in America had managed the first, short flight. Flying was still in its infancy.
-[T]he many bombers who would come after him – those who would strike at places like Guernica, Dresden and Hiroshima – would do more damage and take more lives than the young Italian pilot could ever have imagined.
Italy recently said it was ready to join in Nato’s air attacks on targets in Libya – and with the announcement came a sense of history repeating itself.
It was in Libya, almost exactly a century ago, that a young Italian pilot carried out the first ever air raid.
During fighting in November 1911 between Italy and forces loyal to the Turkish, Ottoman Empire, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti wrote in a letter to his father: “Today I have decided to try to throw bombs from the aeroplane.
“It is the first time that we will try this and if I succeed, I will be really pleased to be the first person to do it.”
And soon afterwards Lieutenant Gavotti did indeed hang out of his flimsy aircraft and fling a bomb at troops in a desert oasis below.
In that instant he introduced the world to the idea of war from the air. He had begun the age of the bomber, and opened the door to all the horrors it would bring.
The BBC World Service has obtained copies of the letters that the lieutenant wrote home from Libya. And they reveal his thoughts at the moment he carried out his historic, one-man raid.
At the time Italy was still a young country – unified less than 50 years earlier.
It was energetic and eager for conquest, and saw parts of the collapsing Ottoman Empire as ripe for the taking – including territory in Libya.
With the outbreak of war, Lieutenant Gavotti was ordered help load several aircraft aboard a ship and head for North Africa.
Bomb in pocket
He had imagined that he would only be flying reconnaissance missions there, but then realised that more was required of him.
Gavotti dropped the bombs from a Taube (Dove) monoplane, designed by Austrian Igo Etrich “Today two boxes full of bombs arrived,” he wrote in a letter to his father, sent from Naples. “We are expected to throw them from our planes.”
“It is very strange that none of us have been told about this, and that we haven’t received any instruction from our superiors. So we are taking the bombs on board with the greatest precaution.
“It will be very interesting to try them on the Turks.”
By bringing aircraft to the battlefront, the Italians were doing something new.
This was only eight years after the pioneering Wright brothers in America had managed the first, short flight. Flying was still in its infancy.
“As soon as the weather is clear, I head to the camp to take my plane out,” the Gavotti wrote.
“Near the seat, I have fixed a little leather case with padding inside. I have laid the bombs in it very carefully. These are small round bombs – weighing about a kilo-and-a-half each. I put three in the case and another one in the front pocket of my jacket.”
Gavotti took off and headed for Ain Zara. It is now a town just east of Tripoli, but at the time he described it as a small oasis.
There he would have expected to find Arab fighters and Turkish troops that were allied in the fight against the Italian invasion.
Media praise
Gavotti’s bomb at Ain Zara may not have caused any casualties In his letter, which was made available to the BBC by his grandson, Paolo de Vecchi, the Lieutenant wrote: “After a while, I notice the dark shape of the oasis. With one hand, I hold the steering wheel, with the other I take out one of the bombs and put it on my lap.”
“I am ready. The oasis is about one kilometre away. I can see the Arab tents very well.
“I take the bomb with my right hand, pull off the security tag and throw the bomb out, avoiding the wing.
“I can see it falling through the sky for couple of seconds and then it disappears. And after a little while, I can see a small dark cloud in the middle of the encampment.
“I have hit the target!
“I then send two other bombs with less success. I still have one left which I decide to launch later on an oasis close to Tripoli.
“I come back really pleased with the result. I go straight to report to General Caneva. Everybody is satisfied.”
Back home in Italy, the jingoistic press soon reported the exploit with great delight.
With his small bomb, Lieutenant Gavotti may have caused very few if any casualties in his lone raid on that dusty, Libyan oasis.
But he had shown for the first time that it was possible to carry out attacks from an aircraft.
And the many bombers who would come after him – those who would strike at places like Guernica, Dresden and Hiroshima – would do more damage and take more lives than the young Italian pilot could ever have imagined.
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Baghdad: Russia Warns Against Foreign Use Of Force In Middle East
english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/10/50081155.html
Voice of Russia
May 10, 2011
Lavrov warns against use of force in Mideast
Speaking to reporters in Baghdad on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov specifically warned against meddling in Middle East countries’ internal affairs and resorting to the use of force there.
He described as “unacceptable” attempts to impose outside opinions on other countries.
Separately, Lavrov signaled his country’s readiness to boost military-technical collaboration with Iraq – a topic that will be high on the agenda of his talks with top Iraqi officials on Tuesday.
Also on the table will be a raft of pressing international issues, including the latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Dark Age 