23 March 2011 — Stop NATO
- EU’s Top Diplomat: NATO Should Take Control Of Libya Operation
- Bolivian President Demands Obama Be Stripped Of Nobel Peace Prize Over Libyan War
- Fires, Deaths: NATO Attacks Hit Tripoli Harbor, Airport
- “Regime Change” In Libya To Require Involvement In Ground War
- U.S. Marines Shoot Six Libyan Civilians To Rescue Downed Pilots
- Libya Burns, But Bahrain Can Shake The World
- Pentagon Using New Generation Tomahawk Missiles In Libya
- “There Is Hope In Benghazi, The French Flag Is Being Waved There”
- Romania Joins NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
- Netherlands Joins NATO’s Onslaught Against Libya
- Military Occupation And Regional Reconfiguration: South African Trade Union Confederation Condemns West Over Libyan Attack
EU’s Top Diplomat: NATO Should Take Control Of Libya Operation
en.rian.ru/world/20110323/163153435.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 23, 2011
NATO to take overall control of Libyan mission – top EU diplomat
Brussels: NATO should assume overall command of the international operation in Libya, the EU top diplomat said.
“The discussions we’ve been having with NATO indicate that will be the way forward,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday.
She told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee that the alliance “is doing its planning now.”
Later in the day, in an interview with Euronews, she also said that the European Union was not divided on the Libyan issue.
“I don’t recognize the word ‘divided,’” she said. “There are different approaches from different member states to the military issues, but a real strength of view on coming together on the other issues.”
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday that NATO finished its planning on the no-fly zone and arms embargo enforcement in Libya and all members of the alliance were “committed to meet their responsibilities under the United Nations resolution to stop the intolerable violence against Libyan civilians.”
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Operation Odyssey Dawn entered its third night of airstrikes on Libyan air defenses on Monday. Libyan state television has reported that at least 60 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded.
In a brief speech on the national TV on Wednesday, Gaddafi pledged to continue fighting opposition and international coalition.
“In the end, we will win,” he added.
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Bolivian President Demands Obama Be Stripped Of Nobel Peace Prize Over Libyan War
en.trend.az/regions/world/ocountries/1849361.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Bolivia’s Evo Morales asks that Obama be deprived of Nobel Prize
Bolivian President Evo Morales demanded Monday that the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament deprive US President Barack Obama of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after he ordered airstrikes on Libya, dpa reported.
“How can it be that a Nobel Peace Prize laureate leads a group of gangs to attack and invade? That is not part of a defence of human rights or (respect) for the self-determination of peoples,” Morales told a press conference.
The Nobel committee surprised the world by giving the 2009 prize to Obama, only a few months after his inauguration. The committee rewarded “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Morales – the first president of indigenous descent in Bolivia’s history – was himself a candidate for the prize that year, for his work in favour of social justice and inclusion in Bolivia.
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Morales slammed the UN Security Council for authorizing a military intervention in Libya. He asked that airstrikes on Libya end, and proposed a group of United Nations, Arab League and African Union officials to mediate a peaceful way out of the crisis in the North African country.
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Fires, Deaths: NATO Attacks Hit Tripoli Harbor, Airport
en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1849348.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Libyan radar sites, navy bases hit in airstrikes
Coalition airstrikes took out radar sites near Benghazi and hit two navy bases near the capital Tripoli, al Jazeera reported early Tuesday as the international attacks against Moamer Gaddafi’s forces continued for a third night, dpa reported.
Loud anti-aircraft gunfire could be heard in Tripoli and broadcast images showed tracer fire over the city.
An al Jazeera correspondent reported two loud explosions and said two large fires appeared to have broken out in the city’s harbour.
“We could see an area of the port on fire, substantially on fire, two big blazes. We saw fire engines racing along the coastal road,” reporter Anita McNaught said.
“This evening seems to have been about targeting seaborne military assets of Gaddafi’s army, but also we are given to understand (there was) an attack on the airport at Sirte.”
The airport in Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte and in the city of Sebha had also been attacked, Libyan officials told the broadcaster, saying that civilians had been killed.
The airstrikes to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya began Saturday.
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“Regime Change” In Libya To Require Involvement In Ground War
www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14926490,00.html
Deutsche Welle
March 22, 2011
Regime change in Libya may require involvement in ground war
Coalition airstrikes against Gadhafi’s forces have stopped his advance toward the opposition stronghold of Benghazi. However, ousting Gadhafi from power may require directly supporting the opposition in a ground war.
After weeks of deliberation, the international community has intervened militarily in Libya. France, Britain and the US launched airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime over the weekend…
Although Admiral Mike Mullen – head of the US Joint Chiefs – said the initial strikes halted Gadhafi’s advance toward the opposition stronghold Benghazi, the strategic endgame remains unclear. [I]f the international coalition wants regime change in Libya, then active participation in the ground war may become unavoidable.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and members of the US Congress have already discussed sending weapons to the opposition Transitional National Council. However, an arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council against Libya complicates the prospect of shipping military hardware to the country. And the White House, unsure of the Libyan opposition’s goals, remains reluctant to get pulled into what could be a protracted ground campaign.
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Tripoli native Noman Benotman says that the Libyan opposition has clearly articulated a single goal since the uprising began last February.
Once a key figure in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Benotman…
According to Benotman, engagement should include arming the opposition against Gadhafi as well as sending advisors to train them to use the weapons…
The arms embargo may have already become null and void. According to [Mansour] El-Kikhia, the West has begun to quietly funnel weapons to the Libyan opposition through Egypt, whose military uses similar Russian-model arms.
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Author: Spencer Kimball
Editor: Rob Mudge
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U.S. Marines Shoot Six Libyan Civilians To Rescue Downed Pilots
Sydney Morning Herald
March 23, 2011
Marines ‘opened fire on villagers’ in mission to rescue crash crew Staff reporter
US troops opened fire on Libyan villagers in an operation to rescue two jet fighter crew after their warplane crashed in the east of the country, according to a British report.
Channel 4 News is reporting at least six villagers were injured when US Marines came in with “all guns blazing” to extract the pilots. The Telegraph website is also reporting six locals “were believed to have been shot by a US helicopter during his rescue”.
The Telegraph also says one of the downed crew was recued by troops on an Osprey “transformer” aircraft, which can turn from a plane into a helicopter.
The Osprey, The Telegraph says, is one of the American air force’s newest acquisitions and has rotor blades that can swivel to allow it to fly like a helicopter or a conventional fixed-wing aircraft.
United States Africa Command has confirmed a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed in Libya and the two crew members were rescued.
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Reporter Lindsey Hilsum, at the scene of the crash, said the US helicopter came in and opened fire on Monday night, local time, as villagers were handing over one of the downed pilots to local rebel forces.
A man described as a military policeman, Omar Sayd, told the reporter: “We are disturbed about the shooting because if they had given us a chance we would have handed over both pilots.”
In Benghazi, Hilsum interviewed one of the injured villagers, who was in a hospital bed. Local people had been giving a “party” for the crew when they were fired on.
Their F-15E Strike Eagle jet was on a mission on Monday night when it crashed outside Benghazi…
Details of the incident remained sketchy. The crash was the first known setback for the international coalition during three days of strikes authorised by the United Nations Security Council.
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NATO ‘should play key role’
US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that NATO should play a key role in the command structure of the Libya mission, the White House said.
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NATO ambassadors resumed talks on Tuesday after “very difficult” discussions on Monday which failed to overcome their divisions.
But a diplomat said they had agreed to use the organisation’s naval power to enforce an arms embargo on Libya ordered under UN Resolution 1973.
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Belgian and Spanish warplanes began patrolling Libyan skies on Monday, British Typhoon fighters and Canadian jets launched their first missions from Italian bases, and a Greek source said France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle should join in from waters off Crete, probably by Wednesday.
Italian pilots said they had helped suppress air defences, despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country has close ties with former colony Libya, saying Italian planes “are not firing and will not fire”.
Russia and the United States clashed over Western bombing raids, with the US defence chief saying Moscow had accepted Muammar Gaddafi’s “lies” about civilian casualties.
In talks with Gates, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev voiced dismay over what he called the “indiscriminate use of force”.
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Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said the Western-led air strikes were disproportionate, amid US and British efforts to bring more Arab states on board.
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– with AFP and Bloomberg
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Libya Burns, But Bahrain Can Shake The World
www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=37694&Cat=6&dt=3/23/2011
News International
March 23, 2011
Libya burns but Bahrain can shake the world
Farrukh Saleem
Islamabad: USS Barry, a guided missile destroyer, is raining down Tomahawk cruise missiles on forces still loyal to the leader and guide of the Revolution, Moammer Qaddafi. The US Navy has deployed USS Mount Whitney, the command of the Sixth Fleet, an amphibious assault ship, two nuclear attack submarines and a cruise missile submarine. The US Air Force has deployed at least three B-2 stealth bombers, ten F-15E strike fighters and eight F-16C multi-role fighters.
On the very first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, 114 Tomahawks landed and destroyed Qaddafi’s air defences. On the second day, US Navy jammed Libyan radars while B-2 bombers dropped at least three dozen bombs on Libyan airfields.
The Italian Navy has deployed Portaerei Cavour, its aircraft carrier with eight Boeing AV-8B Harrier II vertical take off, ground attack aircraft. The French Navy has ordered Charles de Gaulle, its only serving nuclear-powered, aircraft carrier with surface to air missiles and E-2 Hawkeye, the all-weather, twin-turboprop airborne early warning aircraft.
Cruise missiles have already put Sirte, Misurata, Zawiya, Saha and parts of Tripoli on fire. While the world attention remains glued to the fires in Libya potential stakes in Bahrain are actually a hundred times higher. Safaniya Oil Field, the largest oil field in the world, is less than 200 miles from Manama. The Strait of Hormuz, through which passes 20 percent of world oil shipments and 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil shipments, is within a 400-mile radius.
More importantly, United States Fifth Fleet, with a forward deployed Carrier Strike Group, Combat Command force, Anti-Terrorism force, Sea Stallion helicopters, Amphibious Force and Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Bahrain (or NSA Bahrain). In essence, Bahrain is home to America’s military might that reigns over the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Arabian Sea-all put together.
On March 14, around 2,000 soldiers of the Saudi-led, US-backed Peninsula Shield Force, in their armored carriers and tanks, invaded Bahrain. The stated purpose of the invasion is: to crush an unarmed civilian uprising.
On March 15, King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Mamlakat al Bahrayn declared martial law under which the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF), numbering around 10,000 personnel, was “empowered to take whatever actions it deems appropriate in dealing with the predominately Shiite-driven unrest.”
On March 16, Press TV, Iran’s government-owned, 24-hour English language global news network, claimed that at least “five top Bahraini Shiite clerics including Sheikh Issa Qassem, Seyyed Abdullah al-Ghoraifi, Sheikh Abdul Hussain al-Setri and Sheikh Mohammad Saleh al-Rabiei have warned that a horrible massacre is expected at Manama’s Pearl Square,” urging the international community to intervene. According to Press TV, “Saudi troops opened fire on weaponless Bahraini demonstrators in Manama’s Pearl Square” and that, “Saudi troops forced their way into Salmaniya hospital in Manama and did not allow doctors, nurses and relatives of the victims either to leave or to enter the building.”
Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Iraq, all US forces “will be completely out of Iraq by 31 December 2011.” That would leave the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the single-largest, indigenous conventional military force in the region. Iran sees this as a historic opportunity to tilt the regional balance of power in its favor and the Iranian media may indeed be in the process of manufacturing a justification to direct Iranian intervention in Bahrain.
Saudis, backed by the US, are in Bahrain to suppress the Bahraini, predominantly Shiite civilian uprising through the force of arms. It is in Iran’s interest that the Bahraini uprising intensifies. If the Saudis, backed by the US, are successful in suppressing Bahraini pro-democracy demonstrators through tank-based repression then Iran loses this historic opportunity of re-configuring the balance of power in the Persian Gulf. If Bahraini protestors, aided by the Iranians, successfully resist Saudi threats of violent repression then Saudi Arabia and all US forces in the Persian Gulf will end up in the soup.
It will be extremely difficult for Iran to let this extraordinary opportunity to re-configure the balance of power in the all-important Strait of Hormuz slip through. At the same time, the stakes for the House of Saud have never been as high as they are right now in Bahrain. Mamlakat al Bahrayn is fast turning into the new Shiite-Sunni proxy battleground – and a huge fire in Bahrain will shake the balance of power across the globe.
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Pentagon Using New Generation Tomahawk Missiles In Libya
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/drones-suicidal-cousins/
Wired News
March 21, 2011
Next post Drones’ Suicidal Cousins Lead Libya Attack
By Noah Shachtman
When the U.S. military wanted to take out Moammar Gadhafi’s air defense systems, it unleashed a barrage of 122 Tomahawk cruise missiles. But these munitions aren’t like most others in the American arsenal.
Smart, maneuverable, able to see its surroundings and shift to new targets in mid-flight, the newest Tomahawks are closer to the unmanned planes flying over Afghanistan than to the weapons they fire. In some ways, the Tomahawk is the drone’s suicidal cousin: a robotic aircraft, packed with explosives, that has no intention of ever coming home.
When officers get ready to shoot off a Tomahawk, “they are basically planning a flight for a little airplane,” one Navy official tells Danger Room. “It’s got stubby little wings — but is is an unmanned aerial vehicle.”
The next-gen Tomahawks — known as “Block IVs” — start their flights out just like other missiles, launched from ships or subs. But after 12 seconds of flight, things change. The Tomahawk starts to fly horizontally, skimming above the ocean at a height of less than 50 feet to avoid enemy radar.
GPS waypoints keep the missile on track, until it makes landfall. Then, a Tercom (Terrain Contour Matching) system kicks in. too. Using a radar altimeter, the Tomahawk Tercom checks its height. Then it matches that altitude against a database of satellite and overhead imagery, to make sure the missile is headed in the right direction and at the right height.
Once the Tomahawk’s target is in sight, the missile can dart in for the attack. A Digital Scene-Mapping Area Correlator (”dee-smack” in military jargon) matches a stored picture of the target to the missile’s last sight, to make sure the two match.
Or, the missile can wait a while. The Tomahawk’s controller can give it a new route, telling the Tomahawk to circle around in the air, lingering until an enemy pops up its head. Then comes the strike.
Last May, the Tomahawk demonstrated a new move, as Sam LaGrone from Jane’s Defence Weekly reported at the time. The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Cheyenne fired off a Block IV at a target in the Mojave Desert.
Meanwhile, a team from Naval Special Warfare Group 3 shot a second set of co-ordinates to the Tomahawk’s controllers in Japan, nearly 5,000 miles away. They reprogrammed the missile via satellite, and sent the Tomahawk crashing into a new target. (In an earlier test (.pdf), special operations forces were able to use the pictures taken from a handheld Raven drone to direct its bigger, more destructive relative to its end.)
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From the outside, the Block IVs look much like their predecessors: a little over 20 feet long, and about 3,300 pounds. Like the older models, they’re still expensive, too — at about $1.1 million a pop, the initial assault on Libya chewed through $134 million in missile costs alone. They can fly for about two hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first.
But that could radically change, if an experimental Air Force program pans out. The X-51a aircraft is designed to test technologies for a next-gen cruise missile — one that would fly at six times the speed of sound.
Which means tomorrow’s cruise missiles could be like suicidal, smart, and more than eight times faster than today’s Tomahawks.
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“There Is Hope In Benghazi, The French Flag Is Being Waved There”
en.rian.ru/world/20110322/163148341.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 22, 2011
Fillon says French flag raised over rebel-held Benghazi
France says it feels a sense of responsibility for Libyan rebels after its flag was raised over the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, France’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
“There is hope in Benghazi now, the French flag is being waved there, and also the flag of a different Libya which dreams of democracy and modernization,” Francois Fillon told the French parliament.
The comments come as NATO member states including the United States, Britain and France are continuing air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces under a UN mandate to impose a no-fly zone.
Russia opposed Western military intervention but did not use its power to veto the UN resolution authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin likened the operation to “medieval calls for crusades,” a description dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev, who said the comments were “unacceptable.”
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Romania Joins NATO Naval Blockade Of Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 22, 2011
Romania joins NATO naval blockade of Libya
Bucharest: Romania will send a frigate and two naval officers to help NATO enforce the weapons embargo against Libya, President Traian Basescu said Tuesday.
The frigate with 205 sailors will be ready for deployment in 30 days, Basescu said after the meeting of the Romanian Supreme Defence Council.
NATO decided to enforce the embargo earlier Tuesday. The Romanian frigate will have the task of intercepting ships suspected of transporting weapons to Muamer Gaddafi’s regime.
Basescu said that Romania will pay for the three-month operation, expected to cost 4.5 million euros (6.3 million dollars).
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Netherlands Joins NATO’s Onslaught Against Libya
www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/netherlands-join-nato-operation-against-libya
Radio Netherlands
March 22, 2011
Netherlands to join NATO operation against Libya
The Netherlands is sending F-16 fighter planes, a minesweeper HNLMS Haarlem and a refuelling plane to help the international military operation in Libya according to sources. The Dutch government met on Tuesday evening to take decisions over Dutch participation in a NATO mission in Libya.
The Dutch operation will last three months and will cost 20 million euros. Six F-16s will be involved – two of them as reserve planes. Two hundred Dutch troops will be deployed. The HNLMS Haarlem is already in the Mediterranean for a NATO exercise.
Earlier today, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that NATO would enforce the weapon embargo against Libya. It is the first time all 28 NATO countries have reached agreement over the crisis in Libya. A unanimous decision is needed for NATO to take action.
NATO also has plans for monitoring the no-fly zone above Libya. At the moment a coalition of international forces is enforcing the no-fly zone.
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Military Occupation And Regional Reconfiguration: South African Trade Union Confederation Condemns West Over Libyan Attack
news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/23/c_13792930.htm
Xinhua News Agency
March 22, 2011
South African alliance partner condemns West over Libya
-The COSATU official said the March 18 UN Security Council resolution 1973 fitted into a well-designed scheme by the big powers that was deliberately set to ensure military occupation and regional reconfiguration of the area.
This was aimed at further asserting “imperialist domination and neo-liberal economic orthodoxy in the interest of profiteering at all costs for their giant oil companies.”
JOHANNESBURG: The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on Tuesday accused the West of abusing the United Nations (UN) resolution to gain access to Libya’s oil resources.
In a statement carried by the South African Press Association (SAPA), COSATU Secretary Bongani Masuku said the union federation opposed the involvement of Western powers’ military action.
He also said COSATU supported the struggle for democracy in Libya.
The COSATU official said the March 18 UN Security Council resolution 1973 fitted into a well-designed scheme by the big powers that was deliberately set to ensure military occupation and regional reconfiguration of the area.
This was aimed at further asserting “imperialist domination and neo-liberal economic orthodoxy in the interest of profiteering at all costs for their giant oil companies.”
COSATU described this as helicopter democracy, which disempowers the masses in whose name the struggle for democracy is waged and renders them spectators as foreign powers arrogate themselves the role of liberators.
Masuku cited Iraq and Afghanistan as examples of the “helicopter democracy.”
COSATU said the UN’s honesty in dealing with conflict situations was in doubt, especially as it had failed to pass similar resolutions in relation to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain.
On March 21 South African President Jacob Zuma warned the West against abusing the UN resolution on Libya.
The New Dark Age 
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