'Air raids kill people, don't stop wars - NATO needs Libya chaos to last'

[The Northerner]

Run time: 04:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmqFRVWMswI   Posted on YouTube: June 10, 2011 By YouTube Member: RussiaToday Views on YouTube: 303   Posted on DU: June 10, 2011 By DU Member: The Northerner Views on DU: 1095

 
RT's Anissa Naouai talks to Alexander Cockburn, American political journalist, for more analysis on the turbulent situation in Libya and the Middle East.

[Swede]

1. It worked in the Serbian-Kosovo conflict.

But that is apples and oranges.

[swilton]

9. NATO bombing in Serbia

killed a lot of civilians. The bombing did prolong the conflict. Lots of residual toxicity from the bombs. Depleted uranium was used there. The long term health consequences from PTSD, degraded medical care and depleted uranium were far greater than the initial civilian deaths which were much greater than what NATO admitted.

[qazplm]

2. why isnt I dont agree enough anymore

it's not enough to be wrong, now NATO is this evil entity that wants to kill people and wants lasting chaos.

I'm fairly sure if the situation could be solved today, with no more chaos or loss of life everyone in NATO would sign up for it and the free toaster that goes with it.

I also think we need to rethink the concept of assassination as a viable tool. If we could just take out a Hussein or Qaddafi, a lot of folks would be saved.

[jakeXT]

8. Well, Operation Gladio did produce a tiny bit of chaos

http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119640.pdf

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Tinpot Bombardiers

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Pierre Sprey, one of the design team that produced the F-16 and A-10 remarks acidly that “the flea bites inflicted on Qadaffi's army by the all-out efforts of the entire NATO air armada are a lovely demonstration of the fruits of our overarching strategic principle of pursuing Unilateral Disarmament at Maximum Expense.”

Sprey continues, “Libya also provides empirical verification of the most expensive component of the Principle of Unilateral Disarmament at Maximum Expense: bombing the enemy's homeland lengthens every war in which it is attempted. There have been no documented exceptions in the hundred years since Sottotenente Giulio Gavotti's heroic first bombing of a Libyan oasis in 1911 *. Clearly, 2011's equally heroic bombing of Tripoli is no exception.”

It is clear that despite Homeric paeans by Western journalists to their zeal and prowess, the rebels headquartered in Benghazi are an ineffective rabble, whose prime activity is to complain that NATO is not fighting the war hard enough on their behalf. Qaddafi faces NATO’s tinpot bombardiers acting with no legal mandate and with barely a whisper of criticism in the Western press about the absurd pretense that they are operating within the terms of UN Security Council Resolutions. The rebels have been unable to make any effective military showing.

On June 6 the independent International Crisis Group, stocked with well-informed regional experts and former diplomats, issued a report “Making Sense of Libya”. It stated forthrightly that NATO was in the business of “regime change” and was strongly critical of NATO’s refusal to respond to calls for ceasefire and negotiation, a stance which the ICG says is guaranteed to prolong the conflict, and the tribulations of all Libyans.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06102011.html

[JohnyCanuck]

4. NATO’s Afrika Korps Escalates War Of Attrition Against Libya

After 85 days of constant bombardment, which constitute the longest daily bombing campaign since the Vietnam War, have left smoke clouds rising over Tripoli every night and increasingly during the day as well, the Western destruction of government assets and infrastructure, military and civilian, has only begun.

As has the war waged against the civilian population by NATO powers, including Libya’s former colonial master Italy, without pause even in the face of African Union peace proposals accepted by the Libyan government.

Almost immediately exceeding even the broadest interpretation of the mandate granted by United Nations Resolution 1973 to protect Libyan civilians, NATO is deliberately and mercilessly executing a campaign to comprehensively impair the Libyan government’s ability to function in any capacity – including providing safety and services to its citizens – in a brutal attempt to convince the population that any alternatives, even the fragmentation of the country and foreign domination and occupation, are superior to continuing to resist an endless reign of terror from the skies.

http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/natos-afrika-korps-escalates-war-of-attrition-against-libya/

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Washington’s endless wars

Even as US cruise missiles rained down upon Libya nearly three months ago, Obama cynically asserted that Washington had launched the war for fear that repression carried out by the Libyan government of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would extinguish the “Arab Spring.”

What hypocrisy! Washington’s real attitude toward the democratic aspirations of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa have found unmistakable expression over the past several days in a series of actions.

Obama welcomed to the White House the crown prince of Bahrain, a monarchical dictatorship which, with tacit US support and the open military backing of Washington’s principal ally in the region, Saudi Arabia, has ruthlessly suppressed a mass movement for democratic rights, killing hundreds, detaining thousands and routinely torturing detainees.

snip

Working people are well aware that trillions of dollars are spent on these wars and the US military-industrial complex, even as federal, state and local governments, led by Democrats and Republicans alike, declare that no money can be found to pay for jobs, decent wages, health care, education or other vital social services.

http://wsws.org/articles/2011/jun2011/pers-j11.shtml

[JohnyCanuck]

6. We bomb the shit out of Libya, but offer only smiles, pats on the back

and some encouraging words for Bahrain's totalitarian torturers.

Visible Means of Support: Backing Brutality in Bahrain

by Chris Floyd

Last week, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate met with the crown prince of Bahrain and "reaffirmed" the United States' "strong commitment" to the regime of unelected autocrats. The Peace Laureate -- who in his acceptance of the Prize wrapped himself in the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi -- also "expressed strong support" for the regime's "ongoing efforts to initiate national dialogue ... (and) forge a just future for all Bahrainis."

snip

As some people have asked, why would defendants who were pleading "not guilty" make confessions on camera? The names of those confessing aren't given, but Chanad, an eagle-eyed blogger/tweep, pointed out that the first man "confessing" (six minutes into the programme) appears to be Ali Isa Saqer. Mr Saqer was one of the people detained in connection with the killings, but he was not sentenced yesterday. That's because he already died in custody in early April. Human Rights Watch, which saw his body, said it bore signs of "horrific abuse". He was buried on April 10th.



Frank Gardner of the BBC wrote about him recently ....:

"Accused of trying to run over a policeman during a protest, Ali Isa al-Saqer had handed himself over to police after his family say they were threatened. Six days later he died in their custody, the authorities say he fought his jailers. His family, seeing his battered body for the first time since his arrest, collapsed in howls of grief; his wounds were quite simply horrific.

Beaten black and blue, his lacerated back resembled a bloody zebra; he appeared to have been whipped with heavy cables, his ankles and wrists manacled.

I brought up his case with the health minister, Dr Fatima al-Beloushi, who is also minister for human rights. At first she said that the opposition had altered the images to invent the lacerations. But when I replied that we had been to the funeral and seen them ourselves she immediately promised a full investigation."

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/06/visible-means-of-support-backing.html

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Wouldn't want to do anything to piss off the

murderous, totalitarian torturing assholes that provide a home port for the US 5th fleet, I guess.