NATO Says It Mistakenly Hit Libyan Rebels Again

[tekisui]

Source: New York Times

TRIPOLI, Libya — NATO acknowledged Saturday that its aircraft had mistakenly hit a column of rebel military vehicles last week near the Libyan oil port of Brega, and early Sunday morning the Qaddafi government showed reporters a destroyed cinder-block house that neighbors and the government said was hit by an errant NATO airstrike in the capital.

Two bodies were pulled from the rubble, and at the Tripoli Central Hospital, government officials showed reporters three others, including an infant and a child, who they said were killed in the house.

It was the first time in three months of airstrikes that the Qaddafi government has presented credible evidence of what appeared to be direct civilian casualties of NATO attacks. Although the government has often claimed large numbers of civilian deaths, it has never previously presented bodies or consistent facts about the dead.

The destroyed building was far from any obvious military facility, in the Souq al Juma area, which is known for its hostility to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and some neighbors who said they opposed him nonetheless confirmed the government’s account of an airstrike. Still, journalists visiting the site found no pieces of a bomb. NATO could not be reached for comment, and it was impossible to rule out another explanation.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/world/africa/19libya.html

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. With allies like us, who needs enemies, eh? nt

[tabatha]

2. Brega - yes, Tripoli - no

NATO has apologized for BREGA hit - it happened because the rebels were in an area where Gaddfi's forces had been.

NATO has stated that they did not target the area in TRIPOLI - there was only one flight that night and it was not in the area. Reporters at the Rixos hotel reported a quiet night (wrt jets).

Current information on the TRIPOLI strike can be found at the link. Residents say that it was not NATO but Gaddafi.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1320673&mesg_id=1327068

[Poll_Blind]

3. NATO's gonna free the SHIT out of you!

PB