By Stephen Lendman
Libyan rebels on the march: who the hell supplied the tanks?
NATO intends to get the bloodbath it wants through intensified terror bombing and low-level strafing of civilians and nonmilitary sites. No matter that it grossly violates international and constitutional law, what Washington-led member states long ago trashed. Through August 22, air operations included 19,877 sorties and 7,505 strike ones, with no elaboration of their intensity or deadliness. What is known is that powerful, high-explosive munitions are used, able to cause deadly force casualties and destruction.
In recent days, strikes intensified. Without them, rebels would disintegrate and collapse. Most of them are little more than ragtag mercenary hooligans, imperial tools, used for what won’t benefit them.
It’s largely true of all wars, especially America’s waged for conquest, dominance, plunder and exploitation, never for democracy or humanitarian reasons Washington doesn’t give a damn about and never did.
NATO is no different. Established in April 1949, a previous article said it calls itself a “political and military alliance for peace and security.”
In fact, it was more for offense than defense. Cold War hysteria was contrived to incite fear and assure an arms race for corporate enrichment. Napoleon once said, “Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest.”
Until the Soviet Union dissolved, communism was the alleged enemy. Today it’s terrorism, as bogus now as then. Both, however, were used for hugely profitable imperial wars from Korea to Libya to numerous proxy ones, as well as trillions of dollars for military readiness – in fact, scandalous amounts in America without enemies for justification since WW II.
Strategically intervening under US control, NATO, in fact, threatens world peace and human survival. In November 2010, Robert Griffiths, general secretary of Britain’s Communist Party (CPB) said:
Under NATO, “(a) global military and reconnaissance infrastructure is being created to support US, British and western European big business interests, especially energy, financial and armaments monopolies.” What began “as a cold war provocation against a non-existent Soviet threat (now) invent(s) or exaggerat(es) threats from so-called failed or rogue states, Islamic fundamentalism and cyber-terrorism.”
Petre Ignat, general secretary of the New Communist Party of Romania, called for NATO’s disbandment, saying:
“We cannot and will not recognize such a murderous alliance, with such a horrible track record….which includes the murder of thousands of innocent civilians in places like Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. We cannot and will not recognize an alliance which, through its aggressive policy of expanding East and setting up new military bases there, through its gross interference in other countries’ internal affairs, through its gross violation of international law, can only increase the likelihood of an inter-imperialist war between Western imperialism and emerging capitalist powers, like Russia.”
Its original member countries included America, the five (1948) Treaty of Brussels states (Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Canada, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Iceland. It’s now expanded to 28 states and dozens of partners, threatening world peace and stability.
Membership, however, is a bonanza for Western and Israeli weapons industries as current members and entering states must maintain modern arsenals to state-of-the art readiness, despite no enemies except ones Washington creates to wage wars.
Today, Libya is Exhibit A for NATO lawlessness, attacking a nonbelligerent country for colonization, dominance and plunder, not liberation. Libyans resolve to resist, doing what they can despite ferocious air attacks.
On August 22, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said Sunday casualties included 1,300 killed, another 5,000 or more wounded. Local hospitals can’t keep up, yet casualties mount as street fighting continues.
The Australian AP quoted Hugo Chavez denouncing NATO’s war, saying:
Western powers are “destroying Tripoli with their bombs,” while street clashes continue. He added that bombs are “falling on schools, hospitals, workplaces, and farmland.”
“Let’s pray to God for the Libyan people….They’re practically demolishing Tripoli with their bombs” to take over another country. “It’s the excuse to intervene and seize (it) and its riches.”
Independent journalists on the ground are threatened and targeted. They’ve also been confined to their hotel, knowing exposure risks being shot by snipers. They’re marked men and women, making it essential they get help to leave. It’s too unsafe to stay.
In a morning email, Lizzie Phelan said:
“I am extremely exhausted, confused, a little scared, and I was feeling a little nervous about making the necessary political points (on Press TV live with this writer Monday morning) because of the present situation.”
Nonetheless, she felt buoyed being on air with a friend and supporter. She called it “massively reassuring and a timely reminder amidst my exhaustion of what we are fighting for.”
She also highlighted the death and injury toll. In the past two days alone, it surpassed Israel’s three-week Cast Lead slaughter. Moreover, much more is likely, besides the last six months toll, ravaging populated Libyan areas without letup.
What greater reason to indict NATO as a killing machine, a destructive US-led evil force everyone needs to understand, condemn, and struggle to abolish.
As long as this monster exists, no one anywhere is safe!
On August 21, Voltaire Network’s Thierry Meyssan headlined, “NATO carnage in Tripoli,” reporting on what he witnessed firsthand, saying:
On August 20, NATO launched “Operation Mermaid Dawn.”
“The Sirens were the mosque loud speakers which were used to launch Al Qaeda’s call to revolt against the Gaddafi government. Immediately ‘sleeper cells’ went into action. Organized in small, highly mobile, groups, they carried out multiple attacks.”
The overnight toll left about 350 killed, another 3,000 wounded. Early Sunday, conditions stabilized ahead of greater evening violence, supported by NATO drones, other aircraft, and “helicopters straf(ing) civilians in the streets with machine guns to clear the way for the jihadis.”
Ahead of the attacks, “a NATO warship….anchored just off the shore of Tripoli, delivering heavy weapons and debarking Al Qaeda jihadi forces, which were led by NATO officers.”
The Rixos hotel where Meyssan, other independent journalists, and Western ones stay came “under heavy fire.” By evening, another 1,300 dead and 5,000 wounded were reported. The toll keeps mounting.
UN Resolution 1973 empowering NATO to protect Libyans, in fact, facilitated their slaughter.
Heavy fighting is reported in Tripoli. Independent journalists are threatened with death, supported by NATO and rogue Western journalists. They’re known, so if exposed outside, they face execution. Mahdi Nazemroaya had a near miss. Franklin Lamb was wounded in the leg. He’s OK and recovering.
Nazemroaya said he “was putting up a sign on top of (his) hotel. (He) took the initiative to do that and write ‘Press’ (on it) – and a sniper shot at” him.
Other than during NATO bombing and strafing, he believes Libyans will fight to defend their country. The possibility of being NATO ruled is too intolerable to accept.
It’s an exploitive killing machine, wanting Libyans exploited, not liberated. At 5PM Monday Tripoli time, Franklin Lamb told Press TV that large explosions were heard nearby, likely 1,000-pound bombs, he believed.
On August 22, Nazemroaya’s Global Research.ca article headlined, “Western Media Complicit in NATO’s ‘Humanitarian Bloodbath,’ ” saying:
He and other foreign journalists are trapped in their hotel “as practically all the staff and security personnel have run for their lives.”
Calling the situation “critical,” he expected “the next several hours (to) be decisive.”
Despite ongoing intense NATO bombing and strafing civilians, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon brazenly called conditions in Libya “a hopeful moment,” shamelessly calling on Gaddafi to cease fighting and surrender.
A NATO tool, he opposes his right of self-defense, adding that he’ll tried by the International Criminal Court. In fact, it’s an imperial tribunal, a hanging one, convicting by accusation. At the same time, it absolves Western war criminals entirely, solely targeting their victims.
Nazemroaya said NATO’s using “Yugoslavian” tactics against Libya, “bombing out military and civil infrastructure to clear the way for the rebels.”
“NATO (heavy bombing and strafing) did all the work here….and their leaders must be help accountable as war criminals for killing civilians.”
At the same time, Washington and its NATO partners turn a blind eye to atrocities in Bahrain, Egypt under military junta rule, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, other pro-Western rogue states, and Israel’s crimes of war and against humanity against Palestinians.
Nazemroaya and other independent journalists are endangered. As a result, they need exit help to leave. Their lives are literally on the line.
He said “(t)wo of Gaddafi’s sons have been arrested with some reports suggesting the leader himself is in a specialist cardiac unit in a town 14 kilometers east of (Tripoli). Following a night of chaos in the capital, crowds have gathered in the city’s central square waving revolutionary flags.”
On Sunday, Gaddafi appealed to Libyans to deter the rebel offensive, saying:
“It is the obligation of all Libyans. It is a question of life or death.”
He’s made past similar appeals. It bears observing. At most, hundreds of insurgents (as few perhaps as three or four hundred) now terrorize Tripoli because of heavy NATO support. Without it, they’d be easily routed.
The situation remains chaotic, violent and fluid. Events are fast-moving. What appears one way can shift quickly to another.
Moreover, Gaddafi isn’t at issue. Libyans will decide their fate, not him, TNC turncoats, insurgents, or NATO, though a long liberation struggle may lie ahead.
Nonetheless, a shameless August 22 White House statement said:
“The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator.”
In fact, if justice prevailed, Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy, and other NATO war criminals would face international court prosecutions for waging war against humanity.
Ongoing ruthlessly for over six months against Libyans alone, it rages lawlessly out of control because justice humanity cries for is denied.
Unless gotten, people everywhere won’t be free. The stakes are that high.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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