The War on Libya is at a Dangerous Crossroads What will NATO find next in UNSC Resolution 1973?
by Boris Volkhonsky As the war in Libya is intensifying and NATO is still far from achieving its declared aims, the Alliance is looking for new tricks in order to widen the scope of operations and attract new fresh forces. On Wednesday, NATO defense ministers held a meeting in Brussels to discuss the course of the current almost three-month-long operation and to exert more pressure on NATO members prodding them to join more aggressively in the campaign. Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, there was little indication that the five NATO members that were specifically addressed – Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey — were willing to commit themselves more deeply. By now, NATO has already conducted more than 10,000 airstrikes against various targets in Libya, with the most devastating ones being inflicted during the last week. And what is becoming more and more obvious is the fact that the real target – whatever NATO officials might be saying about not targeting individuals – is the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. This was acknowledged in an interview to CNN by a high-ranking NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official argued that since Gaddafi is the commander-in-chief, he is part of the command and control structure of Libyan armed forces, and that makes him a legitimate target. Now, the logic seems to be at least weird. The UN Security Council Resolution #1973 which gave a “green light” for NATO military operations against the Gaddafi regime, states clearly that the purpose of the operation is to establish a no-fly zone over Libya and to protect the civilian population. The no-fly zone was established within a few days after the operation began. This did not seem to satisfy NATO, and apart from the Libyan air force and its infrastructure, they started attacking other military facilities claiming that they were protecting the civilian population. But until now, no one has really calculated who and what has caused more casualties among Libyan civilians – the Gaddafi regime, the rebels or the NATO airstrikes. Then, although Resolution #1973 directly forbids it, there have been reports that NATO ground troops are already in Libya. At least one fact has never been concealed – that is the use of combat helicopters which is only one step from a full-scale ground operation. With all the massive NATO support, the rebels did not seem fit or willing (or, most likely, both) to launch a decisive offensive against Gaddafi forces. The whole burden of the operation (of which, as the Brussels meeting shows, NATO is becoming more and more fatigued) was to be borne by the Alliance. But the Gaddafi regime, although weakened...is still holding on to its last resort – the capital Tripoli. If Gaddafi forces succeed in keeping hold of Tripoli for some more time, won’t it be logical from NATO’s point of view to declare ALL people living in the capital militants and therefore legitimate targets for carpet bombings? What will come next is even too dangerous to imagine. But in any case, what the whole situation proves is only one fact – that is the complete impotence of NATO and its total incapacity to achieve its declared aims. Some of the NATO members (for example, Germany and all others specifically addressed at the Brussels meeting) seem to have realized it three months ago when the operation was only beginning. And Germany is still rebuffing all attempts to get it involved in the operation. “Germany sticks to its position: No military engagement,” said Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt. When the same feeling will dawn upon other NATO members eager to pursue their war-mongering policy until the complete elimination of the Libyan leadership and complete devastation of the country remains unclear. http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25213 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NATO is in an Act of War Against Africa by B.F. Bankie NATO is violating Africa The bombardment of Libya is an act of war and a desecration of the Afrikan Homeland by a set of Europeans. a) The Pan Afrikanist Steering Committee of Namibia Against The United Nations Resolution 1973 (PSCNAUNR), notes with deep sadness the appalling atrocity being committed by NATO’s bombardment, the protracted sponsoring of mercenaries described as rebels by European governments to kill, maim, destroy local infrastructure, attack Afrikans and present to the world Black Afrikans as Gaddaffi’s forces, thus leading to ethnic cleansing, where such people are living in fear of their lives within Libya. This violates Afrikan human rights and violates the territorial integrity of Afrika and its people. The PSCNAUNR now calls upon the government of Namibia, a member state of the Afrikan Union (AU), without further delay, to demand that the United Nations Assembly put an immediate cessation to the aggression and genocide against the people of Libya and the Afrikan people therein. b) We note, with deep regret, that there was an Official AU Road Map in place under Article 20 of the United Nations’ Charter, wherein the AU delegation was positioned to meet with the sovereign leader of Libya and the Western-sponsored rebels. Before the AU could carry out its legal and moral duty, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), under the guise of the UN, deliberately started its bombardment under a hidden agenda for regime change, contrary to the principles enshrined within the said Article. This represents a desecration of Afrika and genocide, as part of the Fratral Doctrine. [They will attack one state together while others watch until their turn to be attacked comes, and they will fight all by themselves and get defeated. No individual state can defeat these fellows]. Yet when we are united like during the independence struggle we will emerge victorious. The Europeans through NATO cannot be allowed to ignore the AU and override Afrika in a second colonial bid. It is now crystal clear that the motive behind Resolution 1973 was of a sinister nature, in the first instance representing a declaration of war, as demonstrated by attacks and acts of aggression against a sovereign state of the AU. This has thus culminated in crimes against humanity. Therefore, we demand the immediate removal of those NATO terrorists from the area and that they be speedily brought to justice. c) As Pan Afrikanists, the PSCNAUNR calls upon our brothers and sisters across the globe for the defence of Afrika and its people in respect of NATO’s act of war against an Afrikan state. An attack on one is an attack on all; we therefore reserve the right inter alia to defend ourselves by any means necessary. d) The PSCNAUNR further notes that the United Nations 1973 Resolution was a deception in the first instance, the brain child of the USA, France and Britain, a group of reputed war mongers within the Security Council and whose track records are well known on the globe, who had indeed succeeded in fooling the members of that honorable Council of the UN, under the false pretence that the said Resolution was for the protection of civilians. From the evidence so far, NATO and the Western-backed mercenaries are the ones killing civilians and destroying the infrastructure of that Afrikan state, where genocide has become an every day occurrence and where NATO has gone beyond the scope of the Resolution, in attempting to assassinate the sovereign leader of that state, which according to the International Criminal Court (ICC) statute Articles 5, 6 and 7 constitute an unlawful act. All these actions have nothing to do with the protection of civilians and that the real motive manifested so far is for regime change and a programme of re-colonization. e) PSCNAUNR demands that, in the interest of safeguarding humanity and our territorial integrity and in the pursuit of justice that two Permanent Seats be created on the UN Security Council within the same time span it took to enact Resolution 1973 and this should not go beyond three months. One seat for the AU and one for the Caribbean Union (CARICOM). f) In the mean time PSCNAUNR calls upon our government and fellow AU members to recall our ambassadors and to expel all ambassadors whose countries are directly involved in the bombardment of Libya within three days, until the war of aggression is called off. g) The PSCNAUNR encourages the AU to continue with its policy of non-recognition against governments via coup d’état which historically has been the mechanism through which the West, particularly those bombing Afrika under the NATO flag, has maintained Afrika’s backwardness, continued with the exploitation and plundering and preventing democratic progress. h) We the Pan Afrikanists demand an immediate trade embargo and the freezing of all assets of those governments and their people that have declared war against Libya and we call upon the AU Assembly to effect this programme of action without delay. We the Pan Afrikanists, friends of Afrika and the peace-loving people of humanity hereby call upon the government of Namibia and the AU to mobilize a national march (es) on the 11th June 2011 against the UN, NATO, US, France, Italy and Britain’s programme of regime change in Libya. *The Pan Afrikanist Steering Committee of Namibia Against The United Nations Resolution 1973 (PSCNAUNR). B.F.Bankie is a member of the Sudan Sensitisation Project (SSP). http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25207 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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