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NATO Bombing of Tripoli Kills at Least 9 Civilians
The incident occurred a day after the government accused NATO of specifically targeting civilians.
TRIPOLI, Libya -- NATO said Sunday it was investigating Libyan claims that nine civilians, two of them of toddlers, were killed in an alliance air raid and would be "very sorry" if that were the case.
"NATO is looking into this matter," said spokesman Wing Commander Mike Bracken. "NATO was operating in Tripoli last night, conducting air strikes against a legitimate military target."
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told AFP that a NATO air strike on a residential district of Tripoli early on Sunday killed nine people, five of them from the same family, and wounded 18.
A picture taken Sunday shows Libyans and journalists next to the rubble of buildings that were damaged by NATO airstrikes on Tripoli's residential district of Arada. (AFP/Mahmud Turkia) Earlier in the day, journalists had been shown the bodies of five people, one of them a woman and two of them toddlers.
"The other four people were killed as they passed by in front of the block of flats when the raid hit," Ibrahim said.
The NATO spokesman said in a statement that the military alliance took "all reports of civilian casualties seriously and we will continue to look into the allegations to determine their authenticity".
"NATO deeply regrets any civilian loss of life during this operation and would be very sorry if the review of this incident concluded it to be a NATO weapon," he added.
In Tripoli, Ibrahim accused the Western alliance of "deliberately targeting civilians," insisting there were no military targets anywhere near the residential neighbourhood of the capital that was hit.
If confirmed, these first established civilian deaths would be an embarrassment for the alliance which has been leading the bombing campaign under a UN mandate to protect civilians.
The incident too comes a day after NATO said its aircraft mistakenly hit a column of Libyan rebel forces in the area of Brega on June 16.
NATO's latest official operational update on the Libya campaign said that aircraft hit a surface-to-air missile storage facility in Tripoli on Saturday.
It listed the following hits in the vicinity of Tripoli -- one command and control facility, two military vehicle storage facilities, one rocket launcher, four artillery pieces and two surface-to-air missile launchers.
On Saturday, NATO said that after looking into reports that an airstrike hit opposition forces in the Brega region on Thursday, "NATO can now confirm that the vehicles hit were part of an opposition patrol".
"This incident occurred in an area of conflict between (Moamer) Kadhafi forces and opposition forces," a statement added.
"We regret any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident," NATO said.
The statement said a column of military vehicles including tanks was observed in an area where Libyan strongman Kadhafi's forces had recently been operating.
"In a particularly complex and fluid battle scenario, it was assessed these vehicles were a threat to civilians and they were subsequently engaged by NATO aircraft."
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41 Comments so far
Show AllNATO - Committing the genocide they accused Quadaffi of.
"NATO said Sunday it was investigating Libyan claims that nine civilians, two of them of toddlers, were killed in an alliance air raid and would be "very sorry" if that were the case."
"Very sorry"?! SERIOUSLY?! Sorry?! That's the best NATO can come up with?! Sorry is what you say when you back up over someone's bike.
Yes, NATO and it's member countries are likely to be very 'sorry' when the understandably enraged and grief stricken family members turn to alternative combat methods to express their loss.
Way to go Harper, you just opened Canada up to massive and justified retaliation via 'terrorism'.
Yeah, but don't forget that the NDP went along with the Tories in voting to extend the Libyan "mission", the lone dissenter being Elizabeth May of the Green Party. I guess the NDP guys realize there's no point in offering an excuse to the Tories to paint them as "not supporting the troops" especially when the Toreis have the majority to do as they please. But still, this shows that the NDP realizes that it cannot get mass support if they were to take a stand calling for an immediate end to the bombing. Therein lies the real problem, and Harper must only know this well.
I'm sorry, but "genocide" and "terrorism" intentionally targets innocent civilians as part of its strategy. Does anyone seriously believe that NATO is INTENTIONALLY targeting civilians and children? That if NATO had the 'perfectly controlled weapon' at its disposal, it would aim it at two-year olds and women? Or at a skyscraper full of 3,000 civilians?
I know, I know -- that doesn't make a whit of difference to the dead children and civilians on the receiving end of NATO's bombs. But an organization with a weapon it attempts to use selectively is, morally, quite different from a terrorist with a weapon that he intentionally and gleefully applies indiscriminately against civilians -- especially if he/she thinks he has God on his moral side.
The former leaves room for hope that mankind can eventually, some day, move beyond war entirely. The latter promises nothing but more war, more chaos, and more human self-destruction.
"Does anyone seriously believe that NATO is INTENTIONALLY targeting civilians and children?"
I do. I think this is standard state terrorism by the US, as has been seen in all the other aggressive US wars, and is designed to destroy the civilian infrastructure and break the will of the Lybian people to resist, and to support Gaddafi. The US targeted water supply infrastructure in Iraq, for instance :
http://www.progressive.org/mag/nagy0901.html
The Secret Behind the Sanctions: How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply
By Thomas J. Nagy, September 2001 Issue
Over the last two years, I've discovered documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country's water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway.
[...]
This is what the CIA calls 'destabilization' (and what the 'masters of mankind' call 'stabilization -- that is, making an area stable for the wealthy international corporations and fascists -- as Chomsky has explained http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/28-04-2010/113208-chomsky_iran-0/
"Chomsky: Because Iran has followed an independent path and not subordinate to any order of international authorities. They behaved in a manner similar to what Chile did in the seventies. When this country was ruled by the socialist Salvador Allende, it was destabilized by the U.S. to produce "stability." It was not a question of any contradiction. It was necessary to overthrow the Allende government - forcible "destabilizing" - to maintain "stability" to restore the authority of the U.S. The same phenomenon is occurring now in the Gulf region. Teheran objects to the authority of the USA.").
Lybia has become 'unstable' because Gadafi has been a naughty puppet for the US. The US has never had hesitation in 'destroying a village [or country] to save it'. They do the same in Afghanistan: destroying the civilian population and infrastructure to convince people that the Taliban cannot protect them. You need to think much more cynically to understand the true level of evil of the reality. You need to learn to think like the psychopaths who are in power.
See:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jun2011/liby-j20.shtml
NATO bombs kill Libyan civilians in Tripoli
By Peter Symonds
20 June 2011
A NATO airstrike in a working class suburb of Tripoli early on Sunday morning killed and injured a number of civilians. Western journalists, who have treated previous evidence of Libyan civilian casualties dismissively, were taken to the site and confirmed seeing at least five bodies, including those of a nine-month-old baby and a child. Libyan officials reported that at least four more people had been killed and another 18 injured.
The New York Times reported: “There were no indications of any military facility in the area. Children’s shoes, diapers, a woman’s dress and kitchen tools lay amid the wreckage early Sunday. The blast knocked the top off the structure, leaving a concrete staircase reaching into the air. Several carports on the block collapsed, crushing the vehicles within. A neighbour a block away invited reporters into his home to show shattered glass from windows and doors, and said his wife had been taken to the hospital with wounds from the shards.”
According to the Los Angeles Times: “Scores of people in pyjamas and sandals gathered on the rubble strewn street well into the early morning hours. Volunteers carted out chunks of concrete as they searched for survivors or the deceased. The body of a woman was found and taken away on a stretcher as the search continued. Bulldozers moved huge pieces of concrete and twisted wire. Children’s clothing was seen in the rubble.”
One man, who had no political sympathy for the Libyan regime, told the newspaper: “This is a purely civilian street. I think the sooner [Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi goes the better. But for NATO to bomb a street like this is criminal. There is no military here anywhere.” The house was home to members of an extended family named al-Ghrari in a working class suburb in the Souq al-Juma area of the capital.
[...]
The Libyan government has put the number of civilians killed in air raids at more than 800. It recently claimed that a NATO bomb destroyed a hotel and another struck a bus southwest of Tripoli, killing a dozen people. Just as similar reports of civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq were routinely ignored by the US, so NATO, supported by the Western media, has dismissed previous Libyan accounts as “government propaganda.”
Libyan spokesmen were quick to point to the absurdity of NATO claims to be protecting civilians through its nearly four month-long aerial campaign. Speaking to journalists at the site of the latest bombing, deputy foreign minister Khalid Kaim said: “We have seen who is attacking civilians. They are targeting houses and flats. Tomorrow they will target schools and hospitals.”
The war on Libya is not being waged to defend civilians, but is a neo-colonial operation to further the strategic and economic aims of the US and its European allies in North Africa and the Middle East. Its objective is to remove Gaddafi and install a pro-Western puppet regime that will allow the imperialist powers to exploit the country’s energy reserves and provide a base for suppressing revolutionary movements throughout the region.
[...]
NATO has ever used the "cover" of not intending to kill civilians while going ahead and killing civilians.
They do this because it allows them to kill Citizens with impunity.
They do this because AS WITH the deliberate genocide of some 500000 Iraqi Children via the destruction of the water supply and as outlined in those papers from the Pentagon which outlined that strategy.
To paraphrase..."It is hoped that in suffering the loss of so many children the people will rise up against Saddam and topple him so as to make the killings stop".
They do it because it a not so subtle signal to the Citizens of other countries as to what is in store for THEM as well if they dare stand against the desires of the NATO nations....That signal being "We have the media with us...we have duped the people into thinking our cause is good and noble. Stand against us and we will do the same to you, your children will die and not even public opinion will save you because we will tell our people "We are sorry...it was a tragic mistake"
The truth is this. Once is a mistake. If it happens over and over and over again then it is POLICY.
"Does anyone seriously believe that NATO is INTENTIONALLY targeting civilians and children?"
Yes, it seems plainly apparent that NATO targets civilians with remote-control, GPS-navigated, precision, hi-tech bombing.
Does anyone seriously believe that what we are doing to the Libyan people is better than what Qaddafi has done for his own people? He brought water from the desert, used oil revenues to provide free education and health care. What's bad about that?
Oh, the old colonel wasn't in the pockets of the West, was he? He had control of the oil, not the western oil companies, huh? They don't like that. Qaddafi didn't kiss their keisters so they sent in the bombers.
"Does anyone seriously believe that NATO is INTENTIONALLY targeting civilians and children?"
________________
Hell, yes!
Alternatively: I eventually outgrew my naïve enjoyment of the "Law and Order" teevee franchise, but I have to give it credit for popularizing the concept of felonious "depraved indifference".
"To constitute depraved indifference, the defendant's conduct must be so wanton, so deficient in a moral sense of concern, so lacking in regard for the life or lives of others, and so blameworthy as to warrant the same criminal liability as that which the law imposes upon a person who intentionally causes a crime."
Never fear, as soon as a faction agrees to give us all of Libya's oil reserves, they'll be in charge and peace will reign.
Until then, stay close to the cellar.
It's not about oil in Libya, it's all about that upstart Gaddafi not playing nice and refusing to join "Africom" and being instrumental in the planning of an African Monetary Fund and a unified Africa.
"AFRICAN MONETARY FUND, AFRICAN CENTRAL BANK, AFRICAN INVESTMENT BANK
The US$30 billion frozen by Mr Obama belong to the Libyan Central Bank and had been earmarked as the Libyan contribution to three key projects which would add the finishing touches to the African federation - the African Investment Bank in Syrte, Libya, the establishment in 2011 of the African Monetary Fund to be based in Yaounde with a US$42 billion capital fund and the Abuja-based African Central Bank in Nigeria which when it starts printing African money will ring the death knell for the CFA franc through which Paris has been able to maintain its hold on some African countries for the last fifty years. It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi.
The African Monetary Fund is expected to totally supplant the African activities of the International Monetary Fund which, with only US$25 billion, was able to bring an entire continent to its knees and make it swallow questionable privatisation like forcing African countries to move from public to private monopolies. No surprise then that on 16-17December 2010, the Africans unanimously rejected attempts by Western countries to join the African Monetary Fund, saying it was open only to African nations."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201104150792.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?aid=18660&context=va
"NATO said Sunday it was investigating Libyan claims that nine civilians, two of them of toddlers, were killed in an alliance air raid and would be "very sorry" if that were the case."
Well, they did say they were "very sorry."
Alternatively, instead of expressing fake regret, why don't we do what the US always does when they blow up a pair of toddlers: issue a press release claiming that we killed Al Qaeda's number 2 and 3 men in a fierce firefight. And don't forget to give a bronze star to the hero who stopped these little terrorists before they could attack us. Hopefully he has toddlers of his own and, when he gets home from saving the world, will explain to them what he did in the war when he tucks them in at bedtime. Sleep well, brave soldier.
Careful Caleb, lest you be labeled unpatriotic, questioning our military. Didn't you get the memo? We're not supposed to call our brave warriors "baby killers" anymore. It's Mourning in Amerikkka, and our brave and valiant soldiers are fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here. Protecting the Fatherland, I mean, Homeland. Bringing democracy, truth, justice, and depleted uranium, because they hate us for our freedoms. 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.
Coincidentally, I just posted this comment to the Patrick Cockburn article listed below:
______________
All of The Enemy's methods of waging war are utterly reprehensible, heinous, atrocious, and diabolical-- you can't put anything past those evil bastards.
All of Our methods of waging war are civilized, responsible, respectable, and decent-- except, perhaps, for the occasional Merry Mixup when crowded by circumstances.
It's just that simple. Every chauvinistic, self-righteous warmongering simpleton will tell you so.
hey, but at least it's not a war.....right?
Do they drill it into these reporters as to what words to use in what context, or do they pick up on their own, knowing what's expected of them? Consider the wording here:
>>" NATO said Sunday it was investigating Libyan claims that nine civilians, two of them of toddlers, were killed in an alliance air raid and would be "very sorry" if that were the case."<<
Why can't the above be written thus:
"NATO claimed Sunday it was investigating Libyan charges that nine civilians, two of them of toddlers, were killed in an alliance air raid and claimed it would be "very sorry" when its mask is removed."
I think just about all the instances where it says "NATO said..." can be replaced with "NATO claimed..." and it would be just as valid.
I don't recall reading "strongman" since Manuel Noriega.......The MSM must be in some sort of adjective crisis.
And by the way, how dare anyone attempt to "embarrass the alliance"!?
Hey, rita-- I notice that you've been annoying people again lately.
Come over here and sit by me.
Thank you for the generous invitation, O.S.!
I gladly accept your kind offer........
Perhaps WayneWR and Mairead will come by to defend what NATO has done with their bombs.
Bringing depleted uranium to backward foreign lands, courtesy of The Greatest Country in the World, The Most Powerful, and The Wealthiest.
It's the new way of ushering in the democratic way of governing.
And Saudi Arabia.
And the very powerful global finance and banking.
"If confirmed, these first established civilian deaths ..."
Civilians have been being killed all along, and there is no shortage of cradible reports of that. It's also established that non-military targets have been hit or damaged, such as a hospital and university.
Headline: "Oh my! A wild bear has been reported pooping in the woods!
Mass media is whitewashing this to the point of unrecognizability -- as usual with aggressive wars. As far as the US should be concerned, they are ALL civilian deaths! The US has NOT been attacked by Lybia and has no reason to be bombing anyone there, with 4,400 NATO bombing sorties ( http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38d01530-9aa8-11e0-bab2-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1PkwNNGJ5 ). Imagine the US reaction if a 'terrorist' such as Gaddafi had set off 4,000 bombs!
Edit:
In addition to http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=latestNews , http://williambowles.info/ also has a good listing of stories about Lybia. (They do overlap). Also see http://www.uruknet.info/ for infomation about Lybia.
According to foreign news services (Russian, Chinese, Iranian) this is hardly the first instance of a NATO bombing killing civilians. What made AFP decide finally to report this one?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28344.htm
''''
Farrakhan Blasts UN, Defends Khadafy
Minister Farrakhan's Full Press Conference on US, NATO attack on Libya:
Minister Farrakhan exposed the U.S. and NATO's criminal War Libya and Africa during a June 15, 2011 Press Conference at the UN Plaza Hotel. Also presenting were former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Human Rights Activist Viola Plummer and International Activist Cynthia McKinney.
Posted June 16, 2011
''''
[...]
links to video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNLqQ2cN-PA
'''
Farrakhan Blasts the "Coalition of Demons" attacking Libya (June 15, 2011)
(FinalCall.com) - Minister Farrakhan exposed the U.S. and NATO's criminal War Libya and Africa during a June 15, 2011 Press Conference at the UN Plaza Hotel. Also presenting were former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Human Rights Activist Viola Plummer and International Actitivst Cynthia McKinney.
'''
1hour 24 minutes.
Thanks for these links.
The US and others have always targeted civilians as a matter of course.....the bombing of South and North Viet Nam and the dropping of more bombs on Cambodia than had been dropped in total of all wars in history is a case in point.
NATO and the US killing innocent civilians....just another day.
The Chinese (and most other nations) send diplomats, engineers, tecnicians, merchants, artisans, economic advisors, etc. to Libya.
NATO (Amerika) sends cruise missiles and shock an' awe fighter jets to destroy Libya, once the most prosperous nation on the African continent. Come on! See it! See it! See the terrible, violent, war-mongering beast that Amerika has become.
"If confirmed, these first established civilian deaths would be an embarrassment for the alliance which has been leading the bombing campaign under a UN mandate to protect civilians."
As confirmed, these first UNDENIABLY civilian deaths - apart from Ghaddafi's three grandchildren, who apparently weren't civilians on account of their parentage - demonstrate how ramshackle the "to protect civilians"-justifications NATO uses in this neocolonial aggressive war is.
NATO will "investigate" the matter and say "sorry" if the matter isn't forgotten by then. Then imply that dying is the price for civilians not rising up to the designated enemy Ghaddafi.
Meanwhile, the attack on Ghaddafi - by any other name and pretext - serves as example to all the other turbulent Arab states of what may happen if they don't follow NATO's imperatives.
This is the world of the rich now, and anyone who doesn't suck up to the rich will be demoted to poor or slave. - That's NATO's not-so-new aim, recently starkly revealed.
They have already stated OPENLY that the template used against Libya by NATO will be expanded to other nation states.
Easy to believe: it's not like the empire's thinking is secret at all. But pls, source - link?
The US government is bloodthirsty. It loves war. It just can not get enough war. I don't think it even knows why it fights any more. The first response to any international event, even those not rising to the level of "crisis", is to send in troops and machines and begin killing. The first response. Always. Invade. Occupy. Kill. Invade. Occupy. Kill. It is a real mass sickness. It is horrid. And it is true. I am ashamed to call myself an AmeriKan. Have been for years. I despair. God, what an evil country this has become. Can those with power not see this? Are they ALL psychopaths? My God what is happening?
as drone points out "at least it's not a war."
it's a Mission of Mercy.
"whoops - oh mercy! - killed some more kids."
"sorry"
"VERY sorry."
Obama is conducting a war of agression for oil plunder. This is a case for the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. (The same for Bush/Cheney/Blair/Howard)
The US is immune from prosecution at the ICC. ALong with every other member of the US Security Council and NATO.
DemocracyNow, and other closet white supremacist cheerleaders in the false resistance camp. Happy with your bloody merry high?
Great punch line - to yr informative and well summed up poem, Bloodmeridian.
The complete collection (No. 11 by now) should be published in some periodical at e.g. year end.
Tnx.