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.