The minute the missiles and bombs started flying.
And we are backing a loser?
"US, allies formally recognize Libya rebels; Opposition now one step closer to Khadafy’s assets" July 16, 2011|By William Booth and William Wan, Washington Post
ISTANBUL - The United States granted Libyan rebel leaders full diplomatic recognition as the governing authority of Libya yesterday, after five months of fighting to oust longtime ruler Moammar Khadafy.
Little premature, ain't it?
The decision at a meeting here of more than 30 Western and Arab nations is the first step in giving the rebels access to Libya’s frozen US assets, worth more than $30 billion.
“I am announcing today that, until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognize the TNC as the legitimate governing authority for Libya,’’ Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, referring to the rebels’ Transitional National Council, prompting other ministers to break out in applause.
The announcement was accompanied by an agreement among all nations at the meeting to recognize the rebel council.
Hours later, outside the meeting hall, ministers sent from the Libyan rebel council reacted to their long-sought diplomatic status with exuberance but also a mixture of weariness and frustration. Ali Tarhouni, the rebel’s minister of finance and oil, vented that despite the international recognition they received yesterday, it ultimately came with no immediate infusion of funds, desperately needed now by the cash-strapped rebels.
“All it has brought is more pledges for money,’’ he said. “If we had as much money as we have had pledges these past few months, we would have no problems.’’
Beside him, the rebel’s minister of finance, Mahmoud Shammam, added that while the opposition needs money, weapons are needed even more, which most Western powers have refused to supply, to be able to fight Khadafy. And the new money in frozen assets that may come from diplomatic recognition may not be allowed to go toward weapons....
The Obama administration’s announcement in Turkey drew immediate criticism from Representative Michael Turner, Republican of Ohio, among most active Republicans on Libya. “This is incredibly premature,’’ Turner said, citing worries about the loyalty of rebels to the United States.
--more--"
"For three days running, the government of Moammar Khadafy has sponsored carnival-like rallies at which thousands of supporters cheered as the leader’s defiant words boomed from massive speakers.
As NATO hammers away at the Libyan leader’s defenses and the United States and its allies throw their support behind the rebels, Khadafy is trying to boost morale in what is left of his nation and show his people he is still strong and his opponents are few.
Bolstering that image is all the more pressing after the United States and more than 30 nations recognized Khadafy enemies during a meeting Friday in Istanbul, potentially freeing up billions in frozen oil money that could be put into rebel hands.
NATO jets destroyed a military storage facility and other targets in Tripoli’s eastern outskirts early yesterday, and rebel attacks on the eastern oil city of Brega stretched into their fourth day, with reports of pitched battles in the residential areas.
--more--"
"Gadhafi government holds talks with US officials" by Paul Schemm Associated Press / July 18, 2011
TRIPOLI, Libya—Representatives of Moammar Gadhafi's embattled government held face-to-face talks with U.S. officials in neighboring Tunisia over the weekend, a Libyan government official said Monday, describing the meeting as a first step in opening dialogue.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed the meeting took place but said it was only to deliver a clear and firm message that Gadhafi must step down. The U.S. official said it was not a negotiating session and no future meetings were planned.
The talks came after Friday's decision by the United States and more than 30 other nations meeting in Istanbul to recognize the eastern-based rebels fighting Gadhafi's government as the country's legitimate representatives, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly.
Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli that the talks were held Saturday in Tunisia but he refused to say which officials took part.
"This is a first step and we want to take further steps," he said. "We don't want to be stuck in the past; we want to move forward all the time," he told reporters in the corridors of the hotel where foreign journalists are required to reside.
He described it as a "a first-step dialogue" to see about repairing relations between the two countries, which he said had been damaged by misinformation.
The U.S. was an active participant in NATO airstrikes against Libyan forces that began March 19 and were authorized under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians from Gadhafi's advancing forces.
The U.S. later turned over command of the air campaign to NATO and now plays a largely logistical role in the continuing airstrikes.
Fighting continued Monday around the eastern oil port of Brega. An Associated Press reporter on the scene witnessed rocket duels between the opposing sides and the thick black smoke of burning oil terminals blanketing the sky.
In Tripoli, Ibrahim claimed that more than 500 rebels had been killed in five days of failed assaults against the strategic town. Rebels, however, have only reported a handful of casualties and maintain fighting continues in their attempt to take the oil terminal on the front lines of the civil war.
The government spokesman said the rebels attacked by sea using boats and along a desert highway and the main coastal road, but were bloodily repelled in every case.
NATO forces destroyed a radar tower at the Tripoli International Airport in the early hours of the morning Monday because it was being used to target its planes, the alliance said
Libyan officials countered that the radar system was not used for military purposes.
--more--"
"Libyan rebels work to clear land mines; Khadafy forces kill eight near oil town" by July 20, 2011|By Rami Al-Shaheibi, Associated Press
AJDABIYA, Libya - Government forces in trucks disguised with rebel flags shelled opposition positions yesterday near the strategic eastern oil town of Brega, killing eight rebel fighters and wounding dozens more, officials said.
What "officials" described a false flag to the newspaper?
In an audio message directed at a rally of thousands in the town of al-Aziziya, south of Tripoli, embattled ruler Moammar Khadafy emphasized the importance of Libya’s vast oil wealth to his regime and called the civil war a battle “for our way of life.’’
Rebel forces have been pushing for nearly a week to seize the front-line town of Brega, which is home to an oil refinery and terminal, but they say fields of land mines planted by Khadafy’s forces have slowed the advance.
The rebels are fighting in a residential area on Brega’s eastern side and control about one third of the town, spokesman Mohammed al-Rajali said.
Field commander Ahmed Maysawi said rebel forces were working to clear the mines so they can move forward while government troops are occasionally approaching in trucks disguised with rebel flags to shell rebel positions with mounted rocket launchers....
Oh, those "officials."
In his audio message, Khadafy emphasized the importance of Libya’s wealth and made a rare reference to the fuel shortages caused by Tripoli’s international isolation that have made life hard in government-controlled areas.
“This battle is in our homes. It has affected our children’s food, our oil, our oil fields,’’ he said in a clip shown on state TV. “It cuts off electricity, it cuts off gas. This battle is for our children’s food, for our way of life.’’
Some 5,000 people, mainly from the local Warshafana tribe, gathered in the main square of al-Aziziya, around 30 miles south of Tripoli, and cheered wildly, waving green flags. They chanted their support for Khadafy and at the end of his speech fired dozens of AK-47s in the air, startling the scores of horses tribesmen had brought to the rally.
Rebels struggling to oust Khadafy since the uprising against his rule broke out in February control much of Libya’s east, but Brega, 450 miles southeast of Tripoli, has been under government control since early April.
It's actually the eastern third, but you left with the impression it's half the country.
Have I told you how sick I am of the one-sided distortions in my paper?
The two sides have been locked in a stalemate, with the rebels unable to advance beyond pockets in the west despite a NATO air campaign against Khadafy’s forces.
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"Rebels say Khadafy boobytraps oil port" July 22, 2011|By Alan Clendenning, Associated Press
MADRID - Libyan ruler Moammar Khadafy’s troops have boobytrapped petroleum installations in the strategic oil port of Brega so they can be blown up if his regime loses the town, a top rebel official said yesterday.
Mahmoud Jibril, the rebels’ diplomatic chief, said that Khadafy’s forces have also boobytrapped oil fields. He did not state which fields. While Brega is a key oil processing and shipment hub, the fields that feed it lie far to the south in the Libyan desert.
“Unfortunately, Brega is a big minefield right now,’’ Jibril told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez of Spain. “We discovered that they planted mines all over the place. Even some oil establishments, some oil fields, have been full of bombs, explosives.’’
Rebels and pro-Khadafy forces have been locked in a stalemate, despite a NATO air campaign against Khadafy’s forces. Rebels hold most of eastern Libya, but their push to seize Brega unraveled Tuesday when 27 rebels were killed in shelling by Khadafy’s troops.
With the NATO-led air campaign entering its fifth month, Britain’s military reported its first death related to the campaign after an airman died in a traffic accident in southern Italy....
Rebel forces have pulled back from Brega amid hopes that Khadafy’s forces will surrender, and Jibril said rebel fighters “are circulating Brega from all fronts right now.’’
Rebel commanders have said that mine fields laid by Khadafy’s troops have hampered their advance....
Jibril also said that Libya’s National Transitional Council wants foreign firms like Spanish energy company Repsol SA, which abandoned the country when fighting broke out, to return and rebuild their damaged installations and to allow Spain’s government to deduct those costs from the frozen assets.
Last week’s recognition of the council as Libya’s legitimate government will potentially free up tens of billions of dollars in cash from frozen Libyan assets that the rebels desperately need, but Jimenez suggested that assets in Spain will not be immediately released.
Instead, she said Spanish officials and Libyan opposition officials will meet soon to determine whether the assets in Spain could be used as collateral to provide the rebels with credit.
Jibril visited Spain a day after France’s foreign minister suggested that a possible way out of Libya’s civil war would be to allow Khadafy to stay in the country if he relinquishes power.
But not much is made of that in my "we're winning" newspaper.
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Related:
"Germany will lend Libya’s rebel leadership $144 million to help with the country’s rebuilding and humanitarian needs.
The German Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it was granting urgently needed funding as a loan because frozen assets related to Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy cannot yet be released.
--more--"
Also see:
NATO bombs Libyan hospital
NATO war crime: Libya water supply
And not a word in my pos paper!
Instead it is more one-sided propaganda!
"Britain recognizes Libyan opposition; Unfreezes $149m in assets for rebels" by Karla Adam, Washington Post / July 28, 2011
LONDON - Britain has officially recognized Libya’s rebel opposition as the country’s sole government authority and expelled all of the remaining Libyan diplomats loyal to Moammar Khadafy, Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday.
The decision reflects the Transitional National Council’s “increasing legitimacy, competence, and success in reaching out to Libyans across the country,’’ Hague said.
Speaking at a news conference in London, Hague said that Britain would deal with the rebel council “on the same basis as other governments around the world’’ and has invited it to send an envoy to take over the Libyan Embassy in London. He also said it would unfreeze millions in frozen rebel assets.
The moves appeared intended to ratchet up pressure on Khadafy’s regime, which has been locked in a five-month battle with rebels and a NATO-led coalition. Top British military officials had earlier warned that British forces were feeling squeezed by dual deployments in Libya and Afghanistan....
Who do you think will last longer?
British officials said earlier this week that Khadafy could perhaps stay in Libya provided he stepped down. Hague said yesterday that he would prefer if the Libyan leader left, but stressed that it is “up to the Libyan people to decide.’’
Then WTF are YOU doing there?
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"Witnesses: Commander killed by fellow Libya rebels" by Rami Al-Shaheibi and Hadeel Al-Shalchi Associated Press / July 29, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya—The Libyan rebels' military commander was killed by his comrades while in custody after he was arrested by the opposition's leadership on suspicion of treason, witnesses said Friday, in a sign of disarray that posed a major setback for the movement battling Moammar Gadhafi.
The slaying of Abdel-Fattah Younis raised fear and uncertainty in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital. Thousands marched behind his coffin, wrapped in the rebels' tricolor flag, to the graveyard for his burial, chanting that he was a martyr "beloved by God." Troops fired a military salute as the coffin arrived, and angry and grieving supporters fired wildly into the air with automatic weapons.
At the graveside, Younis' son, Ashraf, broke down, crying and screaming as they lowered the body into the ground and -- in a startling and risky display in a city that was the first to shed Gadhafi's rule nearly six months ago -- pleaded hysterically for the return of the Libyan leader to bring stability.
"We want Moammar to come back! We want the green flag back!" he shouted at the crowd, referring to Gadhafi's national banner.
(Blog editor shaking his head; it's over, NATO)
Younis' slaying appeared to shake both the rebels' leadership body, the National Transitional Council, and its Western allies, who have heavily backed the rebels controlling most of eastern Libya. Two weeks ago, 32 nations including the U.S. made a major commitment by formally recognizing the opposition as the country's legitimate government -- a significant boost after many allies hesitated in part because the rebels, a mix of tribes and factions, were largely an unknown quantity. Those Western worries will likely be deepened if Younis' slaying opens major splits among the fractious rebels. Divisions would also weaken the opposition's campaign to oust Gadhafi, which has largely stalled in a deadlock despite the four-month-old NATO bombing campaign against regime forces....
Younis was Gadhafi's interior minister until he defected to the rebellion early in the uprising, which began in February, bringing his forces into the opposition ranks. His move raised hopes among rebels and Western allies that the uprising could succeed in forcing out the country's ruler of more than four decades. But some rebels remained deeply suspicious that he retained loyalties to Gadhafi.
The National Transitional Council says it is investigating the killing. It blamed unidentified "gunmen" and has made no confirmation that Younis had been arrested. But a rebel special forces officer under Younis' command told The Associated Press that Younis was taken before dawn Wednesday from his operations room at Zoueitina, just east of the main front with Gadhafi's forces.
Fighters from a rebel faction known as the February 17 Martyr's Brigade came to the operations room and demanded Younis come with them for interrogation, said the officer, Mohammed Agoury, who said he was present at the time.
Agoury said he tried to accompany his commander, "but Younis trusted them and went alone."
"Instead, they betrayed us and killed him," he said.
The February 17 Martyrs Brigade is a group made up of hundreds of civilians who took up arms to join the rebellion. Their fighters participate in the front-line battles with Gadhafi's forces but also act as a semi-official internal security force for the opposition. Some of its leadership comes from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamic militant group that waged a campaign of violence against Gadhafi's regime in the 1990s.
An officer with the rebels' internal security forces -- the official security force of the National Council -- told AP that the council ordered Younis' arrest after a letter arose earlier this week connecting the commander to Gadhafi. But he suggested the killing had not been authorized by the council and was instead an act of vengeance by rebels....
Web adders:
Agoury said the Martyrs Brigade had an agenda against Younis, because while with the regime he was involved in the bloody crackdown that crushed the LIFG.
"They don't trust anyone who was with Gadhafi's regime. They wanted revenge," Agoury said.
A member of the Martyr's Brigade said his group had evidence that Younis was a "traitor." He told the AP that "the evidence will come out in a few days." The brigade member spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.
From Tripoli, Gadhafi's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said the regime's forces had no role in Younis' death. He called for a forensic investigation of Younis' remains, saying that even though he was a "traitor" to the government "he was still a Libyan citizen."
The city of Benghazi woke up to fierce shooting Friday, as the news of Younis' death spread confusion and suspicion. Among those firing were members of Younis' powerful Obaidi tribe.
Britain, one of the major participants in NATO's anti-Gadhafi bombing campaign, condemned the killing, but was cautious in its response.
"Exactly what happened remains unclear," said Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt. He said he had spoken to the rebels' political leader, who had stressed that "the killing will be thoroughly investigated."
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Related:
Funeral held for slain Libya rebel military chief
Killing of a Libyan rebel leader raises question of coalition split (By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times)
Rebels killed their commander, witnesses say (By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times)
Since all those articles are rewrites, etc, I must conclude the "rebels" did in fact do in one of their own.
Got your cover story straight now?
"Libyan commander was not killed for treason, leader says; Says slaying might have been work of Khadafy agents" July 31, 2011|Associated Press
BENGHAZI, Libya - Libya’s opposition governing council yesterday dismissed reports that the rebels’ chief military commander had been executed for treason.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council, said Abdel-Fattah Younis had been arrested for investigation into complaints of mismanaging his forces and was killed while being transported to a safer place.
Abdul-Jalil said the council is still investigating the circumstances of Younis’s death. He said authorities had the names of those behind the attack and believed they were acting on behalf of the Khadafy regime. No arrests have been made, he said.
Younis had been taken into custody for investigation into complaints of mismanagement, including not providing troops with enough ammunition, supplies, and food, said Abdul-Jalil, who sought to dispel speculation of infighting in the rebel ranks.
Younis’s body was found dumped outside the rebels’ de facto capital of Benghazi on Thursday along with the bodies of two colonels who were his top aides. They had been shot and their bodies burned.
Witnesses had said they were killed by fellow rebels after being taken into custody on suspicion of treason.
Libya’s rebel movement appeared to be in disarray a day after Younis’s mysterious death. The only place where rebels have seen small advances lately is in the western Nafusa mountain range, where they have gradually pushed Moammar Khadafy’s forces out of a string of towns and villages, bringing them within about 60 miles of Tripoli.
NATO said yesterday that alliance warplanes bombed three Libyan state TV satellite transmitters in Tripoli overnight, targeting facilities that have been used to incite violence and threaten civilians.
Nothing left to hit but the TV towers?
A series of loud explosions echoed across the capital before dawn. There was no immediate comment from Libyan officials on what had been hit, but state TV was still on the air in Tripoli as of yesterday morning.
NATO said the airstrikes aimed to degrade Khadafy’s “use of satellite television as a means to intimidate the Libyan people and incite acts of violence against them.’’
So when is someone going to shut down AmeriKan TV?
“Striking specifically these critical satellite dishes will reduce the regime’s ability to oppress civilians while [preserving] television broadcast infrastructure that will be needed after the conflict,’’ the alliance said in a statement posted on its website.
When is that going to be anyway?
It called the Libyan leader’s TV broadcasts inflammatory and said they were intended to mobilize his supporters.
Really reaching for something to bomb.
During the past 24 hours, alliance aircraft have also targeted military vehicles, radars, ammunition dumps, antiaircraft guns, and command centers near the front lines in the east and west, NATO said.
The coalition of NATO members participating in the air campaign is under strain as public opposition mounts in Europe to the costs of the mission - estimated at more than a billion euros - at a time of budget cuts and other austerity measures.
The United States was the first to limit its participation, deciding to only provide support to the European allies. Then Italy withdrew its only aircraft carrier and part of its air force contingent. Meanwhile, Norway has announced it will pull all of its F-16 warplanes out of the operation by tomorrow.
And then the Norway nut showed up?
The other five nations taking part are Britain, France, Belgium, Denmark, and Canada.
NATO has been increasingly embarrassed by the failure of the bombing campaign, now in its fifth month, to dislodge Khadafy’s regime.
The alliance has carried out about 6,500 strike sorties and a total of 17,000 sorties since March.
And how many thousands of Libyans have been killed?
With the fasting month of Ramadan due to start, there is a growing realization within the alliance that the costly campaign will drag on into the autumn and possibly longer.
Remember when Obama told you it would only be a FEW DAYS?
In one hopeful sign for the rebels, families that had fled to Tunisia appeared to be confident enough to return to the area. Yesterday, long lines formed at the Dhuheiba border crossing with Tunisia. About 2,000 people had entered Libya on Friday, about double the daily number for the past month.
--more--"
Related: Rebels say they unmasked secret pro-Gadhafi group
That's the cover story?
"Libyan rebels battle Khadafy loyalists in ranks;Bid to infiltrate insurgents hurts progress to goal" August 01, 2011|By Rami Al-Shaheibi, Associated Press
BENGHAZI, Libya - Libyan rebel leaders said yesterday that their forces hunted down and clashed with supporters of Moammar Khadafy who had been posing as rebel fighters to infiltrate the opposition’s eastern stronghold. The overnight battle killed four from each side and added to a sense of crisis within the rebel movement.
This is really in-your-face propaganda of the worst kind.
Libya’s shaken rebels are trying to rid their ranks of enemies after the assassination last week of their military chief, Abdel-Fattah Younis. The leadership insists the slaying was the work of Khadafy’s regime, but several witnesses have said Younis was killed by fellow rebels.
So when is the U.S. going to rid itself of all the dual national Israeli spies infesting this government?
As officials pieced together events leading up to yesterday’s gun battle, they announced that a faction of fighters called al-Nidaa was made up of Khadafy loyalists posing as rebels. The revelation could raise questions about the loyalty of other rebel factions and sap the movement of much-needed unity in its push to topple Khadafy nearly six months after the revolt began....
Talk of a fifth column - a group secretly sympathetic to the enemy - adds to the disarray that was set off with Thursday’s killing of the chief rebel commander, Younis, in still mysterious circumstances.
The leadership says authorities had arrested him on suspicion of mismanaging forces under his command, and that gunmen attacked while he was being taken from one location to another under heavy guard.
Several rebels who witnessed the attack, however, said he was killed by his own side. Younis was Khadafy’s interior minister before defecting to join the rebels.
In the Nafusa mountains of western Libya near the Tunisian border, rebel forces said they were making gains in their push against Khadafy forces. Yesterday, they said they were in the town of Hawamid and advanced another 6 to 9 miles toward the small town of Tiji in the last 24 hours. Pro-Khadafy forces inside Tiji were under siege but continued to attack the advancing rebels with rockets, according to Motawa. Tiji is on the main road from the Tunisian border to Tripoli, the Libyan capital. It is considered a strategically important town if rebels are to continue their advance to Tripoli, about 150 miles to the northeast.
Fighting in the east has been stalled for months, with neither side able to make any significant progress.
--more--"
"Yesterday, a Libyan official visiting Manila urged Filipino workers to return to Tripoli, saying violence was confined to rebel-controlled areas. The Philippines Foreign Ministry said the country is maintaining its policy not to deploy workers there.
Abdulhadi Lahweej, Libya’s undersecretary for expatriates, immigrants and refugee affairs, met with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, and reportedly assured him of the safety of people in Tripoli despite continuing NATO air raids.
About 14,000 Filipinos were evacuated from Libya in March....
--more--"
Also see: Slain Libyan rebel chief's son seeks speedy trials
"State-owned ship seized by Libyan rebels; NATO waves oil tanker into Benghazi port" August 05, 2011|By Rob Sheridan, Bloomberg News
LONDON - The Cartagena, an oil tanker owned by Libya’s government, entered the rebel-held port of Benghazi yesterday after reportedly being seized by opponents of leader Moammar Khadafy.
NATO forces hailed the tanker, found it was not breaking an arms embargo, and allowed it to enter the eastern port, a spokesman for the alliance said from Naples, declining to be identified by name in accordance with policy.
The 600-foot ship was boarded by Libyan rebels Tuesday with the help of a European government, Petroleum Economist reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the operation.
“It’s quite a coup for the rebels,’’ said Samuel Ciszuk, a senior Middle East and North Africa energy analyst at research company IHS Energy in London. “It shows rebels being regarded as rightful representatives of Libya, as reports suggest they appear to be doing it with the understanding of NATO.’’
Readers, really, I have had it with the one-side, "we're winning" shit shovel.
****************
The Libyan government has struggled to maintain fuel supplies since the fighting began. The country, once Africa’s third-largest crude producer, normally got four shipments of diesel and eight gasoline cargoes a month....
Libya’s refineries will probably process no more than 90,000 barrels of oil a day this summer, compared with 370,000 barrels normally, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based adviser to industrial nations.
In a separate development yesterday, a rebel field commander said opposition fighters are regrouping for a major offensive and hope to reach Khadafy’s stronghold, the capital of Tripoli, before the end of Ramadan in late August.
The rebels in Libya’s western Nafusa mountain area are receiving reinforcements, including volunteers arriving from Tripoli and other areas still under Khadafy’s control, said the commander, Muktar al-Akhdar. He spoke after an hours-long strategy meeting of unit commanders in the garrison town of Zintan, base of the area’s rebel command.
With fighting largely deadlocked for months, Libya’s rebels believe the Nafusa mountain front line is their best chance for striking the capital. But obstacles like land mines spotted in front-line areas and gasoline shortages have impeded progress, Akhdar said.
There is also the worry that Khadafy loyalists may be infiltrating the ranks, he said.
Neither side in Libya’s civil war has made significant gains for months. Khadafy controls Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast and towns around it, while rebels hold the east of the country and two pockets in the west: the Nafusa mountain range and the port city of Misurata.
A week ago, the Nafusa rebels launched a limited offensive, descending from their mountain plateau into the coastal plain and seizing three small towns. However, the advance has since stalled, with Khadafy’s forces entrenched in several towns blocking the way to Tripoli....
If there ever was an advance.
--more--"
Related: 3 NATO SHIPS SUNK, 15 SENIOR NATO PERSONNEL HELD CAPTIVE IN BENGHAZI
Also see: Libyan rebels: NATO bombs camel weapons caravan
Ooooooops!
"Libya denies Khadafy’s son was killed in NATO airstrike; Rebels reported death, but with no confirmation" Associated Press / August 6, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya - The Libyan government yesterday denied rebel reports that Moammar Khadafy’s youngest son, the leader of one of the country’s most skilled army brigades, was killed in a NATO airstrike on a town in western Libya.
Officials in the rebels’ de facto capital of Benghazi said that Khamis Khadafy was among 32 troops killed in a NATO strike early yesterday on a government operations center in Zlitan. NATO said it was aware of the reports that Khamis had been killed, but it did not confirm his death....
In the capital, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Khamis is alive and spoke to Libyan government officials yesterday to confirm his well-being. “He is OK and alive, and [reports of death] are just lies,’’ Kaim said.
He said the rebels spread reports of Khamis’s death to “distract attention’’ from the killing late last month of rebel military chief Abdel-Fattah Younis.
The rebel leadership has insisted Younis’s assassination was the work of the Khadafy regime, but several witnesses say Younis was killed by fellow rebels. The slaying has fueled concerns about unity within the rebel movement nearly six months after the revolt began....
The death of Khamis, 27, would be a significant blow to the regime’s efforts to fight off the rebels.
He commands the 32d Brigade, also known simply as the Khamis Brigade, one of the best-trained and best-equipped units in the Libyan military.
Earlier this year, he led forces loyal to his father in an assault on the rebel-held city of Zawiya, where civilian protests against his father were crushed.
Khamis’s troops have been fighting rebels in and around Zlitan for months. The town is a major obstacle in the path of rebels from the nearby city of Misurata trying to make their way to Tripoli. The civil war has largely devolved into a stalemate.
It was not the first time Khamis has been reported dead by rebel forces.
In late March, rumors circulated that he was killed in an airstrike, only to be shown days later on television attending a celebration in his honor in Tripoli.
Khadafy’s sons and a daughter have all played roles in their father’s regime, some in diplomatic or business roles. His sons Mutassim, Khamis, and Saadi all head military brigades.
A third son, Seif al-Islam, has become the Western face of the regime, and before the uprising began in February he was put forth as the reformer.
In May, Libyan officials announced on state TV that another of Khadafy’s seven biological sons, Seif al-Arab, was killed along with three of the leader’s grandchildren in a NATO airstrike against his house in the Tripoli neighborhood of Ghargour....
Khamis was injured in US bombing raids in 1986 shortly after Libya was blamed for coordinating a bombing in West Berlin that killed an American soldier and woman. He would have been 2 or 3 years old at the time.
--more--"
Also see: Libya - What America's Media Won't Report
That AmeriKa is backing the terrorists?
And about those NATO ships:
"25 migrants die on boat bound for Italy" August 02, 2011|By Associated Press
ROME - Twenty-five African migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya died in the hold of a rickety boat so packed with people that the migrants could not get out as they struggled to breathe, officials said yesterday after the bodies were found below decks.
Hundreds of migrants fleeing unrest and conflict in Libya and across North Africa are believed to have died since the beginning of the year in desperate journeys across the Mediterranean....
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"Italy wants NATO inquiry on refugee boat" by Associated Press / August 6, 2011
ROME - The Italian government called yesterday for a NATO investigation into whether one of the alliance’s warships ignored a migrant boat’s distress call amid unconfirmed reports that dozens died during the journey from Libya....
Italian media, without citing sources, said some migrants told their Italian rescuers that the bodies of those who died were tossed overboard by survivors. Coast guard officials have said that there has been no independent confirmation, and searches had failed to find any bodies in the sea.
So? They never found Titanic dead, either.
The Italian reports, again without citing sources, said the boat had sent an SOS to a NATO warship but received neither help nor a response while being stranded for six days.
Suffocating in a cargo hold? Maybe they could start selling a theme ride called the slavery experience.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini requested that NATO conduct a formal investigation and said he also instructed Italy’s NATO ambassador to ask the alliance to consider the care of civilians fleeing Libya on rickety boats as part of the UN resolution that allows military action to protect civilians in Libya itself.
NATO is not protecting them there; why would they care about the high seas?
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