Lectures Libya
Compiled and edited, re-reporting with brief comment by Carolyn Bennett
Notes from week’s wars and impunity
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD
Casualty sites reporting July 16, 2011
(Accurate totals unknown)
Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20,
2009: 245] Information out of date
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Wounded 33,105-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: July 15, 2011
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
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Iraq Body Count
The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation
Documented civilian deaths from violence
101, 837 – 111,294
Full analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 15,000 civilian deaths. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
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ICasualties figures:
AFGHANISTAN:
1,665 United States
2,592 Coalition
IRAQ: 4,473 United States
4,791 Coalition
http://icasualties.org/
Human Rights Watch wants the world to remember what Washington wants the world to forget. In a 107-page report ‘Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees,’ released this week, the rights group found “substantial information warranting criminal investigations of [George W.] Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as ‘waterboarding,’ the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.”
In media interviews, Human Rights Watch recounts, “Bush has sought to justify his authorization of waterboarding on the ground that Justice Department lawyers said it was legal. While Bush should have recognized that waterboarding constituted torture without consulting a lawyer, there is also substantial information that senior administration officials, including Cheney, sought to influence the lawyers’ judgment.” The report highlights these facts in evidence.
President George W. Bush publicly admitted that in two cases he approved the use of waterboarding, a form of mock execution involving near drowning that the United States has long prosecuted as a type of torture. [Then-President George W.] Bush also authorized the illegal CIA secret detention and renditions programs under which detainees were held incommunicado and frequently transferred to countries such as Egypt and Syria where they were likely to be tortured;
Vice President [Richard] Cheney was the driving force behind the establishment of illegal detention and interrogation policies, chairing key meetings at which specific CIA operations were discussed, including the waterboarding of one detainee Abu Zubaydah in 2002;
Defense Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld approved illegal interrogation methods and closely followed the interrogation of Mohamed al-Qahtani, who was subjected to a six-week regime of coercive interrogation at Guantanamo that cumulatively appears to have amounted to torture;
CIA Director [George] Tenet authorized and oversaw the CIA’s use of waterboarding, stress positions, light and noise bombardment, sleep deprivation, and other abusive interrogation methods, as well as the CIA rendition program.
Executive Director Kenneth Roth concludes, “The U.S. has a legal obligation to investigate these crimes [and] if the U.S. does not act on them [then] other countries should.”
U.S. officials continued to ignore the rule of law. The were busy lecturing, punishing, overthrowing and planning the overthrow of foreign governments and cleansing indigenous peoples.
While meeting in Turkey this week, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threatened of “contradictory signals” from Libyan President Muammar “Qaddafi’s camp” and that Libya’s head of state “has yet to meet the red lines that are set by the international community to cease violence against his people, withdraw his forces, and step down from power.” She went on to bully that “neither of us can predict … the exact day or hour that [Libya’s president] will leave power, we do understand and agree that his days are numbered.”
An article this week in Global Research citing Human Rights Investigations (HRI) asked, “Is NATO actually ‘protecting civilians’ — or is it rather supporting rebels, some of whom intend to harm dark-skinned Libyans and ethnically cleanse areas over which they take control?”
Evidence “has emerged,” the article said, “that there is a strong racist element within the rebel forces [this week recognized by the U.S. administration as the legitimate government of Libya] including at command level, and it is the stated intention of these forces to ethnically cleanse areas they capture of their dark-skinned inhabitants.”
Referencing a recent Wall Street Journal, “journalist Sam Dagher pointed out the obvious fact that the Libyan war is aggravating ethnic tensions in that country.” An example is “the fate of Tawergha, a small town 25 miles to the south of Misrata, inhabited mostly by black Libyans, a legacy of its 19th-century origins as a transit town in the slave trade.” Rebel leaders have reportedly “[called] for drastic measures like banning Tawergha natives from ever working, living or sending their children to schools in Misrata.” There is also “evidence of massacres of black people, including incidents of lynching and murder of black soldiers of the Libyan army.”
Dispatches from the ground this week said, “Since the beginning [March 31, 2011] of the [U.S.-led] NATO operation against Libya, a total of 15,061 sorties, including 5,673 strike sorties have been conducted.” July 13 alone saw 130 sorties and 50 strike sorties.
Michel Chossudovsky wrote this week, “The size of this military operation under a UN sponsored ‘humanitarian mandate’ is mind boggling.… In bitter irony, Western public opinion broadly supports this humanitarian endeavor carried out under the principle ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P); yet each of the strike sorties results in countless deaths and injuries of civilians; and the media have largely obfuscated the causes and consequences of this war.”
Fifteen thousand sixty-one sorties including 5,673 strike sorties since March 31
NATO's ‘war crimes’
Libya’s prosecutor general, Mohamed Zekri Mahjubi, on Wednesday reportedly made the charge that “NATO airstrikes have killed more than 1,100 civilians and injured thousands of others since March 31.” Mahjubi told foreign reporters “he intends to prosecute NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for ‘war crimes.’”
The Libyan prosecutor charges that, as “NATO secretary general, Rasmussen is responsible for the actions of this organization, which has attacked an unarmed people, killing 1,108 civilians and wounding 4,537 others in bombardment of Tripoli and other cities and villages.” In addition, the prosecutor general has pressed murder charges against Rasmussen, saying, “the NATO chief sought to murder Libyan [President] Muammar Qaddafi.”
RULE OF LAWLESSNESS
Is it that only “some” people are subject to law?
“Some” in the United States and elsewhere are put to death
“Some” in foreign lands are hunted down, murdered in cold blood at the whim of Western power
“Some” are herded before international criminal courts
If only some are subject to law, can we continue to say in truth or in fact that we the peoples of the world live under the rule of law? Is it not accurate to say we live under the rule of lawlessness?
If that is so, is it not time to end the lawlessness in high places?
Who will seat and who will sit on that tribunal of international law?
Even in the forest laws are understood and obeyed by wildlife in order to subsist in forest society.
We must ponder these critical questions. If at this moment we do not have answers, we had better find some answers, the right answers very soon indeed before we self-destruct.
AFRICA
U.S. war on LIBYA
“Very close to Brega (oil) —
“Most of the casualties were now caused by landmines rather than Qaddafi’s heavy artillery, as earlier on in the offensive,” said a doctor today at a hospital in nearby Ajdabiya. “We have had five more injuries this morning, all of them from mine explosions.”
Africa’s Horn in perpetual misery — the camels are dying
SOMALIA/HORN OF AFRICA
“Six months of strict rule by the Islamists in 2006 brought relative peace to the Somalia of Mogadishu,” AlertNet reports.
“That rule ended when troops from key U.S. ally Ethiopia helped restore the transitional government.
“Foreign involvement fuelled opposition locally and internationally and appeared to boost support for the Islamists, with some analysts saying U.S. accusations of al Qaeda involvement became a self-fulfilling prophesy.”
Today Somalia and the Horn of Africa are experiencing unspeakably unbearable suffering and the land and peoples are still under U.S. and Western aggression, occupation and repression.
“The drought situation in the horn of Africa has reached crisis levels — the worst in 60 years.
Alertnet reports the UN OCHA Eastern Africa saying “more than 9 million people are in need of humanitarian aid: 3.2 million in Ethiopia, 117,000 in Djibouti, 2.6 million in Somalia and 3.2 million in Kenya”
The impact of the drought is seen everywhere. The price of food and maize grain skyrockets. Livestock are dying in large numbers. Massive numbers of people arrive daily in Dadaab camp on the Kenya/Somalia border. By September, famine is being predicted for some of the worst drought affected local areas of the Horn.
An insurgency that has been raging since the start of 2007 has forced large numbers of Somalis out of their homes. Much of the fighting now is between government forces and gunmen loyal to hard-line Islamist group al Shabaab. Conflict combined with frequent drought and rampant inflation has turned Somalia into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
More than 2.8 million need aid
More than 2.2 million displaced
Infrastructure in tatters
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Mogadishu since the end of 2006. Aid agencies say the 15 km (10 mile) stretch of road between the capital and the town of Afgoye is probably the largest concentration of displaced people on the planet. Conflict, high inflation and frequent drought cause food shortages. Somalia has the highest malnutrition rates in the world.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN
New Great Game evolving
“Afghanistan and Central Asia are abundant with natural resources worth billions,” this week’s Deutsche Welle news recalls. These resources so far “are largely untapped, but the battle is raging for who will be able to exploit them in the 21st century….
“While the United States and China want an especially large slice…, neighboring states Iran, Pakistan, India and Russia have their eyes on [the game]. Most experts agree that a battle for natural resources is underway, alongside the war against terrorism.”
Quoting Jürgen Stetten, head of Asia at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the article says, “It is difficult to predict the outcome of the new Great Game in Afghanistan.” However, “Stetten believes it could very likely be catastrophic for Afghanistan — ‘A return of the Taliban, or proxy wars between the region’s big rivals, China or India, or the U.S. could land the country in a conflict that it will not get out of for some time.’”
Violence grows
Civilian and foreign casualties are at record levels despite the presence of around 150,000 US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2001, violence in Afghanistan has been at its worst, Al Jazeera and other news sources report. “The security situation remains fragile.”
Today “an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan.” One of the foreign troops died. So far this year, violence in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of at least 311 foreign soldiers. Most of them have been U.S. forces. More than 2,591 U.S.-led soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
The bodyguard who assassinated Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s half-brother “had worked closely with U.S. Special Forces and the CIA before being recruited by the Taliban.” The shooter of the president’s brother also reportedly “attended regular meetings with British officials” and “had two brothers-in-law serving in a CIA-run paramilitary unit in Kandahar.”
PAKISTAN
Several NATO fighter jets have violated Pakistani airspace, making low flights into the country’s troubled tribal northwestern regions, Press TV reports. “Local sources say the aircraft crossed over into Pakistan’s Kurram Agency through the Afghan border and flew up to five-kilometers across the border.
Pakistan strongly condemned the violation of its airspace by US-led forces stationed in Afghanistan. Washington claims the airstrikes target militants but most of the attacks kill civilians.
Thousands of Pakistanis have staged a protest sit-in this weekend to condemn what they call increasing U.S. interference in the affairs of the Muslim world.
Supporters of Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami religious party held a sit-in Friday in Pakistan’s Gujranwala city, northwest of Punjab’s provincial capital of Lahore, to demand that the government review its relations with Washington.
Press TV reports Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Wasim Akhter saying that before 9/11 and before the presence of American forces in the region, the area was quite peaceful. “There were no blasts, no bombers. As Americans came into this region, the whole region turned into such a mess.”
IRAQ
Annual Karbala pilgrimage bombed
A sticky bomb attached to a police officer’s car exploded today near a checkpoint. Three people died, 15 suffered wounds in eastern Karbala, 80km southwest of Baghdad.
Several bombs have gone off in Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding several. Last year, car bombs killed and wounded scores of people during the Imam Mahdi observance
The incident today in Karbala was the third attack in the past two days on the holy city, as Shia pilgrims were going to visit the Imam al-Hussein shrine to commemorate the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi.
A car bomb had also exploded on Friday in a garage near a hospital west of Karbala. In that explosion, four people died and 20 sustained wounds. In northern Karbala, three people died and 23 sustained injuries when a bomb placed under a parked car exploded.
YEMEN
This country’s head of state, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been in power since 1978. Since January of this year, protesters have been calling for Saleh to leave office. On June 3, the president suffered wounds in a bomb attack on his palace in Sana’a. After the attack, he went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. He remains in U.S.–allied Saudi Arabia.
This week a coalition of protest groups announced the formation of a transitional presidential council comprised of 17 Yemeni figures of different political affiliations, from inside Yemen and abroad, to “prepare to run the country when President Ali Abdullah Saleh is fully and finally toppled.”
A leader of the anti-Saleh movement told the press today that “the council ‘is charged with leading the country during a transition period not to exceed nine months and with forming a government of technocrats.’ The council will also announce a 501-member ‘national assembly’ that will draft a new constitution.’” This council will work “to ‘protect the unity of the country.’”
Sources and notes
U.S. global war on terror
Human Rights Watch report “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees”
“United States: Investigate Bush, Other Top Officials for Torture Inquiry Into 2 Deaths in CIA Custody Insufficient,” July 11, 2011, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/07/11/united-states-investigate-bush-other-top-officials-torture
“A Debate on Human Rights Watch’s Call for Bush Administration Officials to be Tried for Torture,” July 12, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/12/a_debate_on_human_rights_watchs
Kenneth Roth is U.S. attorney who has been executive director of Human Rights Watch since 1993.
U.S. against Libya
Human Rights Watch: Libyan Rebels Attacking Gaddafi Supporters Libyan rebels are facing calls to halt alleged abuses in a number of seized towns. In a statement, Human Rights Watch cited allegations of attacks on Gaddafi supporters, as well as looting and arson. Meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed reports of Gaddafi’s talks with France in a bid to end the violence. Democracy Now Headlines, July 14, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/14/headlines
NATO enabling Human Rights Abuses: Libyan Rebel Ethnic Cleansing and Lynching of Black People (Human Rights Investigations, HRI), Global Research, July 14, 2011, humanrightsinvestigations.org
Copyright Human Rights Investigations (HRI), humanrightsinvestigations.org, 2011, www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=25622
Allied Joint Force Command NAPLES, SHAPE, NATO HQ July 14, 2011, (more information: www.jfcnaples.nato.int
“NATO’s ‘Operation Unified Protector’: More than 15,000 sorties directed against the Libyan People” (Michel Chossudovsky), Global Research, July 14, 2011,
NATO took control of all military operations for Libya under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973 on March 2011 with the purported “aim of ‘Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR’ to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under attack or threat of attack. The mission consists of three elements: an arms embargo, a no-fly-zone and actions to protect civilians from attack or the threat of attack.”
“1,108 Libyans killed in NATO attacks— Tripoli to prosecute NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for ‘war crimes’ (Global Research, Press TV), July 14, 2011, www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=25625
SORTIE
[sor·tie \'sȯr-tē, sȯr-'tē\ n [F, fr. MF, fr. sortir to go out, leave] (1778)
1 : a sudden issuing of troops from a defensive position against the enemy
2 : one mission or attack by a single plane
3 a : foray raid b : excursion expedition ‹diving ~s›
— sortie vi ] Britannica note
LIBYA
“Libya rebels killed trying to retake Brega — Opposition forces are poised to regain control of eastern oil town that has switched hands multiple times since March,” July 16, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/201171610179115527.html
“The final statement by the so-called Contact Group on Libya, meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul, said the ‘Qaddafi regime no longer has any legitimate authority in Libya", and Gaddafi and certain members of his family must go.’
“Gaddafi rejected the Contact Group’s decision on Libyan television— In an audio speech, he told thousands of supporters in the town of Zlitan: ‘Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet ... They are worthless.’
“U.S. recognizes Libyan opposition group — Decision by 32-nation Contact Group expected to free up money for fighters seeking to end Muammar Gaddafi’s rule,” July 15, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117151507338126.html
“Western, Arab and African countries, plus international organizations, meeting in Istanbul on Friday, have agreed to formally recognize Libyan rebels fighting to topple Muammar Qaddafi, designating them the country's legitimate rulers.”
‘Libya Contact Group recognizes rebel council,” July 15, 2011, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15238302,00.html
HORN OF AFRICA
“Somalia in turmoil — delivering aid in a lawless state,” http://www.trust.org/alertnet/crisis-centre/crisis/somalia-in-turmoil
“ACT Alert: Horn of Africa hit by worst drought in 60 years” (Source: member // Elisabeth Gouel), July 6. 2011, Somalia: The LWF/DWS Programme Coordinator for the Somali Refugee Program who was in Dadaab refugee camp yesterday communicated that ‘Here, things are changing by the hour and the situation has never been this bad,’ AlertNet: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/act-alert-horn-of-africa-hit-by-worst-drought-in-60-years/
AFGHANISTAN and PAKISTAN
A new Great Game is evolving in Afghanistan,” July 15, 2011, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6573071,00.html
“Afghan soldier kills U.S.-led soldier,” July 16, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189375.html
“Karzai brother assassin ‘close U.S. ally’” [source The Washington Post, Sardar Mohammad] July 16, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189378.html
“NATO jets violate Pakistani airspace,” July 16, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189222.html
“Pakistanis protest US ‘meddling’ July 16, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189303.html
“Clash in Pakistan leaves seven dead — Militant attacks in Pakistan are on the rise as pro-Taliban elements in the country have vowed to avenge the death of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who the U.S. claims to have killed in an unauthorized military operation in Pakistan in early May,” July 15, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189193.html
IRAQ
“Deadly blasts target Iraqi cities — Explosion during Shia pilgrimage in Karbala kills three, while another blast wounds six in Baghdad,” July 16, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011716728707355.html
YEMEN
“Yemen protesters form council to run country — Coalition of anti-government protesters says presidential council to run affairs until Saleh’s government is toppled,” July 16, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011716134720701985.html
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