Nato must extend stay: NTC

[jakeXT]

Source: The Peninsula

DOHA: Libya’s National Transitional Council has urged Nato to continue with its presence in the country saying that it fears that a defiant Colonel Muammar Ghadafi might do something unexpected.

Nato is mandated by the UN Security Council to stay in Libya until September 27.

Addressing a meeting of chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the countries that participated in anti-Gaddafi military operations in Libya, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, NTC Chairman, said yesterday that thanks to Nato large-scale massacre of civilians in his country was avoided.

“Libyan rebels couldn’t have achieved victory without the support of Nato and international alliance forces,” Jalil said.



Read more: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/163189-nato-must-extend-stay-ntc.html

[StarsInHerHair]

1. Lies War & Empire at the link a very good article

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/

..."In early March of 2011, news headlines in Western nations reported that Gaddafi would kill half a million people.<1> On March 18, as the UN agreed to launch air strikes on Libya, it was reported that Gaddafi had begun an assault against the rebel-held town of Benghazi. The Daily Mail reported that Gaddafi had threatened to send in his African mercenaries to crush the rebellion.<2> Reports of Libyan government tanks sitting outside Benghazi poised for an invasion were propagated in the Western media.<3> In the lead-up to the United Nations imposing a no-fly zone, reports spread rapidly through the media of Libyan government jets bombing the rebels.<4> Even in February, the New York Times – the sacred temple for the ‘stenographers of power’ we call “journalists” – reported that Gaddafi was amassing “thousands of mercenaries” to defend Tripoli and crush the rebels.<5> Italy’s Foreign Minister declared that over 1,000 people were killed in the fighting in February, citing the number as “credible.”<6> Even a top official with Human Rights Watch declared the rebels to be “peaceful protesters” who “are nice, sincere people who want a better future for Libya.”<7> The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared that “thousands” of people were likely killed by Gaddafi, “and called for international intervention to protect civilians.”<8> In April, reports spread near and far at lightning speed of Gaddafi’s forces using rape as a weapon of war, with the first sentence in a Daily Mail article declaring, “Children as young as eight are being raped in front of their families by Gaddafi’s forces in Libya,” with Gaddafi handing out Viagra to his troops in a planned and organized effort to promote rape.<9>"...

"As it turned out, these claims – as posterity notes – turned out to be largely false and contrived. Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International both investigated the claims of rape, and “have found no first-hand evidence in Libya that rapes are systematic and being used as part of war strategy,” and their investigations in Eastern Libya “have not turned up significant hard evidence supporting allegations of rapes by Qaddafi’s forces.” Yet, just as these reports came out, Hillary Clinton declared that the U.S. is “deeply concerned by reports of wide-scale rape” in Libya.<10> Even U.S. military and intelligence officials had to admit that, “there is no evidence that Libyan military forces are being given Viagra and engaging in systematic rape against women in rebel areas”; at the same time Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, “told a closed-door meeting of officials at the UN that the Libyan military is using rape as a weapon in the war with the rebels and some had been issued the anti-impotency drug. She reportedly offered no evidence to backup the claim.”<11>"...

[dipsydoodle]

2. NATO - the ultimate mercenary force

:(

[Bosonic]

5. They love it when a plan comes together...

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you're sitting on $$$$$, maybe you can hire... The NATO-Team.

[joshcryer]

7. Gaddafi would agree.

http://www.afriqueavenir.org/en/2011/08/15/gaddafi-exhorts-libyans-to-get-rid-of-“mercenaries”-and-nato/">Gaddafi exhorts Libyans to get rid of “mercenaries” and NATO
Libyan state-owned television Monday broadcast an address by Muammar Gaddafi in which he appealed to his people to take up arms and free the country of NATO “aggressors” and “mercenaries”.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Qaddafi might do something unexpected? You mean, like, WIN?

The rebels still seem mostly qualified to do end-zone dances and shoot mass quantities of ammo into the air.

They might "control" 99% of the country, but still need NATO air strikes and SAS ground support to make any progress.

So of course they will ask NATO to stay after "the rebels" have won the war. They'd be sitting ducks for any bad actors, including a few enclaves of Qaddafi supporters, to rise up and reverse "their" victory.

We'll be involved in an expensive nation-building exercise for a long time.

[cstanleytech]

4. Other than some ocassional overflights for intelligence support I think nato should

just stick to its plan to pull out, their not equipped to provide long term support and the people in libya need to learn to do it themselves.

[OKDem08]

6. NATO: we will humanitarily bomb the shit out of you

[pampango]

8. "Nato is mandated by the UN Security Council to stay in Libya until September 27."

I didn't see anything in the article to indicate that the NTC was asking NATO to stay longer than the date they are mandated to be there.

This from Juan Cole:

http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/what-the-un-can-and-cannot-do-for-libya.html

The new Libyan government has consistently rejected the idea of NATO troops, showing great wisdom. Yesterday the Voice of Free Libya in Benghazi “said that ‘the rebels are capable of preserving the security of his country and don’t need any foreign, Arab or Islamic forces to help preserving security in Libya.’”

Also from the BBC:

Libya's interim leaders reject UN military personnel