- Libya will long be remembered as one of history's great
crimes. For over eight months, NATO's killing machine ravaged the country,
killing tens of thousands.
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- Years of protracted conflict lie ahead. Libyans will
keep struggling until they're free from NATO's scourge.
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- UN Resolution 1973 authorized a no-fly zone. In fact,
it lawlessly declared war. A prosperous, peaceful, nonbelligerent country
and its way of life was destroyed.
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- Civilians and non-military sites were deliberately targeted.
Cold-blooded murder and mass destruction were planned.
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- Sirte, a city once home to 100,000, symbolizes NATO's
depravity. Terror bombing destroyed it. Thousands were massacred.
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- Under international law, it's a war crime.
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- Under the 1907 Hague Regulations, Fourth Geneva, Geneva's
Common Article III, and various other international laws, civilians are
protected persons. So is civilian property. Attacking them is prohibited.
War crimes are clearly defined. The principles of distinction and proportionality
also apply:
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- distinction between combatants and military targets v.
civilians and non-military ones; attacking latter ones are war crimes except
when civilians take direct part in hostilities; and
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- proportionality prohibits disproportionate, indiscriminate
force likely to cause damage to or loss of lives and objects.
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- In addition, precautions must be taken to avoid and minimize
incidental loss of civilian lives, injuries to them, and damage to non-military
sites. Under Fourth Geneva, they must be given "effective advance
warning" and "neutralized zones" where they can be as protected
as possible.
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- Fourth Geneva also prohibits collective punishment; the
use of human shields; private property destruction; torture, cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment; denying the population adequate amounts of food
and medical supplies; and assuring free passage of all "consignments"
intended for civilian purposes.
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- Nonetheless, in all US/NATO wars, including Libya (besides
earlier American ones), these provisions are systematically and willfully
violated.
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- Civilians and nonmilitary sites are considered legitimate
targets. Western powers spuriously claim every effort to spare them. Media
scoundrels ignore their crimes.
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- The UN Charter's Article 2(7) states:
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- "Nothing contained in the present charter shall
authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially
within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members
to submit matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle
shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter
VII," pertaining to threats to peace, its breaches, or acts of aggression.
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- NATO's humanitarian responsibility to protect duplicity
terrorized and slaughtered civilians lawlessly. Millions of Libyans won't
forgive or forget, including Sirte survivors.
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- Under siege for weeks, food, medical supplies and other
essentials were cut off. Basic infrastructure was destroyed, including
power, water and sanitation systems.
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- Homes, schools, mosques, hospitals and other civilian
sites were bombed. Terror weapons were used including thermobaric fuel-air
bombs and white phosphorous able to burn flesh to the bone.
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- Virtually every structure was destroyed or damaged. Rebel
rats looted what they found. Even news reports described a scorched earth
campaign, including grim scenes reminiscent of Grozny in Russia's Chechen
war, Guernica, the Warsaw Ghetto, and other historical terror bombing targets.
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- On October 27, Human Rights Investigations (HRI) headlined,
"Responsibility to protect: the liberation of Sirte," saying:
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- Over 400 air strikes targeted Sirte for weeks. Each delivered
powerful munitions. In addition, rebel rats "indiscriminately shell(ed)
the town with tank fire, heavy mortar fire and artillery."
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- NATO declined comment "on why it did nothing to
protect (civilians) and why it has been complicit in these war crimes."
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- "....(U)ndisciplined and in some cases genocidal
mobs" committed horrific atrocities. NATO authorized their "murderous
rampage," as well as elsewhere across Libya.
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- "....Red Cross officials have said they have found
(267) dead in Sirte, most of whom they believe were killed" the day
Sirte fell.
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- International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
hasn't "pursued action against pro-NATO forces. In fact, he has been
involved (complicity) in spreading propaganda and inciting racial hatred
during the conflict."
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- On October 11, Transitional National Council (TNC) chairman
Mustafa Abdul Jalil told rebel rat fighters, "You have the support
of all the members of the transitional council." He also authorized
other war crimes.
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- "Currently what is left of Sirte is being thoroughly
looted." BBC said reconstruction is unlikely. Crumbled remains will
stay "a memorial to Colonel Gaddafi's victims," shifting blame
for horrific NATO crimes onto him instead of reporting responsibly.
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- Clearly, said HRI, "responsibility to protest (R2P)
has been hi-jacked by NATO and its supporters as a justification for its
military campaign and has lost its humanitarian content, becoming little
more than a weapon in the propaganda war to draw ill-informed citizens
into consent for military action."
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- In fact, too many people who know better took the bait
and believed it. They still do, thinking NATO intervened for humanitarian
reasons.
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- Bosnians, Serbs, Iraqis, Afghans, Libyans and other NATO
victims know better. Ask them. They'll explain.
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- On October 25 on Russia Today, nuclear expert Christopher
Busby discussed a new report about "uranium-enhanced weapons"
used against Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. Horrific birth defects and congenital
diseases resulted.
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- Washington and NATO use depleted uranium (DU) weapons
in all wars. Busby exposed evidence of enriched uranium, "the kind
used in nuclear reactors and bombs," he said, adding:
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- His "results prove the existence of a new secret
uranium weapon. We have found some US patents for thermobaric and directed
charge warheads which employ uranium powder to increase their effect."
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- Calling it "quite scary," he explained bomb
crater evidence "in Lebanon in 2006 after the Israeli attacks and
found one which was radioactive and which contained enriched uranium. We
found enriched uranium in car air filters from Lebanon and also from Gaza.
Others have found evidence of its use in Afghanistan and possibly also
in the Balkans."
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- Busby called the discovery "astonishing with many
global implications."
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- It suggests NATO used these weapons in Libya, including
against Sirte. As a result, epidemic levels of cancer, other diseases,
and congenital birth defects will follow.
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- Libya not only was ravaged, likely permanent contamination
makes wide areas hazardous. No amount of radiation is safe. It's harmful,
cumulative, permanent, unforgiving, and deadly.
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- Science never found a safe threshold. Radiation poisoning
causes cancer, leukemia, other diseases, birth defects, stillbirths, miscarriages,
sterility, malformations, open lesions, and more, including permanent genetic
damage passed on to offspring.
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- Busby said it "poison(s) the gene pool of whole
populations. This is a war crime and must be properly investigated....It
has probably been used in Libya, so we must wait and see what levels of
cancer and congenital diseases appear there."
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- After heroically holding out for weeks, NATO and rebel
rats now control Sirte. NSNBC called their operation "one of the most
outrageous war crimes of the century," including hundreds of summary
executions.
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- On October 24, Human Rights Watch reported 53 Gaddafi
supporters murdered at a Sirte hotel.
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- On October 26, Russia Today (RT.com) said:
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- "Three hundred bodies of alleged Gaddafi allies
have been found in Sirte, shot in the head with hands tied behind their
backs. Are (NATO forces) guilty of ordering political executions....?"
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- RT called NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's
comments at a recent Brussels news conference "a grimly prophetic
joke," saying:
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- "Our military forces prevented a massacre and saved
countless lives."
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- In fact, mass destruction, slaughter and atrocities defined
its campaign from inception. Knowledgeable observers are horrified by the
depravity of NATO's campaign without end.
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- Whether or not bombing ends October 31, NATO came to
Libya to stay. Blue Helmet paramilitary enforcers will join them.
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- On October 29, RIA/Novosti headlined, "NATO will
stop bombing Libya but won't leave," saying:
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- "The Security Council did not end the war."
It's not over, and NATO's not leaving. "They will simply change the
name of the operation" to one called "the Friends of Libya coalition."
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- A dozen or more countries will be involved, including
America, Britain, France, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other regional
states.
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- "To sum up, the war will continue for some time,
and NATO will remain in NATO for a long time to come...."
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- In fact, NATO comes to stay. Like Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan
and elsewhere, permanent bases will be built. Occupation, colonization
and plunder will follow.
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- Humanitarian considerations, free elections, and other
democratic values are non-starters.
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- Iron-fisted rule is coming. Libyans know their liberating
struggle won't end easily or quickly, but they're committed never to quit.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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- 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.
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- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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