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Title: Nato answers Libya questions
Source: BBC
URL Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14603245
Published: Aug 20, 2011
Author: staff
Post Date: 2011-08-20 19:21:54 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 653
Comments: 1

In recent days, Nato has intensified its attacks on targets in the Libya capital, Tripoli. Some believe Nato is overstepping the terms of its mandate - which is to protect civilians in Libya - and is intervening directly in the conflict on the side of the opposition forces. The BBC's Matthew Price questions a Nato spokesman about those claims.

Are there still sites of strategic value in Tripoli?

All Nato strikes are carried out against legitimate military targets, in full compliance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions 1973 and 1970 and with great care to avoid unnecessary casualties to innocent civilians.

We are unable to discuss the strategic advantages for striking targets and their locations.

Does Nato carry out air strikes in order not just to directly protect civilians, but also to demoralise Gaddafi forces and thus to protect civilians?

All the targets that we select are clearly identified as having a direct link with attacks on civilians. Nato's mission is to protect civilians and implement UN Security Council Resolution 1973 and we choose our targets with that goal in mind.

So all Nato strikes are carried out against legitimate military targets, in full compliance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and with great care to avoid unnecessary casualties to innocent civilians.

The Nato mandate is to protect civilians. Have there been instances where rebel forces have put civilian lives at risk, and where Nato had to intervene?

Our mission is to protect civilians in Libya, as the United Nations Security Council mandates.

So far, the opposition forces have shown every indication that they are committed to the protection of civilians and respect for human rights.

We expect this commitment to continue.

Since the start of the operation, Nato has not targeted the military forces of the opposition.

In such a scenario, would Nato intervene?

We do not comment on hypothetical scenarios, nor on operational and planning issues.

Does Nato believe its strikes against pro-Gaddafi forces have helped the rebel advance?

Nato's mission is to prevent attacks and threats against civilians.

Some strikes against pro-Gaddafi forces which were threatening civilians have also made it easier for opposition forces to advance on the ground. But Nato is not the opposition's air force.

We are tracking the fighting between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces but we are not involved in the ground battle.

Our targets are those forces and installations which present a threat to the civilian population. We are on the side of the Libyan people.

Does Nato have advisers working on the ground with the rebels helping them with their tactics and strategy?

Nato has no troops on the ground in Libya.

Are there non-Nato advisers on the ground working with the rebels who are able if needed to feed information to Nato?

Nato has no direct contact with the military forces of the opposition.

Several Allies have representatives in Libya and, together with other sources, provide us with a real picture to enable us to protect the civilians in an effective and safe manner.

Nato is clearly lying out their teeth on every question presented.

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In today's events, we see a turn around about nato's comments:

WASHINGTON — As rebel forces in Libya converged on Tripoli on Sunday, American and NATO officials cited an intensification of American aerial surveillance in and around the capital city as a major factor in helping to tilt the balance after months of steady erosion of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s military.

The officials also said that coordination between NATO and the rebels, and among the loosely organized rebel groups themselves, had become more sophisticated and lethal in recent weeks, even though NATO’s mandate has been merely to protect civilians, not to take sides in the conflict.

NATO’s targeting grew increasingly precise, one senior NATO diplomat said, as the United States established around-the-clock surveillance over the dwindling areas that Libyan military forces still controlled, using armed Predator drones to detect, track and occasionally fire at those forces.

At the same time, Britain, France and other nations deployed special forces on the ground inside Libya to help train and arm the rebels, the diplomat and another official said.

“We always knew there would be a point where the effectiveness of the government forces would decline to the point where they could not effectively command and control their forces,” said the diplomat, who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential details of the battle inside Tripoli.

“At the same time,” the diplomat said, “the learning curve for the rebels, with training and equipping, was increasing. What we’ve seen in the past two or three weeks is these two curves have crossed.”

Through Saturday, NATO and its allies had flown 7,459 strike missions, or sorties, attacking thousands of targets, from individual rocket launchers to major military headquarters. The cumulative effect not only destroyed Libya’s military infrastructure but also greatly diminished the ability of Colonel Qaddafi’s commanders to control forces, leaving even committed fighting units unable to move, resupply or coordinate operations.

On Saturday, the last day NATO reported its strikes, the alliance flew only 39 sorties against 29 targets, 22 of them in Tripoli. In the weeks after the initial bombardments in March, by contrast, the allies routinely flew 60 or more sorties a day.

“NATO got smarter,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior policy analyst with the RAND Corporation who follows Libya closely. “The strikes were better controlled. There was better coordination in avoiding collateral damage.” The rebels, while ill-trained and poorly organized even now, made the most of NATO’s direct and indirect support, becoming more effective in selecting targets and transmitting their location, using technology provided by individual NATO allies, to NATO’s targeting team in Italy.

“The rebels certainly have our phone number,” the diplomat said. “We have a much better picture of what’s happening on the ground.”

Rebel leaders in the west credited NATO with thwarting an attempt on Sunday by Qaddafi loyalists to reclaim Zawiyah with a flank assault on the city.

Administration officials greeted the developments with guarded elation that the overthrow of a reviled dictator would vindicate the demands for democracy that have swept the Arab world.

A State Department’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said that President Obama, who was vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, and other senior American officials were following events closely.

Privately, many officials cautioned that it could still be several days or weeks before Libya’s military collapses or Colonel Qaddafi and his inner circle abandon the fight. As Saddam Hussein and his sons did in Iraq after the American invasion in 2003, the Libyan leader could hold on and lead an insurgency from hiding even after the capital fell, the officials said.

“Trying to predict what this guy is going to do is very, very difficult,” a senior American military officer said.

A senior administration official said the United States had evidence that other members of Colonel Qaddafi’s inner circle were negotiating their own exits, but there was no reliable information on the whereabouts or state of mind of Colonel Qaddafi. Audio recordings released by Colonel Qaddafi on Sunday night, which expressed defiance, were of limited use in discerning his circumstances.

Even if Colonel Qaddafi were to be deposed, there is no clear plan for political succession or maintaining security in the country. “The leaders I’ve talked to do not have a clear understanding how this will all play out,” said the senior officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain diplomatic relationships.

The United States is already laying plans for a post-Qaddafi Libya. Jeffrey D. Feltman, an assistant secretary of state, was in Benghazi over the weekend for meetings with the rebels’ political leadership about overseeing a stable, democratic transition. A senior administration official said that the United States wanted to reinforce the message of rebel leaders that they seek an inclusive transition that would bring together all the segments of Libyan society.

“Even as we welcome the fact that Qaddafi’s days are numbered and we want to see him go as quickly as possible, we also want to send a message that the goal should be the protection of civilians,” the official said.

The administration was making arrangements to bring increased medical supplies and other humanitarian aid into Libya.

With widespread gunfire in the streets of Tripoli, Human Rights Watch cautioned NATO to take measures to guard against the kind of bloody acts of vengeance, looting and other violence that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government.

“Everyone should be ready for the prospect of a very quick, chaotic transition,” said Tom Malinowski, the director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch.

Strange what 24 hour period of time performs to an official perspective.

buckeroo  posted on  2011-08-21   21:56:56 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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