Oorlog in Libië #97. Meer bescherming gewenst.

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Op vrijdag 15 april 2011 22:00 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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81mm mortier munitie. Licht-granaat aan parachute.

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Op vrijdag 15 april 2011 22:16 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:

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Er staat een jodenster op?

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cronicle.com - By Ben Wieder
For a roomful of students, faculty, and staff at Lehigh University, the revolution was on Skype this Friday.

Libyan rebels, using the popular Web video and telephone service, spoke with the Lehigh audience for about one hour from a conference room in Benghazi, the countrys second-largest city and the center of the rebellion that has challenged the 42-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi this spring.

A translator for the rebel army said he hoped the event would give students and faculty a clearer picture of whats happening, which would in turn help them spread their message to a wider audience in the United States.

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With the help of a PowerPoint presentation, the Libyans explained why they thought it was necessary to overthrow Colonel Qaddafi, traced the path of the current revolution, and described the democratic government they would like to build if they depose him.

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In response to a student question about what legacy the rebels would leave, Mr. Hakim said he hoped it would be clear that the actions of the rebels were a necessary response to years of repression under Colonel Qaddafis rule.

We are not armed creeps or terrorists, he said. Necessity requires that we fight.

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Libya: Gaddafi forces 'using cluster bombs in Misrata'

Human Rights Watch say Gaddafi's army has fired the weapons, which cause massive damage and are banned in most states

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have fired cluster bombs into residential areas of the besieged city of Misrata, according to witnesses.

Human Rights Watch reported that four cluster bombs exploded in the city on Thursday and Friday, and two Libyan residents of Misrata told the Guardian that they suspected the munitions were being used.

Cluster bombs, banned by most countries in the world, explode in midair, indiscriminately throwing out dozens of high-explosive bomblets which cause widespread damage and injuries over a large area. The submunitions often fail to explode on impact but detonate when stepped on or picked up.

The claims came as the leaders of US, Britain and France committed their countries to pursue military action until Colonel Gaddafi has been removed from power. In a joint letter, Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy described the onslaught on Misrata a "medieval siege … to strangle its population into submission".

More than 100 government rockets were also fired on Misrata on Friday during a second day of heavy bombardment. Eight people were killed, according to rebels, who said government forces had reached the city's centre.

HRW condemned the use of cluster munitions, especially in residential areas. "They pose a huge risk to civilians, both during attacks, because of their indiscriminate nature, and afterward because of the still-dangerous unexploded duds scattered about," said Steve Goose, HRW's arms division director.

It said that, based on its examination of submunition found in Misrata, the bombs originated in Spain. "The cluster munition is a Spanish-produced MAT-120 120mm mortar projectile, which opens in mid-air and releases 21 submunitions over a wide area. Upon exploding on contact with an object, each submunition disintegrates into high-velocity fragments to attack people and releases a slug of molten metal to penetrate armored vehicles," it said in a statement.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, speaking after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin, said she was not aware of the reports, but remarked, "I'm not surprised by anything that Colonel Gaddafi and his forces do."

She added: "That is worrying information. And it is one of the reasons the fight in Misrata is so difficult, because it's at close quarters, it's in amongst urban areas and it poses a lot of challenges to both Nato and to the opposition."

Mohamed, a rebel opposition spokesman in Misrata, told the Guardian by Skype that he had heard "one big explosion followed by many smaller ones. It sounds like cluster bombs".

He also reported seeing victims of what he called "candy bombs", describing them as "something that resembles a pretty bottle. You pick it up, it explodes and kills you."

Aiman Abushahma, a doctor at a Misrata hospital, said medics were seeing people with injuries consistent with cluster bombs. "We never saw these injuries before. We need experts to assess [the weaponry]," he said.

HRW said cluster bombs had fallen around 1km from the frontline in Misrata. It could not confirm whether civilians had been killed or injured by the munitions.

It quoted two Misrata ambulance drivers, who said they had witnessed cluster strikes on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ibrahim Abuwayfa saw an explosion in the air and "little flames" coming down at about 7pm on Wednesday. "One of the objects landed a few metres away on a residential wall and it exploded when it hit and then shrapnel flew out," he said.

Waleed Srayti said he saw a cluster munition strike at around 11am on Thursday. "I was in the streets behind the vegetable market," he said. "A big battle was going on in Tripoli Street at the vegetable market. I heard a noise and about nine or 10 things started popping out of the sky over the market. I just saw the pops in the air. I saw white smoke coming down."

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim denied that Libya was using cluster bombs. "We can never do this, morally, legally. We challenge them [HRW] to prove this. We know the international community is coming en masse to our country. We're not using them."

Libya has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, and requires states to destroy stockpiles.

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Newsnight's Diplomatic editor Mark Urban in Benghazi profiles the Libyan Revolutionary Council. Who are they and what do they stand for? Are they a coherent, credible force?

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Ja. Het is duidelijk dat de opstandelingen geen staakt-het-vuren willen. Dat is stom, want ze lijken te verliezen, en als het niet aan de Westerse oorlogsverklaring had gelegen, dan bestond er ueberhaupt geen opstandelingenleger meer.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 01:22 schreef Onverlaatje het volgende:
Monidique schreef:

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Stom, slim, daar denk je alleen aan als je huurling bent.
Als je rebel bent, dan accepteer je al dat je dood bent, maar dat je je dood nog enigszins wilt uitstellen met kans op een mogelijke overwinning.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:16 schreef zarGon het volgende:
Nieuwstitel:

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Hm, ik dacht bezorgd om de gevolgen voor het volk in die landen!

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.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:28 schreef houda het volgende:

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Inderdaad... Geen woord over alle slachtoffers!! Bah wat een egoistisch onderzoek zeg!

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En ik snap ook niet dat de mensen bezorgd zijn over radicalisering hoor, tuurlijk zullen er mensen zijn die verkeerde bedoelingen hebben.
Maar zo gauw dit over is gaan de libische mensen gewoon verder met de strijd TEGEN radicalisering en terrorisme en Al Qaida!!

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Eerst m,oet die Gadahaffi weg en dan pas kan er weer een fatsoenlijk beleid hier tegen opgezet worden!!

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:49 schreef Tevik het volgende:

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Libische volk is slachtoffer van zichzelf. Daar waar de Tunesiers en de Egyptenaren niet naar wapens grepen, greep een deel van de Libiers snel naar de wapens. "Wie met het zwaard vecht, zal door het zwaard omkomen."

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:16 schreef zarGon het volgende:
Nieuwstitel:

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Hm, ik dacht bezorgd om de gevolgen voor het volk in die landen!

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Je liegt. De Ook in Libië begon het met vreedzame demonstraties. Ghaddafi heeft er een oorlog van gemaakt, burgers werden genoodzaakt zich te verdedigen. In Benghazi hadden ze ongewapend een legerbasis veroverd.

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But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:57 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Ongewapend met autobommen, ja. . "Smerige leugenaar."

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 12:59 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Wat een domme, domme, ondoordachte, domme oorlog toch. Na de debacles in de Balken en in het Midden-Oosten, gaan we toch maar weer even een oorlogje voeren. Aanvallen, en later zien we wel hoe het verder moet!

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 13:03 schreef waht het volgende:
Als jij de toekomst kan voorspellen ligt voor jou een puike baan in het voorschiet.

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Tevens deze dooddoener: All that needs to be done for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 13:08 schreef Monidique het volgende:


Dooddoener, ja. Meer niet.

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If bloodbath was unlikely, how did this notion propel US intervention? The actual prospect in Benghazi was the final defeat of the rebels. To avoid this fate, they desperately concocted an impending genocide to rally international support for “humanitarian’’ intervention that would save their rebellion.

On March 15, Reuters quoted a Libyan opposition leader in Geneva claiming that if Khadafy attacked Benghazi, there would be “a real bloodbath, a massacre like we saw in Rwanda.’’ Four days later, US military aircraft started bombing. By the time Obama claimed that intervention had prevented a bloodbath, The New York Times already had reported that “the rebels feel no loyalty to the truth in shaping their propaganda’’ against Khadafy and were “making vastly inflated claims of his barbaric behavior.’’

It is hard to know whether the White House was duped by the rebels or conspired with them to pursue regime-change on bogus humanitarian grounds. In either case, intervention quickly exceeded the UN mandate of civilian protection by bombing Libyan forces in retreat or based in bastions of Khadafy support, such as Sirte, where they threatened no civilians.

The net result is uncertain. Intervention stopped Khadafy’s forces from capturing Benghazi, saving some lives. But it intensified his crackdown in western Libya to consolidate territory quickly. It also emboldened the rebels to resume their attacks, briefly recapturing cities along the eastern and central coast, such as Ajdabiya, Brega, and Ras Lanuf, until they outran supply lines and retreated.

Each time those cities change hands, they are shelled by both sides — killing, wounding, and displacing innocents. On March 31, NATO formally warned the rebels to stop attacking civilians. It is poignant to recall that if not for intervention, the war almost surely would have ended last month.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 13:17 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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http://www.boston.com/bos(...)isc:on:share:article

Een goede samenvatting van de oorlog tot nu toe. De reden (b)lijkt pure propaganda te zijn;