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Ear to the Ground

Airstrikes Alone Aren’t Enough in Eastern Libya

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Posted on Apr 19, 2011
Creative Commons / Rob Brown

The fight in Libya is moving closer to the ground as NATO commanders admitted Tuesday that airstrikes alone cannot hold back Moammar Gadhafi’s powerful attacks on rebel-held Misrata, where hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, while Britain said it will dispatch senior military officers to advise the opposition.

Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city, has been under siege for nearly two months, with rebels holding on to seaside positions in the port area. In recent days, Libyan troops have pounded the city with shells and rockets.

AP reported that NATO officials have acknowledged difficulty in trouble destroying Gadhafi’s mortars and rocket launchers from the air, for fear of harming civilians in such strikes.

“There is a limit to what can be achieved by airpower to stop fighting in a city,” said NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm.

Given NATO’s humanitarian mandate reflecting the U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya, which does not allow ground forces, “It’s very difficult” to stop the regime’s firepower on Misrata, he said.

Meanwhile, Britain has committed senior military officers to Benghazi, also in the rebel-held east. The Telegraph reports some British MPs are concerned about a Vietnam-style quagmire as the U.K. commits to an extended ground presence in Libya.  —KDG

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MarthaA's avatar

By MarthaA, April 21, 2011 at 7:43 pm Link to this comment

Here are the war plans of the Project For the New American Century:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

Neo-cons Statement of Principles:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

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By samosamo, April 21, 2011 at 5:45 pm Link to this comment

****************


Surely most have heard the adage that ‘when any two
civilizations meet, the least advanced is usually conquered or
killed. But the exact same can be said about separate societies
inside any civilization, reason being, one society is docile, non-
violent and non-aggressive while the other has not a
compunction in the world to attack and/or kill that other society
because they know and have probably ‘rigged’ the playing field
in their favor to not have to suffer accountability for their
criminal acts which the neoconservatives are the extant
example. That makes it so much more easier the rid the
premises of those who won’t defend themselves.

Google and read the neocon agenda for power, ‘the project for
the new american century’.

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drbhelthi's avatar

By drbhelthi, April 21, 2011 at 4:41 pm Link to this comment

tony_opmoc –  I agree with the gist of the article, that the folk of Lybia
live better than the average rest of the world and the attack on Gadhafy is a
farce.  However, “listening” for the “extratees” (my abbreviation of
extraterrestrials) is one of the problems. The “much ado” about listening and
the millions wasted distracts from the factuality of what has been in-
progress, officially, since Pres. Eisenhower met with reps of one extratee
race on Holloman Airfield in the 1950s, and entered into a treaty.  Which the
“extratees” were the first to break.

The official “listening” is in modalities that the extra-tees have not been
made aware of, that they are supposed to use.  Sort of like asking questions
in English of a Chinese-speaking audience.  Americans have been misled to
believe “our listening” is useful. Meanwhile, former Area 51 secretives have
leaked info that estratees have been among us since the 1940s, have given UFO
vehicles to the USGOV, and that one captive extratee has worked “area 51” for
58 years already.  The link,
http://www.ufo-blogger.com/2010/08/ufo-are-real-ben-rich-lockheed-skunk.html
provides insight into very closely guarded Area 51 activities.  In the 1970s, 
one special hangar on Wright-Patterson AFB was guarded by Air Police with
live ammunition. The UFO evidence in that hangar was transferred to Area 51. 
Unfortunately, persons who reveal accurate info typically die or disappear
within weeks, months at the latest, after having revealed secretive, UFO
information that the USGOV covers up. 

In comparison to Americans, Europeans are refreshingly well-informed. 
Americans are victims of the dumbing down program of the C.I.A. “We’ll know
our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public
believes is false.” - William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting,
1981) As recorded by the great American patriot of Jewish belief, Mrs. Mae
Brussel. She and another great patriot, Sherman Skolnick, began to report in
the 1970s that the USA was being turned into a NAZI Reich. Many of those who
paid attention called them communists. Now, we, our children, grandchildren
and great grandchildren suffer the results, as the “Reich” kills and maims
our youth via fraudulent wars against alleged “Moslem terrorism,” commits
genocide of the indigenous in their home-lands, falsely imprisons them in
secretive U.S. prisons, and increasingly abuses Americans in their own homes. 

Just look at the masses who believed the pre-election promises, who voted for
a man who cannot produce a valid birth certificate to prove that he was born
in the U.S.of A.  The same masses who slowly see the destruction he has
bestowed on the US Citizenry and the population of the earth. Folk who have
begun to notice that he does the opposite of what he promises. Increasingly,
folk who plan to NOT make the same mistake a second time, if B.H. Obama lasts
til the next U.S. presidential election.  Which some of us doubt.  Federal
judges have begun to realize that their office is vastly above political
pawnship, that they are not apprentices to politicians, and that death is
more honorable than self-mockery.

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By tony_opmoc, April 21, 2011 at 8:59 am Link to this comment

drbhelthi,

Extraterrestrial Control is a logical explanation for the ongoing mass genocide. Why would the human race do it to themselves?

But how did they get here - without leaving any kind of transmission fingerprint - from where they came from. We’ve been watching and listening for around 100 years - and got zilch.

So I think Ellen Blown’s explanation is the correct one

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Libya-All-About-Oil-or-A-by-Ellen-Brown-110414-179.html

Tony

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drbhelthi's avatar

By drbhelthi, April 21, 2011 at 5:15 am Link to this comment

Congratulations to Germany, for holding out against foot-troops for so long.  Sad that the mafia cooperative, leader of Italy is pressuring Germany to suck up to the U.S.Military chant.

However, since Gadhafy told the USGOV to kissoff, the USGOV will use its pimps every way possible to punish him for resisting. Since the USGOV controls NATO, suckups to NATO are suckups to Bush-Obama. Sad that the leaders of European countries- excepting Germany- are void of insight into what is going on. Are they simply power-crazy, Bush-Obama types?

Of course, USAF generals are ordering colonels who are ordering majors who are ordering captains & lieutenants who are ordering sergeants and airmen to “tell” the hundreds of missiles to hit only the Gadhafy troops and no uninvolved citizens. And the depleted uranium munitions being used in USGOV-supplied weapons?

The more I review the information, the more credibility accrues to the idea that B.H.Obama is not only a creation of the C.I.A., but “might be” a cross-breed of an extraterrestrial. Some area 51 types have whispered that one race of extraterrestrials are behind the radiation contamination of the world. Secrets of the NAZI C.I.A. and the USGOV about extraterrestrials should be shared with Americans and the world. Even the Roman Catholic pope says so.

Three cheers for German leadership who want to be helpful to Lybians instead of destructive.
However.
Watch out for “earthquakes” such as in Japan, which do not occur at fault lines - but rather, near nuke power stations. If it has happened in Japan, it could happen in Germany.

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By samosamo, April 20, 2011 at 9:36 pm Link to this comment

****************


Absolutely amazing. Little old Libya with little old gadhafi
fending off not just NATO but that also means the u.s. who just
can’t seem to put an end to any war. Mighty curious and I hope
that there are some real investigators looking at this.

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By Dave L., April 20, 2011 at 3:21 pm Link to this comment

Open wide Libya, American style sociofacism is gonna get shoved down your throat like it or not.

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Blackspeare's avatar

By Blackspeare, April 20, 2011 at 1:34 pm Link to this comment

The wording of the UN Libyan resolution essentially mandated regime change.  It was only a matter of time until either the resistance was outfitted with superior weapons though that would take a period training or foreign troops were inserted to dispatch Qaddafi expeditiously.  Already France and Italy are calling for UN troops to be sent in.  I initially said Qaddafi would be gone in 6 weeks——I have three more weeks left for my prediction to be accomplished.

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MarthaA's avatar

By MarthaA, April 20, 2011 at 12:03 pm Link to this comment

Air strikes are too much and need to be stopped.

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By FRTothus, April 20, 2011 at 8:19 am Link to this comment

“Four sorrows ... are certain to be visited on the
United States. Their cumulative effect guarantees
that the U.S. will cease to resemble the country
outlined in the Constitution of 1787. First, there
will be a state of perpetual war, leading to more
terrorism against Americans wherever they may be and
a spreading reliance on nuclear weapons among smaller
nations as they try to ward off the imperial
juggernaut. Second is a loss of democracy and
Constitutional rights as the presidency eclipses
Congress and is itself transformed from a co-equal
‘executive branch’ of government into a military
junta. Third is the replacement of truth by
propaganda, disinformation, and the glorification of
war, power, and the military legions. Lastly, there
is bankruptcy, as the United States pours its
economic resources into ever more grandiose military
projects and shortchanges the education, health, and
safety of its citizens.”
(Chalmers Johnson)

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fearnotruth's avatar

By fearnotruth, April 20, 2011 at 3:04 am Link to this comment

RE: Mission “creep” moving along as scheduled.

indeed

just ramping up - but as for operatives already on the ground, Dunkirk could well
be nagging

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PatrickHenry's avatar

By PatrickHenry, April 19, 2011 at 5:54 pm Link to this comment

The longer this goes on the more respect I have for the regular Libyan army.

Against NATO and the world.

What a laugh.

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By ZenBowman, April 19, 2011 at 4:58 pm Link to this comment

Tony warned Bob Scheer about this on LRC when Bob first endorsed the UN plan of action.

End interventionism now!

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By glider, April 19, 2011 at 2:49 pm Link to this comment

Mission “creep” moving along as scheduled.

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