NATO Apologizes to Libyan Rebels
Airstrikes Thursday in NATO's campaign against Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed at least four Libyan rebels in a "friendly fire" accident, the second in a week. After a bit of foot-dragging by the British deputy commander of the air campaign, NATO apologized to the rebels.
Airstrikes Thursday in NATO’s campaign against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces killed at least four Libyan rebels in a “friendly fire” accident, the second in a week. After a bit of foot-dragging by the British deputy commander of the air campaign, NATO apologized to the rebels. –JCL
Your support matters…The New York Times:
NATO acknowledged on Friday that its warplanes had hit a rebel convoy the day before, killing at least four people, and after some confusion eventually apologized for the accident.
At a news conference in Naples, where NATO has its operational headquarters, Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the British deputy commander of the air campaign, said the alliance had not been forewarned — as the rebels’ commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, contended on Thursday — that the rebels were using tanks at the time the attack took place.
The military movements in the area where the attack took place were also “very fluid” at the time, [Harding] said, according to news reports, with vehicles going backward and forward.
“I am not apologizing,” he said of the incident, the second case of friendly-fire deaths in a week. “The situation on the ground was extremely fluid and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did not have information” that the rebels planned to deploy tanks.
But later the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, expressed his remorse over the mix-up. “This is a very unfortunate incident,” he said at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “And I strongly regret the loss of life.”
Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
The president indicates he won't respond militarily after missile strike on Iraqi bases in which no one was harmed, tells of new sanctions.
"This is a war crime," says the New York Democrat.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.