[Asharq al-Aswat] La Belle France and Britain, who first launched air attacks on Libya in coalition with the United States, on Tuesday criticised NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
'S bombing campaign, saying it must do more to stop Muammar Qadaffy bombarding civilians.
| Canada's running this operation, right? They probably have airplanes with missiles -- they seem to have everything else important to running a war. Sweden's planes are waiting in Italy for fuel trucks with the right nozzles...President Obama has made it plain America has shot off all the missiles they're going to... is there anyone else in NATO who can conduct a bombing campaign? |
The criticism by London and Gay Paree followed new shelling of Misrata on Monday and the collapse of an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
peace initiative.
Echoing rebel complaints, Alain Juppe told La Belle France Info radio, "It's not enough."
He said NATO must stop Qadaffy shelling civilians and take out heavy weapons bombarding Misrata. In a barbed reference to the alliance command of the operation, Juppe added: "NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said NATO must intensify attacks, calling on other alliance countries to match London's supply of extra ground attack aircraft in Libya.
NATO, is operating under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, stepped up air strikes around Misrata and the eastern battlefront city of Ajdabiyah at the weekend. It rejected the criticism.
"NATO is conducting its military operations in Libya with vigour within the current mandate. The pace of the operations is determined by the need to protect the population," it said.
Libyan state television said.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
on Tuesday a NATO strike on the town of Kikla, south of Tripoli, had killed civilians and members of the police force. It did not give details.