NATO Warns Rebels Against Attacking Civilians

from New York Times

Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to senior military and government officials.

As NATO takes over control of airstrikes in Libya and the Obama administration considers new steps to tip the balance of power there, the coalition has told the rebels that the fog of war will not shield them from possible bombardment by NATO planes and missiles, just as the regime’s forces have been punished.

“We’ve been conveying a message to the rebels that we will be compelled to defend civilians, whether pro-Qaddafi or pro-opposition,” said a senior Obama administration official. “We are working very hard behind the scenes with the rebels so we don’t confront a situation where we face a decision to strike the rebels to defend civilians.”

[read the rest, here]

NATO rules out arming Libyan rebels

from the Harold Sun

THE NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today the alliance was opposed to arming the Libyan rebels fighting against Muammar Gaddafi.

Rasmussen said the alliance, which formally took command of the operation in Libya today, was in the country to protect Libyans, not arm them.

“As far as NATO is concerned, and I speak on behalf of NATO, we will focus on the enforcement of the arms embargo, and the clear purpose of an arms embargo is to stop the flow of weapons into the country,” he said.

Both Washington and London so far refused to rule out arming the rebels, who were beaten back in the past 24 hours after failing to cement an advance on Ghadafi’s hometown of Sirte.

Obama Apologist Ed Schultz Get’s His Talking Points from John McCain: Calls Libyan al Qaeda “Freedom Fighters”

At the end of this debate, Schultz had been claiming that he “supports the president” to go after Gadhafi because 1. he “killed US citizens” and 2. because there is a “coalition” backed by a UN resolution. When Scahill asks what about Obama using cruise missiles to kill civilians in Yemen back in 2009 with no UN resolution, Ed gets flustered and tries to end the debate by calling the so-called rebels in Libya “freedom fighters”. Scahill should have asked him if that means that Ed would support bombing the Israel since the IDF recently killed a US citizen or two themselves.

It’s unbelievable how pathological these people are. They will support anything just so long as it keeps a paycheck in their pockets. Ed Schultz taking his talking points straight from John McCain and Joe Lieberman.

There will never be another Ed Schultz video displayed on this website.