In Libya, a Bloodbath Looms

[In These Times]

NATO’s war in Libya, which began with high-minded declarations about “protecting civilians,” now appears likely to end with a bloodbath that will claim the lives of many civilians, albeit pro-Gaddafi civilians, not the earlier threatened anti-Gaddafi civilians. Ali Tarhouni, a senior official of the NATO-backed Libyan rebels, summed up this Orwellian reality with a phrase reminiscent of the famous Vietnam War quote that “we had to destroy the village in order to save it.” Tarhouni was quoted by the Associated Press as saying “Sometimes to avoid bloodshed you must shed blood – and the faster we do this the less blood will be shed.” So, NATO’s rebels set a four-day deadline for Muammar Gaddafi’s remaining tribal strongholds, including his native Surte, to surrender or face a final crushing military strike, which the rebels presumably will mount as NATO aircraft pound Surte’s defenses. NATO spokesman Col. Roland Lavoie explained that NATO still considered Gaddafi as a threat and thus NATO’s warplanes were still attacking his forces, especially on “a corridor to the eastern edge of Surte.” In other words, even though Gaddafi’s loyalists have retreated to a few towns where he appears to retain strong popular support, NATO is paving the…http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?a=N5kXko2k_QI:tHjVHvwzDP8:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?d=dnMXMwOfBR0 (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?a=N5kXko2k_QI:tHjVHvwzDP8:dnMXMwOfBR0) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?d=7Q72WNTAKBA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/InTheseTimes?a=N5kXko2k_QI:tHjVHvwzDP8:7Q72WNTAKBA)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InTheseTimes/~4/N5kXko2k_QI

More... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InTheseTimes/~3/N5kXko2k_QI/)