Updates on Libyan war/Stop NATO news: August 26, 2011

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NATO Destroys Yet Another Country

160-Day Air War: 20,395 NATO Sorties, 7,681 Air Strikes

British Warplanes Fire Missiles At Government Facility In Sirte

CIA Operating In Tripoli

NATO Proxy War In Libya Far From Over: Expert

ALBA Condemns NATO For Assault On Venezuelan Embassy In Libya

Syrians Fear NATO To Attack Their Country After Libya

NATO: Canada Third Largest Contributor To Bombing Of Libya

Libya: NATO’s Long-Drawn-Out Bay Of Pigs

German General: NATO “Played Decisive Role” In Libyan War

International Expert Says NATO Fights Proxy War In Libya

Barely Independent: U.S. AFRICOM Commander In South Sudan

NATO Conducts Integrated Interceptor Missile Test In Europe

Lockheed Opens New Testing Ground For Advanced Interceptor Missile

Northrop Produces Viper Strike Missiles For U.S. Marine Corps

NATO’s International Killing Machine At Work In Afghanistan

Afghan Drugs Destabilize Political Situation In Balkans: Russia

U.S. Drone Crashes At Pakistani Military Facility

U.S.-India Military Partnership Priority For Pentagon, Obama Administration

European Union Appoints New South Caucasus, Georgian Crisis Representative

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NATO Destroys Yet Another Country
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=111013

Pakistan Observer
August 26, 2011

NATO destroys yet another country
Geopolitical notes from India
M D Nalapat*

-[I]n the 21st century the UN seems to have regressed into the period between 1919 and 1939, when the League of Nations awarded “mandates” to dominant countries that permitted them to rule weaker ones. In the past decade, similar mandates have been proferred in the case of Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. In the case of Libya, President Sarkozy’s takeover of the Libyan state via the creation of the NTC has been similarly legitimized by the UN in an astonishing abdication of principle.
-Over the past decade, tens of thousands of civilian deaths have resulted from NATO operations, without even a mild protest from the International Court or the Human Rights Council. Such inaction is leading to the same loss of respect for the UN system as took place in the past with the League of Nations, which became seen as being controlled by a small group for their own purposes.
-The use of military power for commercial advantage ought to have vanished when the 19th century did. Its reappearance in Iraq and Libya is a worrisome sign that NATO has not learnt the lessons of history.

Some years ago, on the Indian site http://www.bharat-rakshak.com, this columnist had written of the NATO militaries as resembling an army of simians. Such a force – if let loose within a confined space – can create immense damage, but are unable to clean up the resultant mess.

This is precisely what the world has witnessed in Iraq. Despite more than a decade of sanctions that directly resulted in nearly a million extra deaths during that period (because of shortages created by the UN-approved measures), the regime of Saddam Hussein was able to provide food, energy and housing to the people of Iraq, whereas eight years after “liberation” by key NATO members, the country and its population are worse off than before the 2003 invasion that led to the execution of Saddam Hussein.

As for Afghanistan, after a decade of the world’s most modern military force fighting against a ragtag band of insurgents, more than a third of the country is back in the hands of the Taliban, while a fifth of the rest is on the brink of a similar fate. As a consequence of its failure to subdue this force, NATO is desperately clutching at plans for engaging the “moderate Taliban”, an oxymoron if ever one was created.

Serbia has yet to recover from its brief burst of battle with NATO, and now Libya has joined the lengthening list of countries devastated by the attentions of NATO.

Clearly, the top brass in a military alliance designed to do battle in Europe against the USSR were reluctant to close shop. They have therefore redesigned NATO as a military instrument with multiple uses, especially against “asymmetric threats”, a term which refers to countries that have ramshackle militaries.

Both Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gaddafy followed the dictates of the NATO powers in surrendering whatever WMDs were in their possession, unlike Syria and North Korea, two countries that have been left undisturbed by NATO as a consequence. Clearly, military planners within the alliance are ready for action only against those rivals that have had their conventional capabilities degraded to the point at which they do not represent any significant risk against the alliance. Had George W. Bush and Tony Blair truly believed their own rhetoric about Saddam Hussein having WMD, they would never have sent their armies into Iraq the way they did.

As mentioned in these columns, Gaddafy’s fate got sealed when he accepted the advice of his Europe-dazzled sons to disarm and place the survival of his regime in the hands of NATO. Since 2003, Muammar Gaddafy dismantled his WMD program, synchronised his intelligence services with that of NATO and generally accepted each of the prescriptions handed over to him.

Had NATO been an alliance that respects reciprocity, all this ought to have made NATO turn a blind an eye to his battle with sections of the population as we have seen in the case of Bahrain, where the ruling family has been given a free hand to sort out the situation.

Instead, the situation changed when Nicolas Sarkozy was informed by French banks that Colonel Gaddafy may withdraw the immense bank deposits of Libya from them to institutions in China, and when he learnt that several contracts that French enterprises were expecting to come to them would vanish because Gaddafy wanted to spend less on French military and other toys and more on social services. Libya had to be made an example of, lest other Arab governments think of shifting their money elsewhere than within the NATO bloc as a consequence of the loss of $1.3 trillion by the GCC and its people alone because of the financial fraud perpetrated in 2008 by banks and other financial entities headquartered within the NATO bloc.

These days, companies based within NATO are finding it difficult to retain the monopoly position they have enjoyed, sometimes for generations. In particular, Chinese companies are challenging them in numerous markets, as are companies based elsewhere in Asia, including within South Korea and India. As a consequence, they now rely on military force to retain their privileges. This has been illustrated with commendable transparency in the case of Iraq and Libya. In the latter case, even though the fumes of battle have not ceased (and are unlikely to), oil companies such as ENI and Total are hard at work figuring out the assets they can seize because of the local victories of the Sarkozy-appointed “National Transitional Council”.

Interestingly, even though the NTC is a creation of Paris, the UN has accepted it as the legitimate government of Libya. Indeed, in the 21st century the UN seems to have regressed into the period between 1919 and 1939, when the League of Nations awarded “mandates” to dominant countries that permitted them to rule weaker ones. In the past decade, similar mandates have been proferred in the case of Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. In the case of Libya, President Sarkozy’s takeover of the Libyan state via the creation of the NTC has been similarly legitimized by the UN in an astonishing abdication of principle.

However, just as in other locations, facts on the ground may not follow the script favoured by NATO. In the case of Libya, this columnist has warned for five months that the NATO intervention would only result in civil war and in the steady destruction of the infrastructure that made Libya one of the more prosperous countries in the region.

All this is at risk today, as chaos descends in the form of armed gangs set loose by NATO across the country. Not that there is ever any chance of those responsible for such a catastrophe being held accountable by so-called “international” bodies, most of which are now firmly in the control of the NATO powers in a way that their own economies are not. Over the past decade, tens of thousands of civilian deaths have resulted from NATO operations, without even a mild protest from the International Court or the Human Rights Council. Such inaction is leading to the same loss of respect for the UN system as took place in the past with the League of Nations, which became seen as being controlled by a small group for their own purposes.

Whether it is Libya or any other country, each has the right to develop its societal dynamic in its own way. Unless a country poses a threat to others, the way the Talban-controlled Afghanistan did, it is not a legitimate target for international action.

In the case of Libya, since 2003 Colonel Gaddafy disarmed his military of WMDs and fully cooperated with the US-led War on Terror. His fate has become a lesson to others who may have been tempted to follow in his path of conciliation with NATO.

Small wonder that the other regimes in the sights of NATO – Syria and Iran in particular – are in no hurry to follow the Libyan example. Rather than seek to finish off a leader who buried the hatchet publicly and fully the way Gaddafy did, NATO would have been better advised to show its magnanimity and its willingness to keep agreements in good faith.

That would have acted as an incentive for Syria, Iran and even North Korea to follow suit, thereby making the globe a safer place. Today, all three states – understandably – have zero faith in the bona fides of the NATO powers, and as a consequence are each going their own way. Combine this with the economic desolation seen within NATO (much of which has been caused by the huge spike in military spending caused by foreign adventures), and overall even the medium-term prognosis for NATO is dim, despite the smiles of congratulation at the advance of NATO proxies into Tripoli.

Unlike during the Vietnam war, when the Pentagon extensively sourced its procurement from Asia, the Bush-Cheney team sought to give US entities a monopoly over the supply of the items needed, even items as militarily inconsequential as toothpaste. The result of such an autarchic policy has been a big increase in spending, with the US alone spending more than a trillion dollars in its wars with Iraq and Afghanistan.

Indeed, we have seen this use of the state machinery to block competition across several sectors. The EU, for example, has banned Indian pharmaceuticals from its market, despite the low cost and high quality of medicines produced in India.

Just now, the EU has banned Samsung hi-tech products. A time will come when Asia bans German cars and French defense equipment in retaliation for the frequent bans on Asian products on specious grounds. The US and the EU cannot protect their way out of economic trouble. They need to give their citizens access to the benefits of a global market, rather than break every canon that they have been preaching for decades.

As for NATO, it will soon become clear that while it may be possible to defeat a ramshackle force with the massive use of airpower, that may not translate into monopoly privileges over Libyan oil reserves. Should China or India come up with better terms than Italian or French companies, the people of Libya will ensure that their government act in a way that protects their interests, rather than only those of NATO. The use of military power for commercial advantage ought to have vanished when the 19th century did. Its reappearance in Iraq and Libya is a worrisome sign that NATO has not learnt the lessons of history.

*The writer is Vice-Chair, Manipal Advanced Research Group, UNESCO Peace Chair & Professor of Geopolitics, Manipal University, Haryana State, India.

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160-Day Air War: 20,395 NATO Sorties, 7,681 Air Strikes
http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_08/20110826_110826-oup-update.pdf

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
August 26, 2011

NATO and Libya
Allied Joint Force Command NAPLES, SHAPE, NATO HQ

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Over the past 24 hours, NATO has conducted the following activities associated with Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR:

Air Operations

Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 06.00GMT) a total of 20,395 sorties, including 7,681 strike sorties, have been conducted.

Sorties conducted 25 AUGUST: 133

Strike sorties conducted 25 AUGUST: 46

…

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British Warplanes Fire Missiles At Government Facility In Sirte
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/26/c_131077605.htm

Xinhua News Agency
August 26, 2011

British forces fire missiles at Gaddafi stronghold

LONDON: British military officials on Friday confirmed that RAF Tornado GR4s struck a military facility in Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold of Sirte.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that “a formation of Tornado GR4s fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker” in Sirte.

The bunker housed a command and control center. There is no indication that Gaddafi was in Sirte or in the bunker itself at the time of the attack.

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As events in Tripoli continue to unfold, with reports of fighting continuing, as well as members of Libya’s National Transitional Council beginning to move into the city, it has been announced that an international conference on Libya co-chaired by British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be held in Paris next week.

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CIA Operating In Tripoli
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/26/55186178.html

Voice of Russia
August 25, 2011

CIA joins search for Gaddafi

US intelligence has joined in the search for Muammar Gaddafi, a White House spokesman said in Washington on Thursday.

He said CIA operatives, reconnaissance planes and drones were all being used in the operation. The CIA believes the embattled Libyan leader may be hiding in one of an estimated 40 shelters in the capital Tripoli and elsewhere in the country.

The Americans share the obtained information with the opposition Transitional National Council.

Meanwhile, in a radio address on Thursday Gaddafi urged his supporters to take up arms and crush the rebels.

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NATO Proxy War In Libya Far From Over: Expert
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/26/55214837.html

Voice of Russia
August 26, 2011

Libyan conflict far from being over
Polina Chernitsa

Libya’s National Transitional Council has moved from Benghazi to Tripoli. Opposition members say that from now on, all political guidance will be provided from the official capital, which the rebel army would never be able to occupy without NATO assistance. This sensational statement may expose the alliance’s reputation to risk and is fraught with major political complications within the coalition, experts claim.

Colonel Fadlallah Harun, the official spokesman for the NTC’s armed force, said, in particular, that NATO’s role was generally limited to forming battle groups to be secretly redeployed to Tripoli. Another evidence of the alliance’s ground presence in Libya was established by British and French journalists. Such a scenario was rather predictable, according to deputy director of the Institute for African Studies Leonid Fituni.

“Three weeks ago, NATO claimed to be acting in compliance with the UN Security Council’s resolution banning it from direct interference in the conflict. Today we see that all conventions were discarded and NATO got involved in Libya’s confrontation as a third party, the rebel’s ally. This was obvious even before the assault of Tripoli when NATO instructors began to appear in the opposition ranks. Thus, Tripoli was attacked not so much by Libyan rebels as members of NATO security services disguised as Arabs. It was them who cleared the way for the opposition to enter a direct fight against Gaddafi troops. If the US now joins the search for the Colonel, this will mean an open phase of the ground operation,” Leonid Fituni said.

Despite the National Transitional Council’s official statements, video and photo evidence, NATO leaders keep insisting that its activity does not run counter to the UNSC’s mandate. On August 23rd, its spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said NATO had no troops on the ground and was not going to ever fall back on their help.

Such a course of events may have a negative impact on the Alliance itself. Experts say a number of UN Security Council’s member states are likely to express their condemnation over the situation soon. If it fails to prevent a split within its own ranks, NATO will be suspended from the power transfer process in Libya, which will inevitably demoralize the opposition, Leonid Fituni goes on to say.

“The opposition proclaimed that it had seized power. However, the absence of a common enemy during any revolution leads to the sides’ getting into an argument as to who was right and who was wrong. Eventually, a moment will come when one of the groups proves to be stronger than the others and starts sorting things out in its own way,” Leonid Fituni concluded.

According to some experts, both NATO and Libyan rebels drove themselves into a trap when occupying Tripoli. First of all, Gaddafi’s whereabouts and capacity are still unknown, with his followers still controlling a number of the capital’s districts. Analysts say Tripoli’s surrender could have only been a tactical move. Secondly, the NTC acknowledged the day before that it cannot put an end to marauding within its army, which may provoke a feedback from local residents who are still considered loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. In other words, the conflict in Libya is far from being over and may even linger for a long time in view of the new circumstances.

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ALBA Condemns NATO For Assault On Venezuelan Embassy In Libya
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6446

Venezuelanalysis
August 25, 2011

ALBA and Others Condemn Armed Assault on Venezuela’s Diplomatic Residence in Libya
By Juan Reardon

-“They have torn apart a country, and it wasn’t Gadafi who did it. They have set the country ablaze, and it wasn’t Gadafi who did it – no, it was precisely imperial madness and capitalism’s global crisis who did it,” said Chavez.
Reports estimate that recent NATO bombings of the Libyan capital have resulted in over 2,000 deaths in Tripoli alone, with the total number of dead expected to rise.
Chavez said he was concerned that the “tragedy in Libya has just begun” as rumors spread about a possible ground invasion by NATO special forces.

San Francisco: On Wednesday Venezuela’s ambassador in Libya denounced the looting of his official residence by armed men, calling the assault “a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty” by “NATO itself.” The governments of Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, among other ALBA nations, denounced the violent attack as a “breach of international law,” as did Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV).

Speaking to TeleSUR on Wednesday, Venezuelan Ambassador to Libya Afif Tajeldine explained that “a group of armed men” had shot their way in to the official residence, “began searching the house and asking for me,” before “looting all things, including the vehicles, the entire house, leaving nothing in the residence and shooting in the air as they left.”

“This is an act that violates international law, since this site is part of our territory, Venezuelan territory, which they must respect as such,” said the ambassador.

This breach of international law, affirmed Tajeldine, “was carried out by armed groups supported by NATO, leading us to consider it a violation, by NATO itself, of our sovereignty.”

Venezuela’s Tajeldine pointed out that it was the official residence, and not the embassy, that had suffered yesterday’s attacks, clarifying conflicting reports including comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that the country’s embassy had been ransacked.

“At the embassy itself nothing has yet occurred,” he said.

Condemnation of the Armed Assault

In response to the attack on the diplomatic residence, the countries that make up the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) released a statement “deploring” what they called another “violation of international law,” caused by the “the illegal military aggression by NATO governments and their allies.”

“The countries of the Bolivarian Alliance congregate votes so that this important African country (Libya) recovers the road to peace and harmony and so that the internal conflict in Libya find a political solution that preserves its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” read the statement.

The governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines all signed the condemnation.

In Argentina on Thursday, the countries meeting at the Forum for Cooperation between Latin American and East Asia (FOCALAE) added their collective “condemnation” of the armed assault, calling it “a clear violation of the principles of international law.”

Venezuelan Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Temir Porras, present at this week’s FOCALAE summit, thanked his colleagues for the “show of solidarity” and said that the importance of the collective statement was that it “denounced the chaos sowed in Tripoli by these armed groups.”

Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the largest party in the country with some seven million members, also denounced the attack.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, International Affairs Secretary of the PSUV Rodrigo Cabezas denounced the attack on Venezuela’s representatives in Libya within the context of NATO’s war on Libya.

“That country (Libya), and our country (Venezuela), are members of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) and we know that we will always face the transnational threat, the imperial outlook, because we are oil nations.”

Cabezas went on to affirm that the PSUV “demands compliance with international law as it relates to the Venezuelan embassy in Libya, and that our representatives in that country be given immunity.”

Cabezas explained that since NATO first began bombing Libya in March 2011, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “had formulated proposals to the world with respect to finding peaceful alternatives, based on dialogue, a negotiated settlement of the conflicts that exist among the Libyan people.”

On Wednesday, Venezuela’s Chavez said NATO and its allies “are demolishing the country [Libya] for the entire world to see, cutting it into pieces” and affirmed that Venezuela had “fulfilled its moral commitment by denouncing [the NATO war] from the very first day.”

“Independent of the internal situation in Libya,” said Chavez, “nothing justifies this outrageous act, a disregard for the world, a threat towards the entire world.”

“They have torn apart a country, and it wasn’t Gadafi who did it. They have set the country ablaze, and it wasn’t Gadafi who did it – no, it was precisely imperial madness and capitalism’s global crisis who did it,” said Chavez.

Reports estimate that recent NATO bombings of the Libyan capital have resulted in over 2,000 deaths in Tripoli alone, with the total number of dead expected to rise.

Chavez said he was concerned that the “tragedy in Libya has just begun” as rumors spread about a possible ground invasion by NATO special forces.

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Syrians Fear NATO To Attack Their Country After Libya
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/26/55202767.html

Voice of Russia
August 26, 2011

Syria fears Libya’s fate
Oleg Gribkov and Natalya Kovalenko

Damascus fears that NATO may redeploy its forces to Syria after the termination of its military campaign in Libya. If this happens, Syria’s prospects for democratic development will be killed stone dead, according to both left-wing and liberal groups of that country’s moderate opposition.

Member of the Syrian Communist Party’s political bureau Najmeddin Khreit is sure the time is ripe for reforms in his country. Even though its economic situation is better than in other riot-stricken Arab countries, the life of ordinary people is becoming increasingly difficult. Yes, unemployment rates are not as high as in Egypt or Tunisia but they keep growing, especially among the youth, and have eroded the society alongside a simultaneous increase in corruption. Our frozen political system, Najmeddin Khreit says, prevented us from having a free discussion of all the problems and ways to solve them.

The last few months witnessed a launch of democratic changes but even leaders of the ruling Baath Party recognize that it was already late for reforms. The situation only escalated when the regime’s radical opponents appealed to arms, Najmeddin Khreit explains.

“For the sake of our homeland and its interests, all Syrians have to join efforts and help the country out of the crisis. The most urgent objective is to stop violence on both sides because it can only generate more violence in response. Of course, armed anti-government groups should cease their raids. The authorities need to promptly start a broad dialogue with the opposition and also cope with the issue of partially released political prisoners. These measures will create conditions for doing away with the crisis if taken without delay, in view of the world’s alarming situation,” Najmeddin Khreit said.

Nearly the same ideas were outlined by authoritative Syrian human rights activist Salim Kheirbek in his recent letter to President Bashar al-Assad. Kheirbek, who spent 13 years in prison for his beliefs, possesses quite a variety of awards for his activity. He said presidential administration officials were favorably disposed when receiving his letter and even met with him several times. Salim Kheirbek is sure reforms should not be delayed and shared his view with our correspondent. Being a graduate of the Moscow-based Peoples’ Friendship University, he has a good command of Russian.

“With Gaddafi’s rule about to end, NATO will most likely send its forces to Syria. Our president believes they are preparing for an attack against us, which will hardly facilitate democratic changes. I have no idea of what will happen to Syria in such a case,” Salim Kheirbek says.

Damascus is anxiously following the developments in Libya. Neither Syrian leaders nor constructive opposition want a repetition of the Libyan scenario which will cost a lot to ordinary citizens, like any of the NATO-masterminded campaigns.

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NATO: Canada Third Largest Contributor To Bombing Of Libya
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/08/25/canada-contributed-a-disproportionate-amount-to-libya-air-strikes-sources/

National Post
August 25, 2011

Canada contributed a disproportionate amount to Libya air strikes: sources
Tom Blackwell

Canadian fighter jets were in the air again this week, striking at the Gaddafi regime’s tanks and artillery, part of this country’s surprisingly substantial contribution to the five-month-long NATO bombing campaign in Libya.

As one of three nations carrying out the bulk of the sometimes-controversial air war, Canada with its aging CF-18 fighters has made a contribution clearly disproportionate to the compact size of its air force, say alliance and academic sources.

While Britain and France have about three times as many fighter-bombers in the operation as this country and are usually credited with most of the fighting, Canada has been close behind in its role, said a NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It has also provided three planes for air-to-air refuelling and two reconnaissance aircraft, all of the crews based in the Italian island of Sicily. Canada is among a handful of NATO members that took on the bulk of the mission after the U.S. withdrew its 50 or so fighter jets early in the campaign.

“The burden of the strike sorties fell on the shoulders of predominately the Canadians, the British and the French,” said the NATO official. “I must say that, Canada in particular, being the smaller of the three air forces, once again punched well above its weight.”

NATO was keeping up its campaign on Thursday — bombing Sirte, Col. Gaddafi’s birthplace. Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage over pockets of Tripoli…

Support for the operation among Canadians has been mixed, amid accusations of mission creep and controversy about civilian casualties; it seems clear, however, that for better or worse this country has well exceeded the peripheral role that many observers expected it to play.

The six CF-18s — backed up by one spare — have logged 733 bombing sorties above the North African nation, while the Canadian refuelling and reconnaissance aircraft have added hundreds more flights.

“The folks that are flying are flying hard and they’re flying a high tempo of operations,” said Brigadier-General Derek Joyce, commander of Task Force Libeccio, as the Italy-based Canadian team is called…

It is difficult to get a precise picture of who is contributing what to the campaign, said Prof. Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, a British defence think-tank.

However, “the Canadians are reported to be doing a lot of [sorties],” he said in an emailed response to questions. “Only Canada, France and the U.K., among the allies, have kept up a constant high tempo of ground attacks. The other five who have done some attacking have been more variable. Also, Canada has the right aircraft for the role and has more appropriate weapons systems to deploy than some other allies.”

…

Critics complain that the campaign has morphed into an attempt to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, as targets have grown to include the ruler’s family compounds in Tripoli, and several of his family members were reportedly killed by NATO bombs.

The Canadian CF-18s conduct two types of missions — planned “air interdiction” attacks on static military infrastructure, including buildings used for command and control, plus “surveillance, co-ordination and reconnaissance” sorties where pilots hunt for government tanks and other mobile weaponry to bomb, said Brig.-Gen. Joyce from his Naples headquarters. There was an initial sense of “euphoria” among the Canadians this week when rebels started streaming into Tripoli, but the pilots have continued their strikes, as it became clear the regime was still alive, firing artillery and rockets into Tripoli and other cities, the commander said.

…

Civilian casualties have repeatedly sparked concern, with Italy at one point calling for a pause in bombing…

…

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Libya: NATO’s Long-Drawn-Out Bay Of Pigs
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110826/166211240.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
August 26, 2011

NATO troops in Libya: No entry, no exit
Konstantin Bogdanov

-Libya, of course, is not the “Bay of Pigs” where in April 1961 CIA-trained Cuban exiles, backed by the U.S. Air Force, landed on the island in the hope that they would overthrow the Castro regime. The European allies are getting bogged down in Libya much more slowly and therefore more deeply. All they can do is clench their teeth and try to push on through until victory can be proclaimed, if not actually achieved.

The Libyan rebels’ somewhat dubious success in Tripoli threatens to draw NATO into a ground operation while Washington is wondering whether the European coalition was right to rush into battle.

Who is fighting on the side of the rebels in Libya?

The saga of Tripoli’s fall and the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in Libya continues. The European allies seem to be launching a new phase of their Libyan operation, one that is marked by even greater military involvement. So far, only one thing is certain: increased activity in terms of technical intelligence gathering and on the part of the Special Forces.

“I can confirm that NATO is providing intelligence and reconnaissance assets to the NTC (National Transitional Council) to help them track down Colonel Gaddafi and other remnants of the regime,” Britain’s Defense Minister Liam Fox said Thursday in an interview with Sky News.

But all the signs are that this involvement is not limited to sharing intelligence with the rebels. Citing UK defense sources, The Daily Telegraph reported “the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks.” If the newspaper’s sources are to be believed, British Special Forces “played a key role in coordinating the fall of Tripoli” and that they were even to be found mingling in rebel ranks “dressed in Arab civilian clothing and carrying the same weapons as the rebels.”

The Special Forces being referred to are the elite 22 SAS Regiment comprising experts in air assault and counter-terrorist operations. The newspaper’s sources add that SAS men will now be re-oriented to hunting down Gaddafi. Reporting Liam Fox’s interview with Sky News, Reuters noted that he declined to comment on this Daily Telegraph story.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy was less ambivalent than Fox, and on Wednesday he denied reports that French Special Forces were involved in the ground operation in Libya. This denial proved timely, considering the proliferation of unconfirmed reports online about French Foreign Legion fighters taking part in the operation around Tripoli. There are also reports of Arab mercenaries from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and members of private security firms being engaged in combat operations in Libya.

Earlier Gaddafi announced that his forces had captured Iraqi and Egyptian mercenaries who were fighting with the rebels. True, these individuals were never paraded before the journalists, and the fact that the alleged incident was not exploited to the max places a question mark over the initial claims.

NATO boots on the ground?

Despite the heavy media and blogger presence around Tripoli nobody has yet provided convincing evidence of direct European military participation in the ground operation, although it is probable.

First, the initial phase of the storm of Tripoli went so smoothly that raises the suspicion that it was carried out by well-trained units with a much broader tactical prowess than the ragtag rebel army can surely muster.

Second, the direct participation of NATO personnel on the ground is inevitable: coordinating air strikes within city limits required qualified people who were both familiar with modern battlefield reconnaissance systems and up to date on NATO target identification procedure.

The theory that these professionals could be trained up by NATO instructors locally within two to three months should be dismissed as totally unrealistic. That is barely enough time to prepare passable cannon fodder, i.e. to train people not so much to use modern military hardware and weaponry as to obey discipline and form combat units.

That is the most that can be achieved within such a short time. Such doubts seem to be reinforced by The Daily Telegraph reports that the British SAS embedded in the rebel ranks had effectively organized and conducted the storm of Tripoli and are now hunting Gaddafi.

One can issue any number of denials of the European commandos’ presence on the ground in Libya, but world practice of covert support for similar operations suggests that if the Special Forces are not present, it indeed would be such an extraordinary approach, so very much out-of-the-box, that it would require an explanation.

So, NATO is most probably involved in the ground operation. The strength and scale of this operation remain to be seen, and the exact functions it is performing (apart from the air support and intelligence transfers admitted officially) also require some clarification.

A short victorious war for the new Entente

The slow pace of the Libyan campaign may be in some way related to the thinking of those running the operation: just one little push and everything will come tumbling down all by itself. Perhaps “the Arab spring”, which swept away several regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, gave Paris and London a false sense that the Gaddafi regime was on its last legs.

But the Gaddafi regime is not crumbling yet. Force and perhaps even a full-scale invasion will be needed to finish it off. Everyone, except perhaps the euphoric rebels, oppose that scenario. However, NATO finds it hard to backtrack and will find it harder with every day the Libyan campaign lasts.

But is this talk of NATO correct? Looking at what led up to this Libyan adventure and considering how events unfolded, it should be called a Franco-British operation – of course with a sprinkling of other Europeans, Americans and Arabs from the Gulf States. Moreover, the secondary coalition members, who can hardly be described as having been enthusiastic from the start (not counting the Arabs), have been gradually scaling down their participation in the operation. This is especially true of the United States.

On Tuesday former U.S. NATO envoy Kurt Volker published a long, bitter and acerbic article in the journal Foreign Policy about the woeful lack of coordination between European countries and the U.S. in this joint NATO-led operation.

…

France and Britain have not been very successful in pursuing this complex campaign independently. Not that the European powers are lacking in ambition: last autumn Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron essentially committed themselves to forming a close bilateral military-political alliance. That included joint military deployment where it is in the two countries’ common interests as well as joint control and improvement of their nuclear forces.

The Libyan operation has become the first test of this “new Entente.” It seems to be punching above its weight.

Libya, of course, is not the “Bay of Pigs” where in April 1961 CIA-trained Cuban exiles, backed by the U.S. Air Force, landed on the island in the hope that they would overthrow the Castro regime. The European allies are getting bogged down in Libya much more slowly and therefore more deeply. All they can do is clench their teeth and try to push on through until victory can be proclaimed, if not actually achieved.

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German General: NATO “Played Decisive Role” In Libyan War
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15346089,00.html

Deutsche Welle
August 26, 2011

NATO has ‘played a decisive role’ in Libya

NATO has played and continues to play a decisive role in the Libyan rebels’ campaign to topple Moammar Gadhafi and his regime, says retired German General Egon Ramms.

NATO is continuing its air campaign in Libya and turning its attention to Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte. The alliance is also providing Libyan rebels intelligence so they can get a clearer picture about what is happening around the capital Tripoli, according to retired German General Egon Ramms.

Bettina Klein of Deutschlandfunk radio spoke to Ramms about NATO’s role in Libya and if it has stayed within the bounds of its UN-approved mandate.

Bettina Klein: In your estimation, what role have NATO countries played in the recent developments in Libya?

Egon Ramms: In considering NATO’s mission that began in March, I think the alliance has played a decisive role in helping the rebels push forward. If you remember, Gadhafi almost succeeded in pushing the rebels back to Benghazi at one point. I think that without NATO support, the rebels would not have been able to make it to Tripoli. NATO is still engaged in giving the rebels intelligence and, I’d say, clarifying the situation on the ground in Tripoli. You see now in the reporting on Gadhafi, his sons and the events in Tripoli that we are still faced with a very fluid situation.

…

British Defense Minister Liam Fox made statements, perhaps inadvertently, about the participation of NATO troops or troops from NATO member states in the hunt for Gadhafi. Would that be covered by NATO’s mandate?

No! That would clearly not be covered by the NATO mandate. Mandate 1973 from March talks about air support and the protection of the civil population – it does not allow for anything else. That means any additional actions or participation would have to be approved in a new mandate in the UN Security Council. I don’t see that happening right now. And the question of armed forces in Libya when Gadhafi is captured and the fighting is over is a difficult one, because you have a lot of different interest groups involved in the equation.

That means it look like troops there are acting without a mandate?

…

What do you make of the German government’s position? It’s trying to draw attention to its own contribution by saying that its abstention on the Libya vote in the UN Security Council was right.

I don’t see it that way. The abstention in the Security Council was not right because it simply sent out the wrong message to NATO’s underlying principle of solidarity. The decision made at the time – where Germany sided with Russia, China, Brazil and India – sent the wrong message to the other NATO members in the Security Council as well as NATO member states in general. In retrospect, it has to be said that when you consider the critical situation in Benghazi in the latter half of March, the rebels’ progress was actually made possible by the British and the French who intervened very quickly.

The NATO mission is basically meant to protect the civilian population. Earlier this year, we had a debate about what protecting the civil population actually means – possibly that it means providing the rebels with weapons and intelligence to support them in their fight against Gadhafi. So we’re in a legal grey zone. Is it just a kind of interpretation that hasn’t been thought through or discussed to the end?

It’s certainly true that it hasn’t been discussed to the end. And I’d like to point out that due to different national laws in the individual NATO member states, different interpretations of the mandate are possible. Some countries such as France and Britain interpret it more offensively and some like the United States a bit more reservedly. And then there are states, for example like Poland and Germany, who interpret the mandate from a much more defense-oriented standpoint.

Interviewer: Bettina Klein
Editor: Rob Mudge

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International Expert Says NATO Fights Proxy War In Libya
http://gbcghana.com/index.php?id=1.358617.1.534850

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
August 25, 2011

International expert on NATO and Libyan crisis

A Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, Dr. Yao Gebe, says the end of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has not come yet.

He thinks as long as Col. Gaddafi evades capture, the situation remains murky.

In an interview with GBC’s Radio Ghana, Dr. Gebe said the rebel forces could not have achieved the upper hand in the fighting without support from NATO and other Western powers.

He accused NATO of going beyond the UN mandate over Libya.

…

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Barely Independent: U.S. AFRICOM Commander In South Sudan
http://www.sudantribune.com/U-S-Africom-commander-starts-a,39944

Sudan Tribune
August 25, 2011

U.S. Africom commander starts a visit to South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan: The Commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), General Carter F. Ham arrived in South Sudan capital of Juba for talks on the government’s strategy to boost internal security in the newly established state.

South Sudan officially seceded from the rest of Sudan last month and countries around the world were quick to recognize the new nation.

North and South Sudan fought more than two decades of civil war that ultimately ended through a U.S. brokered peace deal which gave Southerners the right of self determination.

But daunting challenges are facing South Sudan, particularly the outbreak of several rebellions as well as tribal clashes.

Last week around 600 people were killed and hundreds other wounded in fighting that erupted between Murle tribe and the Lou-Nuer tribe.

In his meeting with Africom commander, President Salva Kiir commended the role being played by the US in facilitating peace and security to the people of South Sudan, according to a statement on the government’s website.

Kiir called for Washington’s help in building the military capacity of South Sudan.

Gen. Ham said in a press statement that the meeting discussed principle topics on military partnership between the two countries.

He added the partnership would provide the armies in both states a framework for close collaboration in addressing security concerns in the future.

…

The Africom chief also presented to Kiir a symbol of military partnership between the in form of a silver jar.

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NATO Conducts Integrated Interceptor Missile Test In Europe
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/nato-missile-defences-63696.html

Mass Media Distribution
August 25, 2011

NATO missile defences pass first field test

-”This is a very significant event for NATO. It has, for the first time, demonstrated that NATO ballistic missile defence capabilities from a number of Alliance members, including the US, can operate in a seamless manner under a unified command structure to accomplish this new NATO mission.”
-In line with the Lisbon Summit decision of November 2010, the ALTBMD capability will also be expanded to protect NATO European territory and populations as well as deployed NATO forces.

NATO has taken a significant step forward in providing its commanders the capability to defend deployed forces against attacks from ballistic missiles. The NATO Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) Interim Capability, which was made available to the NATO operational community at the end of last year, has been successfully tested in a realistic operational environment.

The test was the first of two field tests scheduled by NATO’s commanders prior to the missile defence capability being declared as having reached military initial operating capability.

Challenging scenario

The test took place between 22 and 24 August and was conducted in conjunction with a previously-planned test of the command and control network of the United States Ballistic Missile Defence System’s European Components. The test involved operational units from Germany, the Netherlands, United States systems and the NATO command and control headquarters in Uedem and Ramstein, Germany. The units involved include Patriot missile battalions from Germany and the Netherlands, US Aegis systems, as well as the command and control headquarters for the US and NATO forces.

The units involved in the test responded to a simulated attack. They received information from space- and land-based sensors about a simulated ballistic missile attack, and executed simulated interception missions against that attack, based on tactical information shared between all of the participating units under the direction of the NATO commander.

“This is a very significant event for NATO. It has, for the first time, demonstrated that NATO ballistic missile defence capabilities from a number of Alliance members, including the US, can operate in a seamless manner under a unified command structure to accomplish this new NATO mission,” said General Alessandro Pera, Programme Manager of NATO ALTBMD. “It is an excellent beginning for NATO’s growing capability in this new mission area.”

Under the ALTBMD Programme, NATO provides a command and control system that links sensors and interceptors from nations into a capability that can protect deployed forces from ballistic missile attacks.

The ALTBMD Programme Office will continue to upgrade the NATO Command and Control System for Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence in incremental steps from 2013 to 2018, to field a more robust operational capability. In line with the Lisbon Summit decision of November 2010, the ALTBMD capability will also be expanded to protect NATO European territory and populations as well as deployed NATO forces.

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Lockheed Opens New Testing Ground For Advanced Interceptor Missile
http://lawrencecounty.waff.com/news/news/59045-lockheed-martin-announces-new-location-missile-testing

WAFF
August 22, 2011

Lockheed Martin announces new location for missile testing
By Kym Graves

Lockheed Martin announced they will be expanding local manufacturing to include testing on a new missile in Lawrence County.

Officials with the company said their Courtland facility will start testing the standard missile-3 Block IIB (SM-3 IIB).

It’s a 660-acre development facility that’s already up and running, It’s located 45 minutes outside of Huntsville.

The facility is now used to assemble, integrate and test ballistic missiles. Officials at Lockheed Martin said keeping more of these projects local is key.

…

Lockheed Martin is a ***global security*** company that employs about 126,000 people worldwide.

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Northrop Produces Viper Strike Missiles For U.S. Marine Corps
http://blog.al.com/huntsville-times-business/2011/08/northrop_grumman_to_produce_vi.html

Huntsville Times
August 25, 2011

Northrop Grumman to produce Viper Strike missiles for Marines

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama: Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract to produce additional Viper Strike missiles for the Marines’ Harvest Hawk aircraft as well as the KC-130J refueling and cargo aircraft.

Under the terms of the contract, Northrop will deliver the missiles this year to the Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Office within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal. The Viper Strikes are produced at Northrop’s facility in Huntsville. The company did not release the value of the contract nor the number of missiles it will deliver.

The Viper Strikes on Harvest Hawk have updated software to enhance their effectiveness against moving targets. During flight testing at China Lake, Calif., the missiles scored multiple hits against moving vehicles in a variety of scenarios.

The Viper Strike is a 3-foot long, unpowered glider. It can be launched from long distances using GPS-aided navigation and a laser seeker.

Its size, precision and high agility [make it] suitable for urban warfare.

The laser guidance also enables the missile to hit vehicles – moving or stationary – and small targets, Northrop said.

“In today’s irregular warfare environment, Viper Strike provides the right characteristics needed to support our warfighters in the current fight – high precision and agility to hit moving and stationary targets in complex terrain..,” said Steve Considine, programs director, Aviation and Weapons for Northrop Grumman’s Land and Self Protection Systems Division. “The KC-103J represents the latest military airborne asset to be equipped with Viper Strike’s formidable capabilities.”

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NATO’s International Killing Machine At Work In Afghanistan
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/26/55211935.html

Voice of Russia
August 26, 2011

NATO planes kill five Afghan civilians

NATO aircraft killed five Afghan civilians, including three women, when attacking the assumed positions of Taliban militants in the east of Afghanistan. This comes in a report by the Xinhua news agency with reference to the local authorities.

The planes attacked an area in the Logar province, about 60 kilometres south of Kabul…

Later on, three bodies of civilians were found on the site of the airstrike.

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Afghan Drugs Destabilize Political Situation In Balkans: Russia
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/26/55208108.html

Voice of Russia
August 26, 2011

Afghan drug production destabilizes political situation in Balkans

Afghan drug production is destabilizing the political situation in the Balkans, which serves as a transshipment point for some 70% of heroin, says the Chief of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service Victor Ivanov in an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency.

According to the official, major cartels not only take care of shipping drugs, but draw extensively on their huge funds to set political objectives.

According to the United Nations, some 150 tons of heroin are shipped from Afghanistan via the Balkans.

Victor Ivanov says that the Balkan route got a second breath since NATO launched its military operation in Afghanistan, with subsequent drug production growing 40-fold.

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U.S. Drone Crashes At Pakistani Military Facility
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=8419&Cat=13

News International
August 26, 2011

US drone crashes in Chaman
By Muhammad Ejaz Khan

QUETTA: An unmanned US spy plane crashed on the premises of the Frontier Corps (FC) Fort near the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman, some 120 kilometers from here, on Thursday evening.

Reports reaching here said that the drone crashed while flying over the FC Cantonment in Chaman and was completely destroyed. FC officials said that the cause of the crash might be some technical faults developed in the plane. Sources said the plane entered Pakistani territory near 5:30 pm and crashed around Iftar time. The Frontier Corps had taken away the debris of the plane and an investigation is under way. The sources said that the US or Nato officials have not yet contacted the Pakistani authorities concerning the crash.

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U.S.-India Military Partnership Priority For Pentagon, Obama Administration
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=65131

U.S. Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
August 25, 2011

Routine Interactions Build U.S-India Defense Relations
By Cheryl Pellerin

-All three of the Indian military’s current service chiefs went to school in the United States during their careers, Scher noted.
“Air Marshal [Norman Anil Kumar] Browne graduated from the Air Command and Staff College, he said. “General [Vijay Kumar] Singh is a graduate of both the U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army War College. And Adm. [Nirmal Kumar] Verma is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College.”
-India routinely has more exercises with the United States than with any other country, Scher noted. “Over the last six years, we’ve done nearly 50 major exercises with India…and our exercises are evolving in complexity,” he said.
-Defense sales to India increased from virtually no defense trade relationship in the 1990s to nearly $6 billion today in foreign military sales alone, Scher said.

WASHINGTON: The U.S.-India defense relationship is a natural partnership created by shared interests and values and driven by increasingly routine day-to-day interactions, a senior Defense Department official said here today.

Robert Scher, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, spoke to an audience at the New America Foundation.

Day-to-day successes that lay the groundwork for the U.S.-India defense relationship are rarely in the spotlight, Scher said, “but they are an important factor in driving our relationship forward and helping us understand each other.”

The U.S.-India relationship is a priority for the Obama administration and the Defense Department, Scher said, one that President Barack Obama has called a defining partnership of the 21st century. In recent years, he added, high-level visits have cemented the commitment of both nations to the bilateral relationship.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the United States in 2009, and Obama traveled to India in 2010. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s July attendance at the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue was her second trip there as secretary of state.

“India is a major regional and global power,” Scher said. “We view our relationship with India as a partnership…with a commonality of security interests in the Indian Ocean region and beyond.”

…

Three key areas in the U.S.-India defense relationship are people-to-people ties, military engagement and defense sales, the deputy assistant secretary of defense said.

Examples of people-to-people ties include attendance by service members from both nations at U.S. and Indian military educational institutions, Scher said.

“In 2010, we had nearly 100 members of the Indian armed services at military schools or courses in the United States,” he said…

All three of the Indian military’s current service chiefs went to school in the United States during their careers, Scher noted.

“Air Marshal [Norman Anil Kumar] Browne graduated from the Air Command and Staff College, he said. “General [Vijay Kumar] Singh is a graduate of both the U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army War College. And Adm. [Nirmal Kumar] Verma is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College.”

In the United States, Scher added, retired Navy Adm. Walter L. Doran attended the Indian Defense Service Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, India, in 1979. There, he formed a close relationship with Indian colleagues who included former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Adm. Arun Prakash and Adm. Sureesh Mehta.

…

The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School recently formalized a memorandum of understanding with India’s Defense Institute of Advanced Technology, he added.

“This September,” Scher told the group, “they will jointly conduct a defeating-terrorism workshop that will bring together senior leaders from both sides, including the director general of India’s Defense Research Development Organization and the [U.S.] chief of naval research to discuss ways to leverage research capabilities to contribute to the defeat of terrorism.”

A similar workshop on cybersecurity is planned for the near future, he said.

…

Military-to-military engagements are another element of the U.S.-India defense partnership, Scher said.

…

India routinely has more exercises with the United States than with any other country, Scher noted. “Over the last six years, we’ve done nearly 50 major exercises with India…and our exercises are evolving in complexity,” he said.

Over a decade, Malabar, a regularly scheduled bilateral naval field training exercise with India, has advanced from little more than a passing exercise to a full engagement that exercises all functional warfare areas, Scher said.

“Malabar allows our navies to work cooperatively in integrated air and missile defense, antisubmarine and naval special warfare scenarios, for example,” he said.

…

The major U.S. exercise with the Indian army, Yudh Abyhas, started in 2004 as the first conventional army-to-army training with India since 1962, Scher said.

“The exercise, in addition to sharing training and capabilities, promotes cooperation between our armies on partner readiness,” he said. “The first deployment of Stryker vehicles outside the United States other than to a war zone was to India [to support their participation] in Yudh Abyhas.”

…

Together, the United States and India have an important role in fostering multilateral cooperation in Asia and supporting the emerging regional security architectures, Scher said.

…

Defense sales to India increased from virtually no defense trade relationship in the 1990s to nearly $6 billion today in foreign military sales alone, Scher said.

“It is clear that the Indian military in the future will routinely use U.S. equipment and all services across a full range of mission areas,” he added.

…

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European Union Appoints New South Caucasus, Georgian Crisis Representative
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=153968

Azeri Press Agency
August 25, 2011

European Union appoints Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia
Philippe Lefort replaces Peter Semneby in this post

Baku: The European Union appointed a Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, APA reports quoting the EU’s website. Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, welcomed the appointment of Philippe Lefort as European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia.

…

Previously, Peter Semneby was the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Pierre Morel the EU Special Representative for the crisis in Georgia.

Philippe Lefort is a French diplomat of more than 20 years’ experience. He has devoted large parts of his career to the Caucasus and Russia, among other things as French Ambassador in Georgia (2004-2007) and as Deputy Head of Mission at the French Embassy in Russia (2007-2010). Since 2010, he has been the Head of Continental Europe General Directorate at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

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