6 October 2015
By Spencer Ackerman
US special operations forces (click here) – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, the US commander has conceded.
Shortly before General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, testified to a Senate panel, the president of Doctors Without Borders – also known as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – said the US and Afghanistan had made an “admission of a war crime”.
Shifting the US account of the Saturday morning airstrike for the fourth time in as many days, Campbell reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a “tenacious fight” to retake the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.
“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires,” Campbell told the Senate armed services committee on Tuesday morning....
The reports about the President's plan to attack Libya wasn't even going to be presented to the American people. The USA military was simply making plans without anyone else's knowledge. I don't think so.
15 January 2016
By Brian Wheeler
Mr Cameron led international efforts, with France, to back rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi and impose a no-fly zone over the country, overcoming initial reservations from the EU and US President Barack Obama.
In a speech to cheering crowds in Benghazi's Tahrir square, after Gaddafi had been ousted, Mr Cameron said: "Your city was an example to the world as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom."
He added: "Your friends in Britain and France will stand with you as you build your democracy."...
November 26, 2015
World powers (click here) need to step up efforts to stop Islamic State gaining ground in Libya while keeping up the fight against the militant group in Syria and Iraq, France and Italy said on Thursday.
French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who met in Paris, expressed concern that instability in the North African country was providing fertile soil for IS to flourish, with Renzi warning that Libya risked becoming "the next emergency".
France is pushing for a grand coalition of world powers to destroy the militant group following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and Hollande, after meeting Renzi, spoke of the need for a Libyan government of national unity to end anarchy.
That grand coalition has already been made at the United Nations. The world already has agreed to fight Daesh within their borders. This problem in Libya is because there is an absence of a strong central government, which also plagues Syria.
While Renzi supported the idea of expanding the coalition against IS he did not commit Italy to providing any new military support to fight the group in Syria, where French warplanes are carrying out strikes on IS targets....
The global community has united. It is historic. I am sure President Obama was instrumental in this coalition. The only other such agreement seen with the global community was the recent Paris agreement on the climate crisis.
November 21, 2015
By Priva Joshi
The Security Council today (20 November) (click here) unanimously approved a French-sponsored resolution calling on all nations to unite in the fight against Isis. A UN resolution was passed calling for decisive action against the "unprecedented threat" of The Islamic State by "all means" necessary.
The decision to back the French call for "international mobilisation" against IS comes exactly one week after militants launched coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the French capital, killing 130 people....
By Spencer Ackerman
US special operations forces (click here) – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, the US commander has conceded.
Shortly before General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, testified to a Senate panel, the president of Doctors Without Borders – also known as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – said the US and Afghanistan had made an “admission of a war crime”.
Shifting the US account of the Saturday morning airstrike for the fourth time in as many days, Campbell reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a “tenacious fight” to retake the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.
“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires,” Campbell told the Senate armed services committee on Tuesday morning....
The reports about the President's plan to attack Libya wasn't even going to be presented to the American people. The USA military was simply making plans without anyone else's knowledge. I don't think so.
15 January 2016
By Brian Wheeler
With all the focus on air strikes in Syria, (click here) the situation in Libya has been getting less attention in the
UK. But David Cameron was forced to confront it this week when he was
quizzed by MPs.
The prime minister promised, in September 2011,
that he would not allow Libya to turn into another Iraq, but that, said
senior Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, is effectively what has happened in
the four years since the toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.Mr Cameron led international efforts, with France, to back rebels fighting to overthrow Gaddafi and impose a no-fly zone over the country, overcoming initial reservations from the EU and US President Barack Obama.
In a speech to cheering crowds in Benghazi's Tahrir square, after Gaddafi had been ousted, Mr Cameron said: "Your city was an example to the world as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom."
He added: "Your friends in Britain and France will stand with you as you build your democracy."...
November 26, 2015
World powers (click here) need to step up efforts to stop Islamic State gaining ground in Libya while keeping up the fight against the militant group in Syria and Iraq, France and Italy said on Thursday.
French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who met in Paris, expressed concern that instability in the North African country was providing fertile soil for IS to flourish, with Renzi warning that Libya risked becoming "the next emergency".
France is pushing for a grand coalition of world powers to destroy the militant group following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and Hollande, after meeting Renzi, spoke of the need for a Libyan government of national unity to end anarchy.
That grand coalition has already been made at the United Nations. The world already has agreed to fight Daesh within their borders. This problem in Libya is because there is an absence of a strong central government, which also plagues Syria.
While Renzi supported the idea of expanding the coalition against IS he did not commit Italy to providing any new military support to fight the group in Syria, where French warplanes are carrying out strikes on IS targets....
The global community has united. It is historic. I am sure President Obama was instrumental in this coalition. The only other such agreement seen with the global community was the recent Paris agreement on the climate crisis.
November 21, 2015
By Priva Joshi
The Security Council today (20 November) (click here) unanimously approved a French-sponsored resolution calling on all nations to unite in the fight against Isis. A UN resolution was passed calling for decisive action against the "unprecedented threat" of The Islamic State by "all means" necessary.
The decision to back the French call for "international mobilisation" against IS comes exactly one week after militants launched coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the French capital, killing 130 people....
