Amid more news of possible war crime atrocities commited by the Libyan rebels, the interim leader of Libya, Mustafa Adbel Jalil, says Nato should remain in the country for the rest of the year.
"We look forward to Nato continuing its operations until the end of the year to help prevent Gaddafi loyalists from leaving the country," said Jalil, adding that stopping the flight of Gaddafi supporters to other countries was a priority. "We seek technical and logistics help from neighbouring and friendly countries," he said.
NATO has indicated it will end operations on October 31st, however a meeting Friday is planned to address the issue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
What's interesting is the reason Jalil gave, "to stop Gaddafi loyalists from fleeing."
Granted, the information the MSM has been authorized to release doesn't include any other rationale Jalil may have given, but the consistent message on all newsites carrying this development all indicate the same reason, "to stop Gaddafi loyalists from fleeing". And Jalil did say stopping Gaddafi loyalists from fleeing was the "priority".
Earlier this week, it was revealed that 53 Gaddafi loyalist rotting corpses had been discovered in an abandoned hotel. Many had been tied up and shot in the head, showing signs of a firing squad action.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Today there are reports of 267 more bodies found in Sirte, Gaddafi's last stand.
"The bodies of 267 people, many of them believed to have been executed, were found in Sirte, the hometown of former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.
Most of those found dead were supporters of Qaddafi, a Red Cross source told online Libyan newspaper Qurynanew. The source said that most of the bodies were executed and buried in mass graves in Sirte and the surrounding area. Officials from Benghazi and Sirte numbered and photographed the bodies before burying them and will store the information in an archive to show the victims' families, the report said. The Transitional National Council (TNC) pledged to investigate the deaths and punish the perpetrators, the source added."
http://www.foxnews.com/...
"Nearly 300 bodies, many of them with their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head, have been collected from across Sirte and buried in a mass grave. The new government has been slow to confront allegations of atrocities by rebel fighters, despite repeated calls for them to do so."
Seemingly condoning the actions, Ali Tarhouini, the interim oil minister, stated:
"You have to bear in mind that these young man have seen their friends killed in front of them, who saw their cities burned, who saw their sisters raped. I am amazed at their self-restraint," said Ali Tarhouni, oil minister. The evidence indicates that little restraint was shown.
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
So why do Jalil, Tarhouni, and the NTC want NATO to stay the mission again? To "stop Gaddifi loyalists from fleeing"? What does that mean? First of all, the NATO mission is for a no-fly zone, there aren't supposed to be any boots on the ground. The no fly zone is supposed to be for protecting civilians. How does preventing people from leaving the country, who probably think they're going to get kiilled, meet the NATO mandate of protecting civilians from the now dead dictator Gaddafi? How are NATO jets, drones, and helicopters supposed to stop Gaddafi loyalists from fleeing? By bombing them? Or surrounding them with flying weapons while the NTC goes in for the capture? And for those that are stopped from fleeing the country, what is in store for them?
We'll have to wait for NATO's next move. The mission is still creeping.