Italy Calls For Ceasation of Hostilities in Libya

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

www.rttnews.com/Content/MarketSensitiveNews.aspx?Id=1651549&SM=1

(RTTNews) - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday called for an immediate halt to the ongoing hostilities in Libya to allow the much needed humanitarian aid to reach the population in the war-torn country.

Addressing the lower house of the Italian parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, on Wednesday, Frattini called for "an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities" in Libya to allow the creation of humanitarian corridors in areas affected by the conflict.

Following up on his earlier comments in Luxembourg on Monday that NATO's credibility was "at risk" due to civilian causalities caused by its airstrikes in Libya, Frattini said: "With regard to NATO, it is fair to ask for increasingly detailed information on results as well as precise guidelines on the dramatic errors involving civilians."

His remarks followed a NATO admission on Sunday that one of its airstrikes in Tripoli had caused civilian casualties. The alliance blamed a "weapons systems failure" for the incident and expressed regret on "the loss of innocent civilian lives" in the attack.

NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu later explained that a technical failure had caused one of its weapons to miss the "intended military target, which was a missile site."

Lungescu also rejected the Libyan government's allegations that the alliance targeted at civilians in its aerial attacks and termed the tragic accident in Tripoli as an exception which happened despite NATO's "utmost care to avoid civilian casualties."

Oil-rich Libya has been witnessing an armed revolt against the more than four-decade-long autocratic rule of Col. Moammar Qadhafi. The U.N. estimates that thousands have been killed in the fighting, besides forcing more than 750,000 to flee the Arab country.

[deziloooooo]

To go along with your thread..from Debka...

www.debka.com/article/21051/
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[Click on link to read article]
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Italian FM calls for immediate halt to hostilities in Libya to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians •

Italy's call for immediate halt of Libya war: Qaddafi's gain, NATO's loss
DEBKAfile Special Report June 22, 2011, 12:38 PM

NATO bombers lose their Italian bases for Libyan air strikes

Three months after NATO first bombed government targets in Libya on March 21, one of the top three powers driving the coalition's anti-Qaddafi campaign, has had enough.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called for an immediate halt in hostilities in Libya "to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians in the country."

Following his announcement to the lower house of parliament in Rome, the government won a confidence vote over a package of tax cuts and an end to Italy's involvement in the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.

debkafile's military sources report that since 90 per cent of NATO's air strikes and operations for enforcing a no-fly zone come from bases and command centers in Italy, Rome's pullout badly jolts the entire war effort against the Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi.

France may decide to carry on its air strikes from the French aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle and Britain from its air bases in Cyprus. But the operation will be seriously hampered and its prospects of victory against the Qaddafi regime undermined. The only chance of success would depend on US President Barack Obama overruling the Italian decision and restoring the United States to full participation in the coalition's military assault by operations similar to its Tomahawk missile and air bombardment in the first two weeks of the campaign.

However, the White House, already facing overwhelming congressional opposition to any US military involvement in the Libya, would never get its expansion past this wall of resistance."

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Funny- I haven't seen a thing about this from US news sources.

[floridayankee]

Following up on his earlier comments in Luxembourg on Monday that NATO's credibility was "at risk" due to civilian causalities caused by its airstrikes in Libya, Frattini said: "With regard to NATO, it is fair to ask for increasingly detailed information on results as well as precise guidelines on the dramatic errors involving civilians."

His remarks followed a NATO admission on Sunday that one of its airstrikes in Tripoli had caused civilian casualties. The alliance blamed a "weapons systems failure" for the incident and expressed regret on "the loss of innocent civilian lives" in the attack.

And all this time I thought we were bombing Libya to protect civilians...

[Deleted]

Stop bombing Libya? Then who the heck will President Obama bomb next? We need to keep bombing other countries because when we run out of them he will start bombing states.