U.S. jet crashes in Libya

US-F-15E-StrikeEagle

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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US-F-15E-StrikeEaglePro-Gaddafi forces are continuing their attacks in various parts of the country. The Guardian is reporting that the two rebel-held towns of Misurata and Zintan continue to face heavy shelling from loyalist troops. Witnesses are saying that residents are fleeing Zintan.

Al Jazeera is saying that 40 people were killed in Misurata alone on Monday. Gaddafi troops have encircled the city, bringing in tanks and positioning snipers on rooftops in an attempt to force out the remaining rebels.

Fighting continued in the east around Ajdabiya. The road between the eastern city of Benghazi and Ajdabiya was littered with the “burned-out wreckage of what was Gaddafi’s armour and tanks,” destroyed in air raids by coalition forces.

Double Standard?

CNN has reported Tuesday morning that the United Arab Emirates was going to send two aircraft squadrons to assist in enforcing the no-fly zone. However, those plans have now been put on hold after the U.S. and the E.U. criticized the Gulf Cooperation Council’s deployment of troops in Bahrain.

U.S. Jet Crashes in Libya

A U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter jet crashed in Libya due to mechanical failure Monday night at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EST) near the eastern town of Benghazi. The two-man crew ejected safely and have now been rescued. It is reported that the aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Italy’s Aviano Air Base. The U.S. military is investigating the crash but repeats that it is believed that the crash is due to mechanical failure and hot hostile fire. (The Washington Post)

Canadian Action

The CBC reported late Monday evening that four CF-18s flying out of a base in Trapani, Italy, served as armed escorts for fighters of another nation conducting bombing runs. However Canadian planes were expected participate in bombing missions at some point.

Fox News alleges Gaddafi used reporters as human shields

On Sunday night, British forces were set to fire seven Storm Shadow missiles on Gaddafi’s compound targeting air defence system and a military command and control centre. Officials from Libya’s Ministry of Information brought journalists to the compound to show off the damage caused by the previous night’s bombing. The journalists who numbered around 40 included NBC, CBS, CNN and Reuters. Fox News is now making the claim that Gaddafi was using those journalists as human shields as the British called off their attack when they heard that the journalists were there.

Nic Robertson of CNN, one of journalists at the compound, calls the Fox allegations outrageous. A video report shows him to be very upset with Fox. However, a follow-up report from MediaBistro says that Fox, specifically reporter Jennifer Griffen, is sticking with the story that yes, Gaddafi was using those reporters as human shields. In the end, does anybody really know what the intention was when the 40 journalists were invited to Gaddafi’s compound? Did Gaddafi somehow know the British were about to bomb his compound for a second night in a row? At the end of the day, the British did call off their bombing run and Muammar missed out on a second night of gifts from 10 Downing Street.

Nic Robertson takes viewers on a brief tour of the building at the compound bombed on Saturday night, the first night of coalition action. This was filmed during this tour by journalists on Sunday of the Gaddafi compound.

Criticism of Libyan attacks

Ten countries for the U.N. resolution, 5 abstained. Two of the abstainers were Russia and China, both who are permanent members of the Security Council and both of whom have the power of veto. While 9 out of 15 votes are necessary for the adoption of a measure, any one of the five permanent members can veto any resolution. It is noteworthy that Russia and China abstained; they did not veto.

Despite the criticism coming from both countries, one would have to interpret such criticism as being more P.R. than punch. By not vetoing, Russia and China tacitly approved the resolution. After all, either one of them and only one of them could have stopped this whole military action cold in its tracks. They chose not to.

Russia

According to reports, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had some harsh words about the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya calling it “obviously incomplete and flawed” then adding it “resembles a medieval appeal for a crusade in which somebody calls upon somebody to go to a certain place and liberate it.”

In a surprise Russian spat, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev rebuked his mentor without using the Putin’s name. “It is absolutely inexcusable to use expressions that, in effect, lead to a clash of civilizations – such as ‘crusades,’ and so on. That is unacceptable.” (BBC)

On Monday, India joined China and Russia in the call for a ceasefire, but once again, India was one of the countries who abstained from the U.N. vote.

The Arab League

The Vancouver Sun had this amusing take on the criticism being voiced by the Arab League after they voted for the no-fly zone:

…the Arab League’s Secretary-General Amr Moussa is now expressing outrage that the imposition of a no-fly zone is putting Libyan civilians at risk.

But Moussa is likely to run for the presidency of Egypt in six months’ time and a smidgen of anti-Americanism always helps a political career in the region.

Why Colonel Gaddafi must go

The Telegraph has published a column which says in part:

On 17th March 2011, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973, authorising the international community to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilian areas from assault by Libyan forces, while “excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory”.

On a number of levels, this resolution is historic, but perhaps the most important is the fact that it has, for the first time, given concrete expression to the UN-recognised doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Belatedly endorsed by the UN in 2006 as a response to the Rwandan Genocide, R2P holds that international intervention in the affairs of sovereign states is permissible if their rulers prove unable or unwilling to prevent humanitarian atrocities, or are complicit in causing them.

The wave of pro-democracy protest that has crashed across the Arab world over the past few months has made clear that the strategy of maintaining ‘stable dictatorships’ in the region was deeply misguided. In the long-term, these grubby kleptocrats can no more safeguard Western interests than they can those of their own people. The only stable future for Libya, therefore, is democratic.

Britain and its allies must recognise that in the long-term, the best strategic partners are not dictatorships, however cowed, but democracies. Democracies are generally more stable, more prosperous and more reliable than dictatorships.

Today, 18 of the world’s 20 most prosperous countries are democracies, as are 19 of the world’s 20 most peaceful states.

….we must not forget that since 15th February 2011 the Libyan people have been making it very clear that they do not wish for any political future that includes Colonel Gaddafi.

We owe it not just to the Libyan people, but also to ourselves, to ensure that any Libya beyond this current intervention is not one that includes Colonel Gaddafi.

Russia Today – Mar 22/2011

US warplane crashes in Libya

A US jet taking part in a UN no-fly zone has crash landed in Libya.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWAUbweRK-I

Russia Today – Mar 22/2011

Video of night fighting in Libya, bombing aftermath, fighter jets take off

Fresh explosions and gunfire have been heard in Tripoli, as international coalition forces continue to bombard Libya. The country’s government says further civilian casualties occured following a third day of allied air strikes. Meanwhile, troops loyal to the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi are reportedly attacking rebel strongholds in the west.

PBS News Hour – Mar 21/2011

Coalition Airstrikes Target Gadhafi’s Forces, Build No-Fly Zone Over Libya

Coalition forces hit Libya with more than a dozen more cruise missiles in an effort to impose a no-fly zone over the country and stop Moammar Gadhafi’s forces from attacking civilians. Jonathan Miller and Martin Geissler of Independent Television News report on the ongoing battle between rebels and Gadhafi’s forces.

Russia Today – Mar 21/2011

Video of Gaddafi tanks burnt, oil depot on fire after Libya military strike

In Libya, the international coalition says aerial strikes have successfully halted the forces of Colonel Gaddafi. There are reports over 60 people have been killed so far. The U.S. says it has fired 12 more cruise missiles at targets on Monday, and Canadian planes have now joined the action. Coalition forces say Colonel Gaddafi himself is not a target, despite a strike on his compound. John Laughland from the Institute of Democracy and Co-operation in Paris says the campaign could move beyond aerial bombardment.

News Tweet – Mar 21/2011

Libya, Aftermath of coalition bombing raid,military vehicles still exploding hours later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPsL-9fAXDQ

Click HERE to read more from William Belle

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