<http://www.reuters.com/> Reuters
Allies vow no halt to campaign until Gaddafi goes Photo Thu, Apr 14 2011 By Mussab al-Khairalla TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The British, French and U.S. leaders vowed on Friday to press on with their military campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, and rebels said his forces were pounding the besieged city of Misrata with missiles. In a strongly-worded, jointly-written article published in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama said leaving Gaddafi in power would be an "unconscionable betrayal" of the Libyan people. "It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government," the leaders wrote. "So long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds," they wrote. "Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders. For that transition to succeed, Colonel Gaddafi must go, and go for good." The article appeared at a time when diplomatic efforts have failed to paper over divisions between NATO allies about how intensively they should prosecute the three-week-old air war, and the situation on the ground has shown signs of stalemate. Washington, which led the campaign in its first week, has since turned over command to NATO and taken a back seat role. Britain and France complain that other NATO allies have not provided enough fire power to take out Gaddafi's armor and allow the rebels in control of the east to sweep him from power. Libyan rebels begged on Thursday for more air strikes and said they faced a massacre from government forces, who blasted the besieged city of Misrata with missiles. NATO planes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli, where state television showed footage of a defiant Gaddafi cruising through the streets in a green safari jacket and sunglasses, pumping his fists and waving from an open-top vehicle. "MEDIEVAL SIEGE" Rebels said a hail of rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata, Libya's third largest city, had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children. "Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including residential neighborhoods near the port. They shelled this area because the port is Misrata's only window to the outside world," a rebel spokesman using the name Ghassan said by telephone. "The destruction there was huge. I was there and saw for myself," he said, adding that the port had been shut. In their article, the U.S., British and French leaders said Misrata was "enduring a medieval siege as Gaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission." Aid organizations warn of a humanitarian disaster in the city, the lone major rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege. NATO foreign ministers in Berlin promised on Thursday in a joint declaration to provide "all necessary resources and maximum operational flexibility" for the air campaign to maintain a "high operational tempo against legitimate targets." But several allies rebuffed calls from France and Britain to contribute more to the air attacks, conducted under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the Berlin meeting he was hopeful more countries would contribute to the strike force. "It's not unreasonable to ask other nations...to make additional contributions," he said. Spain said it had no plan to join the seven NATO states that have conducted ground strikes. Italy, Libya's former colonial power, expressed reluctance to launch attacks. (Writing by Peter Graff <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=peter.graff&;> ; editing by David Stamp <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=david.stamp&;> ) C Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, use the Reprints tool at the top of any article or visit: www.reutersreprints.com <http://www.reutersreprints.com/> . [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
