http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-admiral-says-nato-aiming-to-kill-gaddafi-20110626-1glop.html
US admiral says NATO aiming to kill Gaddafi Molly Peterson and David Kirkpatrick June 27, 2011 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gives a speech in Rome last year. Photo: Reuters US NAVY Admiral Samuel Locklear III told House Armed Services Committee member Mike Turner last month that NATO forces are trying to kill Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Foreign Policy magazine has reported, citing Mr Turner. Admiral Locklear heads the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy. Mr Turner, an Ohio Republican who voted against authorising the Libyan operation last week, said the admiral also told him that ground troops may be needed in Libya after Colonel Gaddafi is ousted, the magazine reported. Captain Ike Skelton, a public affairs officer for Admiral Locklear's command in Naples, was quick to reject the report. The Foreign Policy ''story does not accurately reflect Admiral Locklear's views on either ground troops or the targeting of any individual, including Colonel Gaddafi'', Captain Skelton said in an e-mail. ''The admiral clearly understands and has repeatedly emphasised the stated objectives for the military mission.'' After an improbable series of military victories over the past three weeks - with fewer than 100 rebel fighters killed, their military leaders say - residents of the Nafusa Mountains are celebrating virtual secession from Colonel Gaddafi's Libya. The mountains are strategically significant in the battle for Libya, in part because the rebels there are closest to Colonel Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital, Tripoli, and in part because they have the potential to cut off vital supply lines from the Tunisian border. The rebels have established firm control of more than a half-dozen towns from the Dhiba border crossing into Tunisia, where rebel guards mingle amiably with their Tunisian counterparts, to the major town of Yafran, a 90-minute drive from Tripoli. At least seven local newspapers - photocopied newsletters - have sprung up to capitalise on the new freedom of the press. Local doctors say they are better equipped with supplies than they were before the uprising, in part due to the generosity of wealthier Libyans abroad. The rebels have even painted a runway along a highway, in the hope planes might land with more weapons and supplies. Residents in the mountains have long been resentful of the Gaddafi government, in part because perhaps a third are members of the Berber ethnic minority. Signs and graffiti in the Berber language, Amazigh, have sprouted up everywhere, along with newspapers printed in Amazigh and Arabic. At a rally on Friday night in Jadu, demonstrators carried signs calling for national recognition of their language and others, declaring ''Libya is one tribe''. Standing at a checkpoint, Hisham al-Gibali, 33, showed a bullet wound in his leg that he suffered near Yafran a few weeks ago. He said he had left a life in the Netherlands to return to Libya to join the fight, and he contended that the rebels would soon take Gharyan, Colonel Gaddafi's last foothold in the mountains. ''We are fighting for truth and they are not,'' he said. ''The fighters from Zintan and Jadu will come here and we will all go together. We are all Libyans. We are not alone.'' BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK TIMES Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-admiral-says-nato-aiming-to-kill-gaddafi-20110626-1glop.html#ixzz1QPjlDnup [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/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/
