A little history at Roland Garros today: Li Na defeated defending champ Francesca Schiavone of Italy to win the French Open and claim China’s first Grand Slam title, reports Bloomberg . The 29-year-old is part of a burgeoning crop of female tennis players from China nicknamed the “Golden Flowers” by state…
Continue reading …The specter of imprisonment usually doesn’t include poolside parties, dance clubs, weapons galore, and easy access to BlackBerries. But San Antonio penitentiary, located on Venezuela’s Margarita Island, isn’t usual. Though its 2,000 inmates risk being shot by guards if caught venturing outside the walls, the New York Times reports…
Continue reading …Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the only career U.S. foreign service officer to rise to the position of secretary of state, died Saturday. He was 80. Eagleburger died in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a short illness, according to a family friend. Two of his one-time bosses, former President George H.W. Bush…
Continue reading …We’re far from the first humans to grapple with climate change: It seems several populations were forced to leave Greenland when things got too cold for comfort, according to a new study. The Saqqaq people arrived in Greenland some 4,500 years ago, and were gone when weather cooled in…
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Business is booming in Kabul, but as the west prepares to ship out, ordinary citizens worry about what lies ahead Under the trees, the Karimi family have spread out a rug. The Afghan summer sun filters through the leaves. There is chicken, fried potato cakes, salad and water melon. This is a Friday afternoon ritual, at least since the security improved enough to allow the family to drive the 10 miles from Kabul without fear of insurgents or robbers. The Karimis came back to the city in 2002, after living as refugees in Iran through the civil war of the early 1990s and the rule of the Taliban that followed. Now three generations live together in Kabul: 70-year-old Syed Hussein, Fatima, 29, a student teacher, her husband and her two children. And every Friday they come to this patch of riverside woodland on the outskirts of the city. “When we came back, life was very hard,” Fatima says. “But every year that has passed things have got better.” Syed Hussein, her father, smiles when asked when times were best in his long life – the average life expectancy for Afghans is still only 44, two years more than a decade ago. “Afghanistan is a wonderful country… the only problem is the Afghans!” he says and chuckles at his own joke. “The best times were when I was a teenager. Since, it has been just trouble after trouble.” Physical reminders of those troubles surround the family’s picnic site, known as Daoud’s Garden after Mohammed Daoud Khan, the president deposed and assassinated in a communist coup in 1978. There is a large military base less than a mile away. Once manned by Afghan auxiliaries fighting alongside the Soviets, it is now full of Afghans being trained to fight with, or instead of, US-led coalition forces. A major American base is close by too. An Afghan commando unit guards the approaches to the gardens. “Without these soldiers we could not come here,” says Fatima. “In fact, we could barely go anywhere.” For behind the bucolic scene lies deep anxiety. Every year in Kabul there is a different theme to the interminable conversations about “the situation”. In 2008 it was the apparently inexorable advance of the Taliban, almost to where Fatima and her family were picnicking. In 2009, it was the new “surge” of troops and money announced by President Barack Obama. In 2010, it was the success or failure of the expanded campaign. Now, without exception, talk is of the withdrawal of western troops, aid and attention from Afghanistan. Within weeks, Obama is expected to announce the first departures. David Cameron has already said he wants 450 of Britain’s 9,500 men out within months. The international community has agreed that all foreign combat troops are to be gone by 2014, leaving the Afghans to fight the Afghans. “This is a very worrying thing,” says Fatima, and the festive atmosphere of the picnic cools. “If the west go, then it will all fall apart and the Taliban will come back.” The Karimis are from the Hazara ethnic minority, persecuted under the largely Pashtun Taliban’s rule. They are also Shia Muslims, whom the Taliban once saw as heretics. Their moderate traditions – Fatima wears a simple white headscarf rather than the all-covering burqa – meant they suffered greatly when the radical movement were in power. Now there are functioning universities, schools, relative law and order and even improving electricity. “But we still have much to fear,” Mousa, Fatima’s husband, said. Many in Kabul are more worried about their wallets than persecution. The 10-year international effort has seen Kabul change from being a moribund city of fewer than 400,000 to a bustling metropolis of 4.5 million flush with cash. The last two years have seen an explosion in conspicuous consumption. There are blocks of luxury apartments under construction, giant video hoardings advertising energy drinks, BMWs and Hummers blasting their way through the traffic with overpowered horns. Miralam Hosseini, 56, sells at least two $140,000 4x4s every week. Across the street from his showroom, an electronics shops stocks the latest 52in flat screen. “We sell one every few days,” said Mahmud Shah, who returned to Kabul earlier this year after seven years in London. Cars and televisions alike are always paid for in cash. “Narc-hitecture” – vast and garish villas built by those said to be involved in Afghanistan’s $4bn drugs trade – is becoming increasingly visible. There are also the new restaurants where lunch is 30 times the average daily wage. If soaring food prices pose a huge problem to millions in the city, they do not bother those who have profited from the boom. But there is a sense now that the party is over. Little of the money in Kabul – other than the profits of the narcotics trade – has been created here. Beyond drugs, Afghanistan still produces very little. Profits from the country’s vast mineral or metal deposits are a distant prospect. “No one is within a decade of even beginning to successfully mine, process, transport and sell all the copper and iron that is here,” one European diplomat admitted. Much of the economy has thus been built on the tens of billions poured into Afghanistan by the west. Huge sums have been embezzled, vast wasteful contracts have fuelled a “construction sector on speed” and the main bank is alleged to have made $500m in undocumented and potentially fraudulent loans, many to associates or relatives of the president, Hamid Karzai. Once much disappeared to Dubai. More recently, following the global turndown, the cash has stayed in Kabul. Land prices have risen fivefold. Then there are the tens of thousands of consultants, translators and office staff working for international NGOs or foreign government contractors. Salaries of $3,000 are common, an enormous sum locally. The best paid earn much more. “I vetoed a contract giving a local consultant a salary three times that of the president of my country,” said the diplomat. “Then I found out it had been done anyway behind my back.” The new money and the westernisation that has gone with it is most evident in places like the Gulbahar Centre, a recently opened complex of luxury flats, shops and fast-food restaurants in the heart of Kabul, only a hundred metres from the new main mosque. Last week Samer, 18, and Zohour, 21, were having lunch in Big Chief Burger on the ground floor of the complex. One was a “cultural adviser” for the US embassy; the other a business student and son of a major government transport contractor. “It’s a stressful place to live. I relax by going to the gym or hanging out. This is an Islamic country so there are no bars or clubs,” said Zohour, wearing a sweatshirt, baggy shorts and flip-flops. “I’m worried about when the Americans go. Now the war is a long way from here. We don’t want it any closer.” Some observers have noted a parallel with the 1980s, when Kabul benefited from Soviet aid, reconstruction projects and jobs while the war continued in the countryside. As early as 2005, a World Bank report noted that “the main beneficiaries of [overseas] assistance have been the urban elite”. There are bombings and attacks in Kabul but few casualties and little destruction compared to the south or east. A Nato military intelligence officer told the Observer that the economic “rural-urban divide” was one of the biggest drivers of the insurgency. When the Soviets left, Afghanistan was plunged into civil war and much of Kabul destroyed. Now all in Kabul are worrying what the departure of the most recent batch of foreigners to intervene in their country will bring. “The whole of the American effort and that of our allies is starting to be framed around this concept of 2014 and the need for an Afghan lead by then,” a US official told the Observer . “Is there a rush for the exit? Absolutely not. Too many people have lost their lives, too many valuable things have been gained.” This at least is a sentiment Fatima and her family would agree with. “They can’t leave, they simply can’t,” said Mohammed, Fatima’s brother-in-law. “It’ll be chaos, anarchy. The Taliban will be back. Everything that has got better will get worse. I am certain the foreign troops will still be here in many, many years.” Afghanistan Taliban Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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Business is booming in Kabul, but as the west prepares to ship out, ordinary citizens worry about what lies ahead Under the trees, the Karimi family have spread out a rug. The Afghan summer sun filters through the leaves. There is chicken, fried potato cakes, salad and water melon. This is a Friday afternoon ritual, at least since the security improved enough to allow the family to drive the 10 miles from Kabul without fear of insurgents or robbers. The Karimis came back to the city in 2002, after living as refugees in Iran through the civil war of the early 1990s and the rule of the Taliban that followed. Now three generations live together in Kabul: 70-year-old Syed Hussein, Fatima, 29, a student teacher, her husband and her two children. And every Friday they come to this patch of riverside woodland on the outskirts of the city. “When we came back, life was very hard,” Fatima says. “But every year that has passed things have got better.” Syed Hussein, her father, smiles when asked when times were best in his long life – the average life expectancy for Afghans is still only 44, two years more than a decade ago. “Afghanistan is a wonderful country… the only problem is the Afghans!” he says and chuckles at his own joke. “The best times were when I was a teenager. Since, it has been just trouble after trouble.” Physical reminders of those troubles surround the family’s picnic site, known as Daoud’s Garden after Mohammed Daoud Khan, the president deposed and assassinated in a communist coup in 1978. There is a large military base less than a mile away. Once manned by Afghan auxiliaries fighting alongside the Soviets, it is now full of Afghans being trained to fight with, or instead of, US-led coalition forces. A major American base is close by too. An Afghan commando unit guards the approaches to the gardens. “Without these soldiers we could not come here,” says Fatima. “In fact, we could barely go anywhere.” For behind the bucolic scene lies deep anxiety. Every year in Kabul there is a different theme to the interminable conversations about “the situation”. In 2008 it was the apparently inexorable advance of the Taliban, almost to where Fatima and her family were picnicking. In 2009, it was the new “surge” of troops and money announced by President Barack Obama. In 2010, it was the success or failure of the expanded campaign. Now, without exception, talk is of the withdrawal of western troops, aid and attention from Afghanistan. Within weeks, Obama is expected to announce the first departures. David Cameron has already said he wants 450 of Britain’s 9,500 men out within months. The international community has agreed that all foreign combat troops are to be gone by 2014, leaving the Afghans to fight the Afghans. “This is a very worrying thing,” says Fatima, and the festive atmosphere of the picnic cools. “If the west go, then it will all fall apart and the Taliban will come back.” The Karimis are from the Hazara ethnic minority, persecuted under the largely Pashtun Taliban’s rule. They are also Shia Muslims, whom the Taliban once saw as heretics. Their moderate traditions – Fatima wears a simple white headscarf rather than the all-covering burqa – meant they suffered greatly when the radical movement were in power. Now there are functioning universities, schools, relative law and order and even improving electricity. “But we still have much to fear,” Mousa, Fatima’s husband, said. Many in Kabul are more worried about their wallets than persecution. The 10-year international effort has seen Kabul change from being a moribund city of fewer than 400,000 to a bustling metropolis of 4.5 million flush with cash. The last two years have seen an explosion in conspicuous consumption. There are blocks of luxury apartments under construction, giant video hoardings advertising energy drinks, BMWs and Hummers blasting their way through the traffic with overpowered horns. Miralam Hosseini, 56, sells at least two $140,000 4x4s every week. Across the street from his showroom, an electronics shops stocks the latest 52in flat screen. “We sell one every few days,” said Mahmud Shah, who returned to Kabul earlier this year after seven years in London. Cars and televisions alike are always paid for in cash. “Narc-hitecture” – vast and garish villas built by those said to be involved in Afghanistan’s $4bn drugs trade – is becoming increasingly visible. There are also the new restaurants where lunch is 30 times the average daily wage. If soaring food prices pose a huge problem to millions in the city, they do not bother those who have profited from the boom. But there is a sense now that the party is over. Little of the money in Kabul – other than the profits of the narcotics trade – has been created here. Beyond drugs, Afghanistan still produces very little. Profits from the country’s vast mineral or metal deposits are a distant prospect. “No one is within a decade of even beginning to successfully mine, process, transport and sell all the copper and iron that is here,” one European diplomat admitted. Much of the economy has thus been built on the tens of billions poured into Afghanistan by the west. Huge sums have been embezzled, vast wasteful contracts have fuelled a “construction sector on speed” and the main bank is alleged to have made $500m in undocumented and potentially fraudulent loans, many to associates or relatives of the president, Hamid Karzai. Once much disappeared to Dubai. More recently, following the global turndown, the cash has stayed in Kabul. Land prices have risen fivefold. Then there are the tens of thousands of consultants, translators and office staff working for international NGOs or foreign government contractors. Salaries of $3,000 are common, an enormous sum locally. The best paid earn much more. “I vetoed a contract giving a local consultant a salary three times that of the president of my country,” said the diplomat. “Then I found out it had been done anyway behind my back.” The new money and the westernisation that has gone with it is most evident in places like the Gulbahar Centre, a recently opened complex of luxury flats, shops and fast-food restaurants in the heart of Kabul, only a hundred metres from the new main mosque. Last week Samer, 18, and Zohour, 21, were having lunch in Big Chief Burger on the ground floor of the complex. One was a “cultural adviser” for the US embassy; the other a business student and son of a major government transport contractor. “It’s a stressful place to live. I relax by going to the gym or hanging out. This is an Islamic country so there are no bars or clubs,” said Zohour, wearing a sweatshirt, baggy shorts and flip-flops. “I’m worried about when the Americans go. Now the war is a long way from here. We don’t want it any closer.” Some observers have noted a parallel with the 1980s, when Kabul benefited from Soviet aid, reconstruction projects and jobs while the war continued in the countryside. As early as 2005, a World Bank report noted that “the main beneficiaries of [overseas] assistance have been the urban elite”. There are bombings and attacks in Kabul but few casualties and little destruction compared to the south or east. A Nato military intelligence officer told the Observer that the economic “rural-urban divide” was one of the biggest drivers of the insurgency. When the Soviets left, Afghanistan was plunged into civil war and much of Kabul destroyed. Now all in Kabul are worrying what the departure of the most recent batch of foreigners to intervene in their country will bring. “The whole of the American effort and that of our allies is starting to be framed around this concept of 2014 and the need for an Afghan lead by then,” a US official told the Observer . “Is there a rush for the exit? Absolutely not. Too many people have lost their lives, too many valuable things have been gained.” This at least is a sentiment Fatima and her family would agree with. “They can’t leave, they simply can’t,” said Mohammed, Fatima’s brother-in-law. “It’ll be chaos, anarchy. The Taliban will be back. Everything that has got better will get worse. I am certain the foreign troops will still be here in many, many years.” Afghanistan Taliban Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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Foreign secretary visits Benghazi while British and French gunships batter Gaddafi’s radar station and command posts Britain demonstrated its solidarity with the cause of the Libyan rebel forces in a dramatic fashion yesterday, as the foreign secretary, William Hague, became the first government minister to visit their stronghold of Benghazi in the east of the country. Following his unannounced visit he said he had seen the “inspiring” hope of many Libyans for freedom. Hague’s visit came in the wake of the first attacks by British Apache helicopters which targeted Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, destroying a radar station and a military checkpoint during a night-time raid. They marked a sharp escalation in the Nato campaign in Libya. Hague and the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, discussed a political roadmap for Libya’s future with the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil. The council is recognised by the UK as the legitimate post-Gaddafi government and has been given significant non-military assistance by the British government. Hague stressed the importance of “developing plans for a competent, inclusive and transparent administration that includes clear civilian control of military and regional representation”. The ministers spoke about British humanitarian assistance, visited a medical centre and laid a wreath at Commonwealth war graves before meeting citizens in Benghazi’s Freedom Square. “We are here today for one principal reason: to show our support for the Libyan people and for the National Transitional Council, the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” Hague said. “We are here together as part of a coordinated and strategic approach to Libya – ensuring that our military, diplomatic and development actions are aligned.” Renewing calls on Gaddafi to go, he said the dictator was “isolated internationally and domestically” and “continues to abuse human rights without mercy or compunction”. Hague added: “Of course we all want a political, not a military, solution to any conflict, including this one. But that is only possible if Colonel Gaddafi will go. “You only have to talk to the people here, see the graffiti that is written on all the walls, listen to anybody in the street, to realise that there isn’t a political solution that involves Gaddafi still being at the head of Libya.” Mitchell announced new British support for the clearance of mines in Misrata, Benghazi and other affected areas to help ensure the safety of 200,000 people. Of the 4,000 wounded people that have been treated in Misrata alone so far, more than 400 have reportedly required limb amputations, according to the Foreign Office. The British office in Benghazi is now the largest in north Africa after Cairo. After the talks, Hague wrote on Twitter: “In Malta, returning from Benghazi. The work and hope of many Libyans for freedom is inspiring, as I’ve now seen for myself.” Earlier, one of the two Apaches came under light-arms fire from forces loyal to Gaddafi near Brega, a strategic oil city close to the eastern frontline. Both helicopters returned undamaged to HMS Ocean, stationed off the Libyan coast. French Tigre and Gazelle helicopters struck separately, hitting 15 military vehicles and five command buildings at an undisclosed site. The new air operation is expected to boost the morale of the rebels and may help break the military stalemate. Four months into the conflict, rebel forces are holding their ground in various parts of the country but have been unable to make strong advances towards Tripoli because better-equipped government forces still hold towns along key routes to the capital. As part of its mission to protect civilians, Nato has relied on jets flying nearly three miles above the ground to target Gaddafi’s command centres and military arsenal, especially weapons and vehicles deployed in open areas. But the introduction of combat helicopters, which can fly more slowly at low altitudes, will give the alliance a key advantage in close-quarters fighting, allowing it to pinpoint targets in built-up locations where Gaddafi’s troops are dug in and to reduce the chance of what the military terms “collateral damage”. “This is an escalation in support of the civilians Gaddafi is persecuting,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jason Etherington, commanding officer of 4 Regiment, Army Air Corps. He added: “This is all part of a campaign to step things up. We are stepping things up, bringing another capability for protection of civilians.” In a statement, Nato said that the craft would allow it to “track and engage pro-Gaddafi forces who deliberately target civilians and attempt to hide in populated areas”. But the move also signals the strong intent, especially from Britain and France, to prevent the conflict from dragging on for many more months. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, said that the use of the attack helicopters was “a logical extension” of Nato’s campaign. “This gives us a chance to target new targets in a way we weren’t able to do,” he said from Singapore, where he was attending a security conference. “What it does show is our willingness to use the range of assets we have to keep the pressure up. We will continue with the methods we have to degrade his [Gaddafi's] command and control, to degrade his supplies.” Nato said yesterday’s mission was aimed at destroying military vehicles, equipment and forces. Major General Nick Pope, the chief of the defence staff’s strategic communications officer, said the helicopters, equipped with thermal imaging capabilities, used Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon during the attack. At the same time, Tornado and Typhoon jets struck another military installation in Brega, and two ammunition bunkers in Waddan, in central Libya. “Our understanding of the detailed disposition of Colonel Gaddafi’s forces has been improving in a very satisfactory manner, despite their efforts to conceal themselves,” Pope said. One of the Apache pilots, an Army Air Corps officer based at Wattisham, in Suffolk, who has also served in Afghanistan, said that as they hit the military checkpoint, they came under “a direct threat”. “We had made sure that we were looking at a definite military target, rather than a civilian one, and we took out the threat,” he said. “Most of our pilots have experience of Afghanistan and of course we are facing something completely new in Libya. There is always a degree of trepidation, but the Apache provides us with great protection and brings us safely back home.” The deployment of the low-flying Apache helicopters, which have been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan, raises the possibility of western forces suffering casualties for the first time in the war. Nonetheless Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of Nato’s Libyan operation, indicated that the helicopters would be used again. “We will continue to use these assets whenever and wherever needed, using the same precision as we do in all of our missions,” he said. The decision to send four British Apache helicopters to Libya was made by David Cameron on 27 May. Their deployment via HMS Ocean means there should be less chance of civilian casualties in operations that previously relied on the use of Tornado and Typhoon aircraft. Rebel forces are concentrated in three main areas spread across Libya. In the east, where the revolution started in February, they are trying to push towards the west from Ajdabiya. Brega is the next town along the highway, and Nato hopes that the helicopter attacks may weaken loyalist defences to the extent that the rebels can push through. Separately, the opposition forces also control Libya’s third city, Misrata, 130 miles (210km) from Tripoli, as well as several small towns in the western Nafusa mountain range. Gaddafi has become increasingly reclusive in Tripoli as the Nato bombing campaign has intensified. While members of his regime continue to defect, his diplomatic isolation is near complete, with China holding initial talks with rebel representatives this week. Yet Gaddafi, who has ruled since 1969, remains defiant, and has refused to entertain suggestions that he leave power or go into exile. Nato’s involvement in Libya stems from the UN security council resolution authorising all necessary measures to protect civilians in the country under threat of attack. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest William Hague Military Muammar Gaddafi Foreign policy Defence policy Middle East Africa Nato Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Foreign secretary visits Benghazi while British and French gunships batter Gaddafi’s radar station and command posts Britain demonstrated its solidarity with the cause of the Libyan rebel forces in a dramatic fashion yesterday, as the foreign secretary, William Hague, became the first government minister to visit their stronghold of Benghazi in the east of the country. Following his unannounced visit he said he had seen the “inspiring” hope of many Libyans for freedom. Hague’s visit came in the wake of the first attacks by British Apache helicopters which targeted Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, destroying a radar station and a military checkpoint during a night-time raid. They marked a sharp escalation in the Nato campaign in Libya. Hague and the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, discussed a political roadmap for Libya’s future with the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil. The council is recognised by the UK as the legitimate post-Gaddafi government and has been given significant non-military assistance by the British government. Hague stressed the importance of “developing plans for a competent, inclusive and transparent administration that includes clear civilian control of military and regional representation”. The ministers spoke about British humanitarian assistance, visited a medical centre and laid a wreath at Commonwealth war graves before meeting citizens in Benghazi’s Freedom Square. “We are here today for one principal reason: to show our support for the Libyan people and for the National Transitional Council, the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” Hague said. “We are here together as part of a coordinated and strategic approach to Libya – ensuring that our military, diplomatic and development actions are aligned.” Renewing calls on Gaddafi to go, he said the dictator was “isolated internationally and domestically” and “continues to abuse human rights without mercy or compunction”. Hague added: “Of course we all want a political, not a military, solution to any conflict, including this one. But that is only possible if Colonel Gaddafi will go. “You only have to talk to the people here, see the graffiti that is written on all the walls, listen to anybody in the street, to realise that there isn’t a political solution that involves Gaddafi still being at the head of Libya.” Mitchell announced new British support for the clearance of mines in Misrata, Benghazi and other affected areas to help ensure the safety of 200,000 people. Of the 4,000 wounded people that have been treated in Misrata alone so far, more than 400 have reportedly required limb amputations, according to the Foreign Office. The British office in Benghazi is now the largest in north Africa after Cairo. After the talks, Hague wrote on Twitter: “In Malta, returning from Benghazi. The work and hope of many Libyans for freedom is inspiring, as I’ve now seen for myself.” Earlier, one of the two Apaches came under light-arms fire from forces loyal to Gaddafi near Brega, a strategic oil city close to the eastern frontline. Both helicopters returned undamaged to HMS Ocean, stationed off the Libyan coast. French Tigre and Gazelle helicopters struck separately, hitting 15 military vehicles and five command buildings at an undisclosed site. The new air operation is expected to boost the morale of the rebels and may help break the military stalemate. Four months into the conflict, rebel forces are holding their ground in various parts of the country but have been unable to make strong advances towards Tripoli because better-equipped government forces still hold towns along key routes to the capital. As part of its mission to protect civilians, Nato has relied on jets flying nearly three miles above the ground to target Gaddafi’s command centres and military arsenal, especially weapons and vehicles deployed in open areas. But the introduction of combat helicopters, which can fly more slowly at low altitudes, will give the alliance a key advantage in close-quarters fighting, allowing it to pinpoint targets in built-up locations where Gaddafi’s troops are dug in and to reduce the chance of what the military terms “collateral damage”. “This is an escalation in support of the civilians Gaddafi is persecuting,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jason Etherington, commanding officer of 4 Regiment, Army Air Corps. He added: “This is all part of a campaign to step things up. We are stepping things up, bringing another capability for protection of civilians.” In a statement, Nato said that the craft would allow it to “track and engage pro-Gaddafi forces who deliberately target civilians and attempt to hide in populated areas”. But the move also signals the strong intent, especially from Britain and France, to prevent the conflict from dragging on for many more months. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, said that the use of the attack helicopters was “a logical extension” of Nato’s campaign. “This gives us a chance to target new targets in a way we weren’t able to do,” he said from Singapore, where he was attending a security conference. “What it does show is our willingness to use the range of assets we have to keep the pressure up. We will continue with the methods we have to degrade his [Gaddafi's] command and control, to degrade his supplies.” Nato said yesterday’s mission was aimed at destroying military vehicles, equipment and forces. Major General Nick Pope, the chief of the defence staff’s strategic communications officer, said the helicopters, equipped with thermal imaging capabilities, used Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon during the attack. At the same time, Tornado and Typhoon jets struck another military installation in Brega, and two ammunition bunkers in Waddan, in central Libya. “Our understanding of the detailed disposition of Colonel Gaddafi’s forces has been improving in a very satisfactory manner, despite their efforts to conceal themselves,” Pope said. One of the Apache pilots, an Army Air Corps officer based at Wattisham, in Suffolk, who has also served in Afghanistan, said that as they hit the military checkpoint, they came under “a direct threat”. “We had made sure that we were looking at a definite military target, rather than a civilian one, and we took out the threat,” he said. “Most of our pilots have experience of Afghanistan and of course we are facing something completely new in Libya. There is always a degree of trepidation, but the Apache provides us with great protection and brings us safely back home.” The deployment of the low-flying Apache helicopters, which have been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan, raises the possibility of western forces suffering casualties for the first time in the war. Nonetheless Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of Nato’s Libyan operation, indicated that the helicopters would be used again. “We will continue to use these assets whenever and wherever needed, using the same precision as we do in all of our missions,” he said. The decision to send four British Apache helicopters to Libya was made by David Cameron on 27 May. Their deployment via HMS Ocean means there should be less chance of civilian casualties in operations that previously relied on the use of Tornado and Typhoon aircraft. Rebel forces are concentrated in three main areas spread across Libya. In the east, where the revolution started in February, they are trying to push towards the west from Ajdabiya. Brega is the next town along the highway, and Nato hopes that the helicopter attacks may weaken loyalist defences to the extent that the rebels can push through. Separately, the opposition forces also control Libya’s third city, Misrata, 130 miles (210km) from Tripoli, as well as several small towns in the western Nafusa mountain range. Gaddafi has become increasingly reclusive in Tripoli as the Nato bombing campaign has intensified. While members of his regime continue to defect, his diplomatic isolation is near complete, with China holding initial talks with rebel representatives this week. Yet Gaddafi, who has ruled since 1969, remains defiant, and has refused to entertain suggestions that he leave power or go into exile. Nato’s involvement in Libya stems from the UN security council resolution authorising all necessary measures to protect civilians in the country under threat of attack. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest William Hague Military Muammar Gaddafi Foreign policy Defence policy Middle East Africa Nato Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …LeBron James and the Miami Heat aren’t evil. They’re just committed to winning, like any professional sports team, and it’s OK to like them. Take it from Robert Weintraub, who defends the honor of the NBA’s concocted villain in Slate . “Time for a confession,” Weintraub writes. “I’m rooting for the…
Continue reading …A group of doctors in Germany is catching heat for advertising homosexuality treatments on its website. The Union of Catholic Physicians offers “homeopathic dilutions,” psychotherapy, and sugar pills to keep “inclinations” at bay, reports Der Spiegel . The group acknowledges that homosexuality is not an illness, but “we know about a…
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