Free Republic

In an interview with CNN Turk on Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that Ankara had previously threatened to veto an Israeli request to open an office as part of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue initiative in Brussels. Turkey's Today Zaman reported that Israel, through the help and coordination of the US, made an attempt to open the NATO office in Brussels earlier this year and Turkey threatened to veto Israel’s move in NATO’s foreign ministers meeting in Berlin in April

Libya is in danger of falling into the hands of Islamic extremists if a stable government is not rapidly established, Nato’s secretary-general warned last night. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Islamic extremists would “try to exploit” any weaknesses created as the country tried to rebuild after four decades of Col Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. Mr Rasmussen was speaking amid growing evidence of splits in the rebel leadership in Tripoli. His words will cast a damper over the euphoria sweeping Tripoli in the wake of the revolution. His warning came as the head of the National...

Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links Mr al-Hasidi...added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader". His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries". Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, 5 years later released from GITMO and then...

Fighters from the western mountain city of Zintan control the airport. The fighters from Misurata guard the central bank, the port and the prime minister’s office, where their graffiti has relabeled the historic plaza “Misurata Square.” Berbers from the mountain town Yafran took charge of the city’s central square, where they spray-painted “Yafran Revolutionaries.” A week after rebels broke into Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s former stronghold, much of its territory remains divided into fiefs, each controlled by quasi-independent brigades representing different geographic areas of the country. And the spray paint they use to mark their territory tells the story of a...

NAPLES — As NATO bombs began to rain on Libya in March, President Obama and other Western leaders assured their war-weary publics that the campaign to protect civilians from Moammar Gaddafi’s crackdown would be over within weeks. Now the coalition’s springtime incursion has stretched to summer and Gaddafi’s resilience has startled the leaders who committed to the operation. Calls are growing to end it even as NATO pleads for more time. As the campaign enters its fourth month, NATO officials insist that it is succeeding and that Gaddafi will become the Arab Spring’s third casualty. But that will happen, they...

Anyone old enough remembers the 60s sitcoms Gomer Pyle -USMC, F Troop, and McHale's Navy.  A review of DVDs of those fine, funny shows of yore should be high on anyone's list who's been following NATO's misadventure in Libya.  Incoming Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta may want to take a look-see.  After watching a few episodes of each show, you'd swear Gomer Pyle is leading McHale's zanies and F Troop fumblers across Libya's desert sands in side-slapping futility -- all set to laugh track guffaws.Okay, NATO doesn't have boots on the ground in Libya, so Gomer and his goofs aren't...

The US House of Representatives voted to prohibit the use of funds for American military operations in Libya. Lawmakers adopted the amendment to a military appropriations bill by a vote of 248 to 163. A number of members of Congress have recently expressed their dissatisfaction at President Barack Obama's decision to go ahead with operations in Libya in March and to continue without congressional authorization. The amendment, introduced by Democratic representative Brad Sherman from California, invokes the War Powers Resolution, a 1973 law that limits presidential powers on sending troops abroad into combat zones without the consent of Congress. Sherman's...

An Eritrean priest in Rome, Don Mussje Zerai, who oversees the Habeshia cooperation and development agency, is reporting that murderous atrocities are being committed against non-Arab black Libyans in territories under the control of the US and NATO supported "Libyan freedom fighters." Some 800 Africans were massacred in Misrata alone, as allegedly documented in a number of videos of the Habeshia agency website that depict "cruel episodes and fury on lifeless bodies," which are "manifestation of deep held hate." The clergyman decried the ongoing indifference (memo to the delusional Senator John McCain) to this carnage despite previous reports. Don Zerai...

If you're wondering what we've been getting for the money Imam Obama has been flushing down his third war in Libya, Uruknet.info has video of pro-Gaddafi soldiers who were foolish enough to surrender to the rebels. For some reason they didn't run the footage on CNN. Here's one of the least unwatchable; mercifully, the action doesn't start until two minutes in.

Libyan rebel forces may have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda fighters, a senior American military commander has warned. Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, said that American intelligence had picked up "flickers" of terrorist activity among the rebel groups. Senior British government figures described the comment as "very alarming". The admission came as the American, Qatari and British Governments indicated that they were considering arming rebel groups, who yesterday suffered a series of setbacks in their advance along the Libyan coast towards Tripoli. The plan is likely to spark further splits in the international coalition, with Nato and Italian...

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insists that military alliance is "impartial" and will not take sides in the conflict in Libya.