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Nato Says It’s Okay to Bomb Television Stations

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NATO’S murderous double-speak continues.  Quotes from a couple of articles appear in italics like this.

NATO has been bombing Libyan targets since March, when it intervened under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces as he fights a revolt against his 41-year rule. [1]

In their latest bombing they targeted Libya’s television stations:

“Striking specifically these critical satellite dishes will reduce the regime’s ability to oppress civilians while (preserving) television broadcast infrastructure that will be needed after the conflict,” the alliance said in a statement posted on its website.  It called Qaddafi’s TV broadcasts inflammatory and said they were intended to mobilize his supporters. [2]

“Our intervention was necessary as TV was being used as an integral component of the regime apparatus designed to systematically oppress and threaten civilians and to incite attacks against them,” the NATO spokesman said. [3]

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That’s what NATO said, now let’s see what Libya says:

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Libyan state television continued to broadcast, however, and the Libyan Broadcasting Corporation issued a statement saying three employees were killed and 15 wounded in the strike.

“We are not a military target, we are not commanders in the army and we do not pose a threat to civilians,” said Khalid Bazelya, an LBC official, reading the statement to reporters.

“We are performing our job as journalists representing what we wholeheartedly believe is the reality of NATO aggression and the violence in Libya,” he said.

“The fact that we work for the Libyan government or represent anti-NATO, anti-armed gangs views does not make us a legitimate target for NATO rockets.”

On a visit to the Libyan state television compound, a Reuters witness saw one building that was completely destroyed, along with three satellite dishes that had been bombarded and damage to other areas.

Lavoie expressed scepticism about the casualty report.

“At this stage we have no evidence whatsoever to suggest there is any foundation to these allegations,” he said. [4]

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One of the buildings was “completely destroyed” in the bombings and yet there’s no evidence to suggest that people were hurt?   NONE of NATO’s claims passes the laugh test, only it’s not funny; and attempting to cut off television from the people is so blatantly and brazenly telling.

So what information does NATO not want the Libyan people to see on TV that causes them to bomb TV satellite dishes and the buildings they’re on?

Libyan state television broadcasts endless footage of state rallies and tribal meetings in support of Gaddafi.

Talk shows feature hosts and guests condemning NATO airstrikes and discussing hardships imposed on Libyans by the bombing campaign. It shows little information about the rebels, whom it calls armed gangs or agents of Islamist extremism.  . . .

One analyst suggested a link between the bombing of Libyan TV equipment and the killing on Friday of rebel military chief Abdel Fattah Younes, apparently by his own side.

“It’s absolutely plausible that what NATO is concerned about is the dissemination of propaganda exploiting Younes’s death, particularly now that there’s more information suggesting it was an Islamist-orientated group that committed the killing,” said Shashank Joshi, of London’s Royal United Services Institute.

“This chimes perfectly with claims made by the regime that al Qaeda is behind the rebellion,” he said.

Source: Libyan TV still on air despite NATO bombing
Address: http://www.canada.com/news/NATO+bombs+Libyan+satellite+dishes/5182019/story.html

  1. [1] Source: Libyan TV still on air despite NATO bombing
    Address : http://www.canada.com/news/NATO+bombs+Libyan+satellite+dishes/5182019/story.html
  2. [2] Source: NATO Says Precision Strikes Have Hit Libyan TV Transmitters – FoxNews.com

    Address : http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/30/nato-says-precision-strikes-have-hit-libyan-tv-transmitters/

  3. [3] Source: Libyan TV still on air despite NATO bombing
    Address : http://www.canada.com/news/NATO+bombs+Libyan+satellite+dishes/5182019/story.html
  4. [4] Source: Libyan TV still on air despite NATO bombing
    Address : http://www.canada.com/news/NATO+bombs+Libyan+satellite+dishes/5182019/story.html