Bolton Criticizes Arab League For ?Grumbling? About Civilian Deaths In Libya
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 22nd, 2011 4:31 am by HL
Bolton Criticizes Arab League For ?Grumbling? About Civilian Deaths In Libya
Soon after Muammar Qaddafi’s government said yesterday that the Allied bombardment of Libyan air defense systems there had killed dozens of civilians, Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League — which had initially urged the UN to act in Libya — criticized the mission. “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” he said. The New York Times reports today that “reporters seeking proof have been offered none to account for even part of that number.”
Today on Fox News, war hawk John Bolton criticized the Arab League for “grumbling” about the alleged civilian deaths and — echoing many on the right — said the U.S. should’ve attacked Libya without Arab League support because they would have “grumbled in public” anyway:
BILL HEMMER: What is confounding is the Arab League backed us a week ago. Now Amr Moussa the head of the Arab League, has reservations in the past 24 hours suggesting that the military action that has already taken place has gone to far. Now how do you figure that out?
BOLTON: Well I think that’s par for the course. And that’s why the Obama administration was wrong to base its decision to use force in part anyway on the Arab League announcing it was in favor of the use of force. If we had just done what we should have done a month ago, the Arab League would’ve grumbled in public and in private would’ve said, “You’re doing the right thing.” The only difference now is that they’re grumbling in public.
Watch it:
This morning, Moussa actually backed off his original criticism, saying the Arab League “respects the U.N. Security Council resolution, and there is no contradiction” and that, “We have received assurances that these issues, especially the protection of civilians, will remain a unanimous goal for the U.N. and the Arab League.” Indeed, the British Defense Ministry announced yesterday that British Tornados abandoned a mission because “further information came to light that identified a number of civilians within the intended target area.”
“Republicans don’t know what to do with this because they wanted this to happen, the no fly zone, so that’s good, but now Obama wants it so it’s bad,” HBO’s Bill Maher noted on Friday. “Fox News today just put up a test pattern that said, ‘Please be patient while we figure out how this makes Obama the worst president ever.’” In the meantime, Bolton’s silly quip and attacking Obama for going on “vacation” (actually a pre-scheduled trip to Latin American to shore up U.S. economic ties) is all conservatives and Fox News have to go on.
CNN Foreign Correspondent Calls Out Fox News: ?Outrageous? ?Lies And Deceit?
This afternoon, Fox News reported that the Qaddafi regime used foreign journalists, including teams from CNN and Reuters, as a “human shield” to thwart an attack on Qaddafi’s compound last night. The compound had already been hit by allied missiles, but in its exclusive report — which is FoxNews.com’s most read and commented story — Fox alleges that “British sources” told them that allied forces were planning a second attack, which was called off due to the journalists’ presence.
But on the Situation Room tonight, a visibly frustrated CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, who was on the CNN team that visited the compound, called the report untruthful and “outrageous.” Moreover, Robertson acccused Fox of “lies and deceit” for claiming none of their staffers went on the same trip when one in fact did:
WOLF BLITZER: I want you to explain what you know about this suggestion Fox news reporting that you, a Reuters crew, some other journalists were effectively used by Qaddafi as a human shield to prevent allied fighter planes from coming in and attacking a certain position. Explain what you know about this.
ROBERTSON: Wolf, this allegation is outrageous and it’s absolutely hypocritical. When you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from a dictatorship here. You don’t expect it from the other journalists. […]
They sent a member of their team. He was not editorial. He was nontechnical, not normally a cameraman. […]
I see [Fox’s corespondent] more times at breakfast than out on trips with government officials here. So for them to say and call this — to say they didn’t go and for them to call this and say this was government propaganda to hold us there as human shields when they didn’t even leave the hotel, it’s ridiculous.
Watch it:
Robertson also essentially called Fox’s team in Libya lazy and uninformed, saying they rarely leave the hotel to do reporting. He said his colleagues from other networks have the same regard for Fox.
