The North Atlantic Treaty Organization confirmed on May 7, 2011 a total of 5510 sorties since March 31st. This figure does not include the strike sorties undertaken from the 19th to the 30th of March.
Out of 5510 sorties, 2204 are classified as “strike sorties”, involving the bombing of one or more targets.
NATO identifies only a few of the targets out of several thousand strike targets.
There is evidence that NATO is also striking civilian targets including government buildings and residential areas.
According to NATO, “a total of 20 ships under NATO command are actively patrolling the Central Mediterranean.”
Meanwhile, there are confirmed reports of foreign troops on the ground.
NATO has acknowledged the presence of 20 British, 10 French and 10 Italian special forces. Other reports suggest that the number of foreign troops and intelligence operatives are larger than those which are being reported.
In mid-April, Britain sent in military advisers. US intelligence operatives were already deployed: “This deployment is fully within the terms of UN [Security Council Resolution] 1973, both in respect of civilian protection and its provision expressly ruling out a foreign occupation force on Libyan soil,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.“Our officers will not be involved in training or arming the opposition’s fighting forces.”
The original source of this article is Global Research
Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.
He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality.
He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983)
He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015).
He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages.
In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the
copyright owner.
