EYES ON THE BALL
While overshadowed by the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death–for which President Obama deserves great credit–the war on the ground in Libya proceeds with renewed intensity.
Qadaffi’s forces continued to attack Misurata with artillery, in perhaps the fiercest attacks to date. Juan Miguel Muñoz of El País reports:
Military attacks
The Army undertook an offensive against various cities throughout the length and breadth of Libya, with particular fury in Misrata, in a war that becomes more confused each day.
The attacks of the Army with artillery and Grad rockets against Misrata were more virulent than ever, according to neighbors quoted by various news agencies which reported intense bombardments of the port and the airport. Uniformed soldiers were also deployed in strength against the western town of Zintan, and also in Wazin, a small city near Tunisia, whose authorities closed the border crossing. They also tried to attack in Jalu, hundreds of kilometers south of Benghazi, where NATO destroyed 45 military vehicles. The rebel commanders are convinced that Qaddafi wants to seize control of the border between Libya and Egypt in order to isolate the insurgents.
–Juan Miguel Muñoz, “La muerte de un hijo de Gadafi desata las represalias del régimen: Partidarios de Gadafi asaltan embajadas.- La ONU se retira de Trípoli. -El Ejército bombardea el asediado puerto de Misrata,”El País, 1 de mayo de 2011.
See also
Lin Noueihed (Reuters), “Les kadhafistes poursuivent leurs attaques dans l’Ouest libyen,” Le Point, le 2 mai, 2011 (LePoint.fr).
The mightiest military alliance in the world, NATO, has not yet halted the attacks on Misurata.
If NATO can’t stop artillery attacks on Misurata and the shelling of its port, it is not likely that the Taliban in Afghanistan will be swayed by its awesome power.
If NATO can’t halt the attacks on Misurata, it is difficult to see it playing a useful role in the North Atlantic in the future.
Indeed, NATO’s impotence in Libya may well be a harbinger of the demise of the organization.
Republicans are not likely to fail to make the point that it was a failure of American leadership that produced this failure by NATO, and Obama’s debacle in Libya.
The Trenchant Observer
