NATO underplayed civilian deaths in Libya: HRW

[No Elephants]

NATO underplayed civilian deaths in Libya: HRW

By Sebastian Moffett

BRUSSELS | Mon May 14, 2012 12:07am EDT

(Reuters) - NATO air strikes killed 72 civilians in Libya last year, Human Rights Watch said on Monday, accusing the western alliance of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage it caused during the campaign that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi.

In a report based on investigations at bombing sites during and after the conflict, the New York-based HRW said NATO strikes killed 20 women and 24 children. It called on the alliance to compensate civilian victims and investigate attacks that may have been unlawful.

"Attacks are allowed only on military targets, and serious questions remain in some incidents about what exactly NATO forces were striking," Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW, said in a statement.

<snip>

But Abrahams, principal author of the report, said the care NATO took during the campaign was "undermined by its refusal to examine the dozens of civilian deaths."

(Reporting by Sebastian Moffett; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/us-nato-libya-idUSBRE84D03F20120514

In fairness, if NATO had not gotten involved, odds are the total death count in Libya would have been much higher than it was.

The points here are the language that I bolded above.


IMO, anyone who believes he or she knows the truth about anything political (and what is not political these days?) is in deep denial.