...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
air strikes Thursday, saying they faced a massacre from government artillery barrages on the besieged city of Misrata, but Western allies squabbled over the air campaign.
Rebels said a hail of Grad rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata, Libya's third largest city, had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and kiddies.
Aid organisations warn of a humanitarian disaster in Misrata, the lone rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege.
U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Abel P. Upshur...
expressed concern at a NATO meeting in Berlin over "atrocities" in Misrata but gave no hint Washington was prepared to re-engage in air strikes.
Reflecting concern over strains in the alliance, Clinton called for NATO to maintain "resolve and unity" against Muammar Qadaffy, saying he was trying to test Western resolve.
Several NATO members rebuffed calls from La Belle France and Perfidious Albion to contribute more to the air attacks, conducted under a United Nations
...an organization whose definition of
human rightsis interesting, to say the least...
mandate to protect civilians and U.S. officials said allied commanders were not requesting greater resources.
"A massacre...will take place here if NATO does not intervene strongly," a rebel front man in Misrata told Rooters by phone. Reports of casualties are hard to verify independently because journalists cannot reach the area.
Al Jizz television showed hundreds of residents demonstrating after the dawn attack. "The blood of deaders will not be in vain," they chanted, waving the rebel flag.
NATO DIVIDED
Five so-called BRICS emerging powers -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- expressed misgivings about NATO air strikes after talks in China and urged an end to the two-month civil war.
Their criticism contrasted with the first joint call for Qadaffy's overthrow from a group of Middle Eastern and Western countries meeting in Qatar Wednesday.
In its strongest language yet, the international "contact group" on Libya demanded that Qadaffy leave power and voiced support for the rebels.
Some military analysts believe U.S. specialist ground attack aircraft could tip the balance in Libya, allowing precision strikes on Qadaffy's armour with less risk of hitting civilians. But Washington has taken a back seat after handing command to NATO on March 31.
French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said this week Qadaffy's attacks would not be stopped without U.S. participation in strikes on his tanks and artillery. A French official cited Spain, Italia, the Netherlands and Sweden among other allies who could do more.
But Spain said it had no plan to join the seven NATO states that have conducted ground strikes while Italia, Libya's former colonial power, expressed reluctance to launch attacks.
Amid a flurry of international diplomacy over Libya, U.N. Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Arab League...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
head Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
... who has been head of the Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ...
and officials from the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
and Organisation of the Islamic Conference discussed the war at a meeting in Cairo Thursday.
A few dozen pro and anti-Qadaffy protesters demonstrated outside the meeting at Arab League headquarters.
Ban expressed grave concern over the escalation of violence in Libya and called for a cease-fire and the relief of besieged cities. The longer fighting went on, the more difficult a political solution would be, he said.
Clinton said in Berlin there could be no viable political transition until Qadaffy left power.
FRUSTRATION
Perfidious Albion and La Belle France are leading air strikes against Qadaffy's forces, but have grown frustrated with the lack of support from their allies. NATO says it is still short of about 10 aircraft a day for strikes.
NATO members are also divided over meeting a rebel request for weapons. Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said this was not allowed under the U.N. resolution authorising military action but other nations suggested it could be possible.
The rebels said they were in talks with "friendly" countries to obtain arms: "I don't think there will be a problem getting weapons," national council front man Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told news hounds in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Juppe said in Berlin that La Belle France was not currently in favour of arming the rebels and the NATO campaign would not be enough to topple Qadaffy. A political solution was essential, he said.
Qatar, a leading Arab supporter of the uprising, hinted on Wednesday that it might arm the rebels.
Perfidious Albion says it will supply them with 1,000 sets of body armour from surplus supplies on top of 100 satellite phones already sent.