P6283421
Stop the War Coalition "Stop Bombing Libya" protest at Parliament, 28.06.2011
Activists representing Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Libyans opposed to the targeted destruction of their country's vital infrastructure and the continued slaughter of large numbers of civilians - cold-bloodedly referred to as "Collateral Damage" by the Warmongers directing the massive attacks - by NATO forces, protested in Old Palace Yard opposite Parliament calling for an end to the brutal, massive aerial bombing campaign being waged against them by the USA and NATO, who lied to the World by claiming their involvement was only ever going to be a short campaign to establish a no-fly zone in the rebel-held East of Libya, and only to "protect innocent civilians".
To this end on February 15th 2011 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 which authorized an internationally organised no-fly zone. Next thing we know, on March 18th, Barack Obama announces that NATO has taken over the operation from the United Nations, and gradually (as predicted) it is now admitted freely by the USA, NATO and our own William Hague that the mission is actually to kill Colonel Gaddafi. Without a shadow of a doubt this war against Libya flagrantly disregards International Law. It is yet another illegal war launched by the USA against another (coincidentally) oil-rich sovereign state which was posing no threat to the USA whatsoever. The UK government has the same blood on its hands as does the USA.
It is a good indicator of the degree to which we have been lied to as a nation by David Cameron, his ministers and "special advisers" in the concentrated media propaganda storm of distortions, myths and blatant lies neccessary to convince the British Public that this illegal war has some kind of moral justification. We were initially told this operation would be over in weeks and would be a bargain at "tens of millions of pounds". Over four months later the government has admitted that the cost so far has been "About a quarter of a billion pounds", from which we can safely assume we're probably looking at closer to half a billion pounds at least, with no end in sight.
It is estimated that the first day of operations in Liby cost the USA alone $1 billion.
Meanwhile back in the UK the Disabled are having their paltry benefits slashed or even cut completely, libraries, community centres, day care centres for the elderly and many other vital public amenities are being closed by Cameron's Caring Conservatives because (apparently) the coffers are empty. Public Sector workers are under sustained government propaganda attacks, and have just been told that their pensions are now not going to be enough to live on when they retire, they have to contribute much more into them, and they all have to work several years longer to even get it.
Just so you know, a Sidewinder missile costs at least £85,000, and a much sexier AmRam missile rolls out at over £500,000 of British taxpayer's money. It has been almost impossible to force the Ministry of Defence to give a reliable figure for the quantities of high-tech ordnance that has been dropped on Libya, nor how much of that ordnance contained Depleted Uranium. The only thing we can be sure of is that the government will tell us lie after lie after lie.
I attended a public meeting this evening in the House of Commons where we were told by anti-war MP Paul Flynn that the government is trying to prevent the reading out of dead military personnel's names in Parliament because it makes so many MPs uncomfortable to hear them, and to have to face the fact that real human beings with voting-aged families and friends are dying because of their vicious belligerence. Similarly the Ministry of Defence is about to stop military funeral corteges from driving through the Wiltshire town of Wooton Basset which has become a very public focus for the great number of dead soldiers passing through its main road. They are planning a different route for the coffins from RAF Brize Norton where they are brought back home to be buried by their families and loved ones, so the public soon forgets all about the cost of these Oil Wars. Out of sight, out of mind. George Bush would be proud of us. How psychopathically stone-hearted is that?
Our brave William Hague announced this week that "The UK is in Libya for the long haul".
Gaddafi is without doubt a brutal dictator, and the insurgents from the Eastern tribes who took their cues from the Arab Spring victories to launch a civil war to try and free themselves from Gaddafi's cruelty and brutality against them are understandably anxious to be free of him and his equally violent sons, though Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch have reported many atrocities and war crimes being carried out by the rebel fighters too, and no-one seems to be asking what unimaginable violence will be expedited against the Western Libyans once the Eastern rebels - now supported by overwhelming Western military might - without whose intervention their civil war would undoubtedly have been short and violent - overwhelm Tripoli. Let's not kid ourselves that it's going to be a clean transition, because it's not. There will be a bloodbath of huge proportions as revenge is taken against all those women, children and their parents. NATO will, of course, help to sweep all that under the carpet whilst the oil companies help themselves to Libya's most desirable asset.
I hope that what comes next will haunt William Hague's tormented nightmares for the rest of his life...
All photos © 2011 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter or reblog my images without my permission.
Hi-Res versions of these files are available on application
P6283421
Stop the War Coalition "Stop Bombing Libya" protest at Parliament, 28.06.2011
Activists representing Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Libyans opposed to the targeted destruction of their country's vital infrastructure and the continued slaughter of large numbers of civilians - cold-bloodedly referred to as "Collateral Damage" by the Warmongers directing the massive attacks - by NATO forces, protested in Old Palace Yard opposite Parliament calling for an end to the brutal, massive aerial bombing campaign being waged against them by the USA and NATO, who lied to the World by claiming their involvement was only ever going to be a short campaign to establish a no-fly zone in the rebel-held East of Libya, and only to "protect innocent civilians".
To this end on February 15th 2011 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 which authorized an internationally organised no-fly zone. Next thing we know, on March 18th, Barack Obama announces that NATO has taken over the operation from the United Nations, and gradually (as predicted) it is now admitted freely by the USA, NATO and our own William Hague that the mission is actually to kill Colonel Gaddafi. Without a shadow of a doubt this war against Libya flagrantly disregards International Law. It is yet another illegal war launched by the USA against another (coincidentally) oil-rich sovereign state which was posing no threat to the USA whatsoever. The UK government has the same blood on its hands as does the USA.
It is a good indicator of the degree to which we have been lied to as a nation by David Cameron, his ministers and "special advisers" in the concentrated media propaganda storm of distortions, myths and blatant lies neccessary to convince the British Public that this illegal war has some kind of moral justification. We were initially told this operation would be over in weeks and would be a bargain at "tens of millions of pounds". Over four months later the government has admitted that the cost so far has been "About a quarter of a billion pounds", from which we can safely assume we're probably looking at closer to half a billion pounds at least, with no end in sight.
It is estimated that the first day of operations in Liby cost the USA alone $1 billion.
Meanwhile back in the UK the Disabled are having their paltry benefits slashed or even cut completely, libraries, community centres, day care centres for the elderly and many other vital public amenities are being closed by Cameron's Caring Conservatives because (apparently) the coffers are empty. Public Sector workers are under sustained government propaganda attacks, and have just been told that their pensions are now not going to be enough to live on when they retire, they have to contribute much more into them, and they all have to work several years longer to even get it.
Just so you know, a Sidewinder missile costs at least £85,000, and a much sexier AmRam missile rolls out at over £500,000 of British taxpayer's money. It has been almost impossible to force the Ministry of Defence to give a reliable figure for the quantities of high-tech ordnance that has been dropped on Libya, nor how much of that ordnance contained Depleted Uranium. The only thing we can be sure of is that the government will tell us lie after lie after lie.
I attended a public meeting this evening in the House of Commons where we were told by anti-war MP Paul Flynn that the government is trying to prevent the reading out of dead military personnel's names in Parliament because it makes so many MPs uncomfortable to hear them, and to have to face the fact that real human beings with voting-aged families and friends are dying because of their vicious belligerence. Similarly the Ministry of Defence is about to stop military funeral corteges from driving through the Wiltshire town of Wooton Basset which has become a very public focus for the great number of dead soldiers passing through its main road. They are planning a different route for the coffins from RAF Brize Norton where they are brought back home to be buried by their families and loved ones, so the public soon forgets all about the cost of these Oil Wars. Out of sight, out of mind. George Bush would be proud of us. How psychopathically stone-hearted is that?
Our brave William Hague announced this week that "The UK is in Libya for the long haul".
Gaddafi is without doubt a brutal dictator, and the insurgents from the Eastern tribes who took their cues from the Arab Spring victories to launch a civil war to try and free themselves from Gaddafi's cruelty and brutality against them are understandably anxious to be free of him and his equally violent sons, though Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch have reported many atrocities and war crimes being carried out by the rebel fighters too, and no-one seems to be asking what unimaginable violence will be expedited against the Western Libyans once the Eastern rebels - now supported by overwhelming Western military might - without whose intervention their civil war would undoubtedly have been short and violent - overwhelm Tripoli. Let's not kid ourselves that it's going to be a clean transition, because it's not. There will be a bloodbath of huge proportions as revenge is taken against all those women, children and their parents. NATO will, of course, help to sweep all that under the carpet whilst the oil companies help themselves to Libya's most desirable asset.
I hope that what comes next will haunt William Hague's tormented nightmares for the rest of his life...
All photos © 2011 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter or reblog my images without my permission.
Hi-Res versions of these files are available on application