THANK YOU CANADA AND NATO: YOU MURDERED MY PRECIOUS FAMILY

 

In his introduction to the main article here, Arthur speaks for me as well in his anger towards our Canadian government. My loathing of Harper and his sycophants has been stated more than once in this blog. Arthur takes it to a new height as his eyes have been fully opened now to the military foulness of our own government, an emotion I have felt this strongly since our involvement in Afghanistan began. Over my years of reading Arthur’s work, I have never seen his anger reach the point where he used the language he does here, but his is a just and righteous anger that anyone brought up in the Canada (that was) should be feeling!

The above nauseating image and words solidifies what Arthur says. We are awarding murderers and liars just as Israel does to its soldiers who slaughter families in their sleep. THERE IS NOT A WHIT OF DIFFERENCE! 
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I am going to intersperse this writing by Franklin Lamb with work by Thierry Meysan who wrote of this same filthy uncalled-for massacre at Libya SOS. Thierry reports on facts that he witnessed firsthand: the story of his friend, Engineer Khaled K. Al-Hamedi. A story of horror and blood where NATO embodies the comeback of barbarism. NOTHING can undo what was done to Khaled or the thousands of other innocent people trapped in Libya who lost loved ones "liberated" from the "tyranny" of Muammar Qadaffi who, although merely human, had done so much good for them.
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The International Organization for Peace, Care and Relief (IOPCR) is very active in Algeria, Iran, Sudan and Palestine. It brings relief to victims of natural catastrophes and armed conflicts. Its action is exemplary in Gaza and the West Bank and is widely praised by all. Here, Khaled el-Hamedi receives the medal of courage from the hands of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. He was also decorated by Mahmoud Abbas.

[Arthur Topham’s Note: By the time I had put together all the photos, uploaded them and got the text of the article checked over I was pretty well exhausted emotionally and mentally by the whole sordid and evil nature of what Canada has done to the innocent and gentle people of Libya. I have never felt so ashamed of my country in my entire 65 years of living here. 

ED: I felt this way when I learned of the creation of Canada Park in Israel by the Tanenbaum Family of Toronto which had three Palestinian villages cleared out so that Israelis would have park to loll and play in. That feeling was cemented by Harper's callous response to the unwarranted devastation rained upon Lebanon by Israel as "a measured response". I have been apologetic for the actions of my country ever since that time ~ my pride as a Canadian demolished.

The utter disgust that I feel for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper goes beyond any words that I could possibly dredge up from the darkest thesaurus in existence.

His actions, as the so-called “leader” of this once half-assed civilized nation, have so degraded the country in the eyes of the non-NATO world that I am literally embarrassed to call Canada my home any longer.

Such loathing for another human being I never thought possible until the reality of what he and his governing party of psychopathic war criminals have done to the once prosperous and peaceful nation of Libya finally sunk in to my heart and mind.

I can only wonder at the intensity of the grief that Khaled El Hamedi must feel knowing that his precious, loved and pregnant wife and his sweet, darling babies were all blown to pieces in a split second because of the monstrous, inexcusable and deliberately vile decisions of our elected officials in Ottawa. 

And I include every single one of those miserable excuses for members of parliament who never spoke out against Harper and his Zionist, boot-licking traitorous sycophants.

Every MP in Ottawa who did not vote against the decision to join NATO in this killing spree should stand accused of committing war crimes and be given a fair and just trial and hopefully they’d all be found guilty and the whole worthless lot of them strung up from the nearest and tallest tree available on Parliament Hill!

This former nation of “peacekeepers” has sunk to the lowest depths of criminal insanity and depravity under the Harper Conservatives and it deserves to be treated as a hostile, renegade alien power, not only by outsiders but those true patriots within who know we have a sick mind leading our country.

It’s no goddam wonder that Harper is forever suckholing and groveling to the leader of that shitty little piece of stolen real estate in the middle of Palestine called “Israel”. Between himself and that fat little fuck Jason Kenney they’ve both managed to drag the whole bloody nation down to the same disgusting, despicable level of savagery as the psychopaths from Tel Aviv.

It’s rare that I call anyone a sonofabitch on this site, and I haven’t been this pissed off since Bush attacked Iraq in 2003 but in both their cases I’m consciously making such a decision.

All I can say is WAKE UP CANADA before this sick motherfucker destroys Canada once and for all. And yes, I know I may remove these comments at a later date but at this time they are all I have to voice my intense loathing for what we as a former democratic, peace-loving nation, once held in our hands.]

RETURN TO SORMAN 
~ ANATOMY OF A NATO WAR CRIME

Franklin Lamb
Sorman, Libya

December 18, 2011

It was a warm early Monday morning along the Libyan coast on June 20, 2011.

At approximately 0200 GMT the next day in NATO Headquarters in Brussels and 30 minutes later in its media center in Naples, staffers finished tabulating NATO’s 92nd day of aerial attacks on Libya and began to post the data on its website (www.nato.int).

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Twenty four hours earlier an Atlantic Alliance command unit, located approximately 30 miles off the Libyan coast, in a direct line with Malta, and NATO’s targeting unit had signed off on 49 bombing missions for June 20th, the last day of spring and the last day of NATO’s original UN bombing mandate.

NATO carnage in Tripoli

The authority for NATO’s bombing, which far exceeded earlier estimates, killing or wounding of between 90,000-120,000 Libyans and foreigners, and the displacement of more than two million Libyans and foreign workers was claimed from the hastily adopted UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and UNSCR 1973. UN resolutions 1970 & 1973 gave NATO UN Chapter 7 authority to enforce a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace, initially for 90 days which ironically ended the day before its bombing at Sorman.

The two UN Security Council Resolutions were insisted upon by their main sponsors, France, the UK, Italy and the US who claimed that ”a limited no-fly zone would protect Libya’s civilian population from the wrath of the government of Libya’s leader, Muammar Gadhafi.”

NATO requested and was granted two additional 90 days extensions to continue its Libyan mission which gave its air force until the end of 2011 to continue Operation Unified Protector.

It was early Monday morning, June 20, 2011.

Sorman Libya. A quiet and peaceful Libyan town, Sorman is located 45 miles west of Tripoli, near the Mediterranean coast, in the Zawiya District of the Tripolitania region in northwestern Libya. Many of the town’s children grew up exploring the 3rd Century truly magnificent Roman Ruins at nearby Sabratha.

Some archeologists consider Sabratha, located almost in direct line with Rome across the Mediterranean, and built on a high cliff above the sea, as the most complete extant Roman architecture with only a small part of this large Roman city having been excavated. This observer has visited Sabratha a few times since the mid-1980 and each visit presents more awe. Families from Sorman and nearby villages regularly visit and picnic there.

In the early hours of June 20, 2011 it was dark in Sorman except for some muted half-moon light. A few dim street lights and some partially illumined homes in provided some light as residents began to rise and prepare for the Al Fajr (“Dawn”) prayers.

Khaled El Hamedi, President of the International Organization for Peace, Care and Relief

At the homestead of Khaled K. El Hamedi, the 37 year old President of the International Organization for Peace, Care & Relief (IOPCR), one of Libya’s most active social service organizations everyone was asleep following a rambunctious birthday party for his three year old son. The Hamedi family members included Khaled’s three year and one day old son Khweldi, four and one half year old daughter Khaleda, his beautiful pregnant wife Safa, his aunt Najia, and his six year old niece Salam, among others.

Thierry wrote: It was a family celebration, the Libyan way. Everyone had gathered to celebrate the third birthday of little Al-Khweldy. The grand-parents, the brothers and sisters and cousins were crowding inside the family house located in Sorman, 70 Kms West of the capital: a big garden where small houses had been built for the various members of the family, plain, one-floor houses.

No big luxury, just the simplicity of desert people. A quiet and harmonious atmosphere.

At NATO’s Control and Command Center, the 49 bombing missions planned for early morning of June 20, included a target at Sorman, which would push the number of NATO reconnaissance sorties over Libya to 11,930. This number would become 26,500 by midnight on October 31, when NATO would end its air campaign. The day’s bombing sorties would also bring the tally of rocket and bombing targets to 4,521. This figure would increase to more than 11,781 by late fall, when NATO was instructed to end OUP (Operation Unified Protector).

NATO’S PREPARES TO BOMB DORMAN’S 
“COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTER”

Before the bombs were fired at Khaled K. el-Hamedi compound, NATO staff conducted a six step process the first of which was surveillance using the MQ-9 Reaper UAV, which sometimes is also used to fire missiles. Also above Sorman was the Predator drone with full-motion video. During June 19 and the early hours of June 20, the drones locked on the Hamedi homestead target and relayed updated information to NATO’s command center.

The Hamedi home was not what NATO labels a “time-critical target” so there was plenty of time for its staff to transmit information about the site from unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to intelligence analysts. Almost certainly, according to a source at Jane’s Weekly, NATO UAV’s watched the Hamedi compound over a period of days and presumably observed part of the birthday party being held for three old Huweldi, the day before the order to bomb was issued.

NATO Rules of Engagement for Operation United Protector, constitute a set of classified documents which present specific and detailed instructions about what is a legitimate target and who can approve the target, whether pre-planned or “on the fly” when a pilot happens upon a target of opportunity.

The Sorman attack on the Hamedi home was planned as part of what NATO calls its “Joint Air Tasking Cycle (JATC). A target development team put the Hamedi home on the June 20th daily list of targets.

The team used a report from NATO intelligence analysts who determined that retired officer Khaled al Hamedi’s father, one of the original members of the Gadhafi led 1969 coup against King Idris in 1969, and a former member of the Al Fatah Revolution’s Revolutionary Command Council was living on the property. His assassination had been ordered by NATO because they hoped to weaken the regime in some way even though the senior Hamedi was retired and had no decision making role in Libya.

Thierry wrote: The grand-father, Marshall Al-Khweldy Al-Hamedi, used to raise birds here. ~ He is a hero of the Revolution who took part in the overthrow of the monarchy and in his country’s liberation from colonial exploitation. All are very proud of him. ~ The son, Khaled Al-Hamedi, President of IOPCR, one of the most important Arab humanitarian associations, used to raise does. About thirty children were running around among the animals.

They were also preparing the wedding of his brother Mohammed, gone to the front lines to fight against NATO-trained foreign mercenaries. The ceremony was to take place here in a few days’ time. His fiancée was already beaming.

Nobody noticed that, among the guests, a spy had sneaked in. He was pretending to twitter his friends. In reality, he had just marked the targets and was relaying them through the social network at NATO Headquarters.

On June 19, the day before bombing attack on the Hamedi family at Sorman, NATO was obliged by its own regulations and by the international law of armed conflict to conduct a“potential for collateral damage review” of this mission.

There is no evidence that this was ever done.

A requested US Congressional NATO Liaison Office review of the Sorman bombing, initially requested from Libya on August 2, was completed in early September 2011 and found no documentary evidence or other indication that Bouchard or anyone in NATO’s Target Selection Unit, evaluated, discussed, or even considered the subject of potential civilian casualties at the Hamedi home in Sorman.

Following Bouchard’s green light to bomb the Hamedi home, the coordinates were fixed at 32°45′24″N 12°34′18″E. Specific aim points on the Hamedi property were chosen and eight bombs and missiles were readied and attached to the strike aircraft.

Thierry wrote: The next day, during the night of 19 to 20 June 2011, at around 2.30 am, Khaled went back home after having visited and assisted compatriots who had fled the Alliance’s bombings. He was close enough to his house to hear the hissing of missiles and their explosions.

NATO fired eight of them, of 900 kilos each. The spy had placed markers in each house, including the children’s bedrooms. The missiles were dropped a few seconds apart. The grand-parents had time to get out of their house before it was destroyed. It was already too late to rescue the children and grand-children. When the last missile hit their house, the Marshall had the instinctive reaction to shield his wife with his body. They had just stepped out of the door when they were flung fifteen meters away by an explosion. But they survived.

At Sorman, NATO used a variety of bombs and missiles including the “bunker busting” BLU-109 (Bomb Live Unit) which is designed to penetrate 18 feet of concrete. NATO also used the American MK series of 500 lb, (MK 81) 1000 lb, (MK-82) and the 2000 lb (MK-84) that Israel used so widely during its 2006 invasion of Lebanon. The MK series and the BLU-109 are reportedly being stockpiled in Israel in preparation for both countries’ anticipated next war in this region.

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Following the infernal at Sorman, NATO denied responsibility but the next day NATO admitted carrying out an air strike somewhere in Sorman but denied that there were civilian deaths even as its drones filmed the scene close up. NATO’s media office in Naples issued a statement claiming:

“A precision air strike was launched against a high-level command and control node in the Sorman area without collateral damage.” NATO spokespersons also told Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that “the facility was a legitimate military target and that all necessary precautions were taken before conducting the strike which minimized any potential risk of causing unnecessary casualties”.

Thierry wrote: NATO fired eight of them, of 900 kilos each. The spy had placed markers in each house, including the children’s bedrooms. The missiles were dropped a few seconds apart. The grand-parents had time to get out of their house before it was destroyed. It was already too late to rescue the children and grand-children. When the last missile hit their house, the Marshall had the instinctive reaction to shield his wife with his body. They had just stepped out of the door when they were flung fifteen meters away by an explosion. But they survived.

When Khaled arrived, there was only devastation. His wife, whom he loved so much, and the child she was bearing were gone. His children, for whom he would have given anything, were crushed by the explosions and collapsing ceilings.

The houses were left in ruins. Twelve mutilated bodies were lying under the rubble. The does, hit by fragments, were agonizing in their pen.

The official NATO record of its bombing of Libya for June 20, 2011 reads as follows and remains unchanged:

“Allied Joint Force Command NAPLES, SHAPE, NATO HQ.
Over the past 24 hours, NATO has conducted the following activities associated with Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR:
Air Operations Sorties conducted 20 JUNE: 149
Strike sorties conducted 20 JUNE: 52

KEY HITS

20 JUNE: In the vicinity of Tripoli: 1 Command & Control Node, 8 Surface-To-Air Missile Launchers,1 Surface-To-Air Missile Transport Vehicle.

In the vicinity of Misratah: 3 Truck-Mounted Guns, 2 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns, 1 Tank.

In the vicinity of Tarhunah: 1 Military Equipment Storage Facility.

In the vicinity of Al-Khums: 1 Military Vehicle Storage Facility.

In the vicinity of Zintan: 1 Rocket Launcher.”

Oddly, NATO records for June 20th as well as subsequent reports of bombing attacks listed for June 20th and June 21st in its daily logs have never included the bombing attack on Sorman or the attack on the Al-Hamedi residence which indisputably killed 15 civilians.

Thierry wrote: The neighbours who rushed to their rescue silently searched through the debris for any sign of life. Unfortunately, there was no hope. The children didn’t stand a chance of escaping the missiles. The corpse of a beheaded child is extracted. The grand-father is reciting verses of the Coran. His voice is firm, he does not cry. His pain is too strong.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, NATO spokespersons declared to have bombed the headquarters of pro-Ghaddafi militia in order to protect the civilian population from the tyrant who is repressing it.

It is not known how the whole thing was planned by the targets committee, or how the chiefs of NATO’s general staff followed the unfolding of the operation. What is clear is that the Atlantic Alliance, with its spruced-up generals and right-thinking diplomats, has decided to murder the chidren of Libyan leaders to break their psychological resistance.

Since the XIIIth century, European theologists and jurists have prohibited the assassination of families. Only the mafia has broken this absolute taboo. The mafia and now NATO.

On 1st July, when 1.7 million people were demonstrating in Tripoli to defend their country against foreign aggression, Khaled went to the front to bring relief to refugees and the injured. Snipers were waiting for him. They tried to kill him. He was seriously injured; however, according to the doctors, his life is no longer in danger.

Just before the bombs hit, eye witnesses, reported seeing red specks in the sky and then flashes of intense light, immediately followed by thunderous ear splitting blasts as eight American bombs and rockets pulverized their neighbors homestead.

In an instant Khaled El Hamedi’s family was dead. The children were crushed, blown apart or shredded into pieces, along with friends and extended family members who had slept overnight.

The attack resulted in killing a total of 13 people and injuring 6 people with severe injuries:
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KILLED:

1 ~ Eng./ Safa Ahmed Mahmoud, wife of Eng. Khaled El Hamedi

2 ~ Child / Khaleda Khaled El Khweldi El Hamedi (4 and half years). (Daughter)

3 ~ Child / El Khweldi Khaled El Khweldi El Hamedi (3 years and one day ). ( Son)

4 ~ Child / Salam Mohamed Nouri El Hamedi (6 years). the niece of Eng. Khaled ElHamedi

5 ~ Njie Belkacem El Hamedi, the aunt of Eng. Khaled El Hamedi

6 ~ Child / Amnha Issam Jomaa (8 years). The daughter of the neighbor

7 ~ Child / Amira Issam Jomaa (8 months). The daughter of the neighbor

8 ~ Mohammed M’hamed El Hamedi . The cousin of Eng. Khaled El Hamedi

9 ~ Imad Abu Aoueigila Trabelsi. The house guard

10 ~ Abdullah Al Nabi. The house guard

11 ~ Bashir Isaac Ali (Sudan). Working cook at the house

12 ~ Aisha Al Cleih (Morocco). Housekeeper

13 ~ Bushra Yali (Morocco). Housekeeper

INJURED:

1 ~ Mr. Khweldi El Hamedi badly injured in his leg (Father )

2 ~ Mrs. Khweldi El Hamedi badly injured in her arms and joints (Mother )

3 ~ Msra Khweldi El Hamedi, student at Medical College, badly injured and had a
complicated surgery in her mouth (Sister)

4 ~ Ayaa Mahmoud ( Cousin )

5 ~ Fathiya , badly injured and lost her leg ( Babysitter from Morocco)

6 ~ Moftah Elgmatti , several injuries in his legs and had a number of operations (driver)

Khaled was working late, attending meetings with displaced Libyans driven from their homes and urgently in need of IOPCR help. As he returned home, Khaled saw from his car window the sky light up and heard exploding bombs. He was frozen in horror as he entered his property and observed rescue workers frantically digging and futilely trying to move the thick concrete slabs of his home hoping against hope that they would miraculously find survivors.

 

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Libyan government spokesman Mousa Ibrahim announced the death of 13 people, including six children, who were killed at Sorman. He slammed the NATO bombing as a

“cowardly terrorist act which cannot be justified.”

Investigators, who visited Sibratha hospital 10 kilometers from Sorman, saw nine bodies, including three young children. They also saw body parts including a child’s head.

For those who visited the El Hamidi family compound back in June following the NATO bombings, as this observer did less than a week after the crime as part of an international delegation, the scene was one of total devastation.

Collapsed and blown apart concrete and tiled homes, small body parts, and bits of family belongings and memorabilia, trees, some blown over, others bending and nearly denuded of their foliage, dead, terrified and dying petting zoo animals, including exotic birds, Ostrich, Deer, small animals and large moose killed or left near death and most in a blind stupor staring blankly from what remained of their shelters while dying of wounds and from trauma.

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Outside one of the bombed houses I noticed crushed cartons of spaghetti pasta and cans of tomato sauce, stockpiled for distribution to the needy as part of the work of IOPCR during the summer and in preparation for the coming Holy month of Ramadan observances which includes doing performing charitable works and individual humanitarian acts.

Under growing pressure from the international community including NATO member states, NATO HQ claimed equipment malfunction, missed target, poor intelligence and pilot errors. Finally US Defense secretaries Gates and his replacement, Leon Panetta admitted that NATO lacked effective intelligence on the ground to identify military targets with certainty.

Former Defense Secretary Gates, in criticizing NATO’s operation in Libya implied that NATO used a ‘bomb first ask questions later’ paradigm in Libya. And this appears to have been the case.

These excuses in no way absolve NATO and its 28 NATO member states of responsibility.

Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard insists to this day that only Libya’s military was targeted:

“This important strike will greatly degrade Gadhafi regime forces’ ability to carry on their barbaric assault against the Libyan people,” he told the media from his office in Brussels. The civilian deaths at Sorman came just hours after NATO acknowledged that one of its missiles had gone astray early on Sunday, hitting a residential neighborhood of Tripoli.

At the request of Khaled El Hamedi, himself being sought by Libya’s new government, and aware that I was going to return to Sorman, I felt honored as I made my way to his loved ones’ grave sites on the family homestead where he and I first met, in order to deliver a message from him to his loved ones.

Picking my way through debris in the dark, under the cold and suspicious eyes of a couple of local militiamen, I stood at the same spot, where on June 27th his family’s freshly dug graves bore witness to what Khaled was describing to our shocked delegation concerning the details of the horror and hellfire that NATO unleashed upon his family.

Back in June I had moved to the rear of our group as Khaled spoke to us about the loss of his babies, his beauties and his precious pregnant wife. I was embarrassed because for some reason, uncontrollable tears would not stop streaming down my face and, despite averting my eyes, I saw that Khaled noticed.

I was touched when this young man, to whom I was a total stranger, came to me and put his arm around my shoulder in comfort. Clearly he understood that each of us can feel the pain of others, even of strangers, as well as connect them with our own losses of loved ones in life.

ED: At this point, as I work on this, I am also weeping.

Later, as I learned more about Khaled’s family and saw their most expressive and revealing photos, I came to believe that with respect to the wanton criminal aggression that caused thousands of needless deaths of innocents over the period of nearly nine months against this simple, gentle society, that Najia, Safa, Salam, Khaleda, and Khweldi, and the others slaughtered at Sorman, are forever iconic representatives of all the innocent civilians who were slaughtered in Libya since March 2011.

During my recent visit to Sorman, I stood at the same location as last June. I surveyed the area and then approached the graves of Najia, Safa, Salam, Khaleda, and Khweldi. In the cold darkness it was and the piles of rubble still in place it was eerie.

I knelt close, felt a strange source of warmth and looked over my shoulder.

I whispered in the silent night that I had a message from your loving Husband, Father, Uncle and Nephew that he asked me to deliver to you.

I read to them the message entrusted to me. And I left a copy in Arabic, pinned to a bouquet of flowers:

The message read:

“Please say a very big hello to them and tell them I am coming.
Please tell them “I won’t leave you alone
And I miss each of you so very much.”
And please write them each a note.
Najia, Safa, Salam, Khaleda, and Khweldi.
Franklin, Tell them, “You are my life.
You are my love.
I miss you very, very much.
Life without you is so painful, so hard and completely empty.
I won’t stay and live away from you. I promise.
I’ll return and be close to you. Baba will be back.
I love you.

As I made my way back to the main road in search of a taxi, a militiaman stopped me and interrogated me about why I was there, confiscated my camera and ordered me to leave the area at once.

I paused for a moment and looked back toward what had been a loving family home, a petting zoo and bird sanctuary that had delighted the children in this neighborhood.

A little boy and girl, perhaps siblings, maybe six or seven years old, approached me with their Ethiopian nanny and asked:

“Wien, (where is) Khaleda? Wien Khweldi? metta yargeoun ila Al Bayt (when will they come home?)

“When will they come home?”

Unable to speak, I kissed and patted their sweet heads and continued on my way.

 

Khaled K. Al-Hamedi is strong, deeply religious, and fatalistic. He has pledged to family and friends around the world that he will continue his work with the International Organization for Peace, Care & Relief in spite of the life shattering loss of his loved ones.

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 That a man of this caliber's family be marked as "terrorist" is beyond criminal.

I am not saying it is the case with Mr. El Hamedi, but can anyone question how a good person could possibly be driven to terrorism after living an exemplary life and suffering such an enormous loss?

An honorable family, a peaceful and welcoming town, a devastated country, and a shocked and angry international community demand justice from those who sent ‘Unified Protector’ and NATO’s no-fly zone to destroy Libya in order to “protect the civilian population.”

Source: Al-Manar Website

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Franklin Lamb is doing research in Libya. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.com He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon. Whilst holed up at the Rixos Hotel during the siege of Tripoli he was shot in the leg because his reporting was not what was desired by the mainstream media.
 

He contributes to Uprooted Palestinians Blog

Please Sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html

THE MASSACRE OF EL-HAMEDI FAMILYTHE SORMAN MASSACRE 

MICHEL COLLON REPORTS FROM LIBYA 

NATO War Crimes 

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