NATO Incompetence and Intransigence

When you make a mistake, apologize. It is the easiest thing in the world. It is only words. To be a prig and say you "regret" something but refuse to "apologize" and then aid insult to injury by blaming the victim seems to be the "standard operating procedure" for NATO. Ridiculous!



From CNN, here is a bit about this insane situation:

British Royal Navy Rear Adm. Russell Harding said NATO forces may have hit rebel tanks near the eastern oil town of al-Brega on Thursday.

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It was the second time NATO has been blamed for civilian deaths, Last week, opposition leaders said NATO airstrikes killed 13 civilians in the al-Brega area. NATO is investigating that strike as well.

"I'm not apologizing," Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said of the latest incident. "The situation on the ground is fluid, and we had no information the opposition forces were using tanks."
Harding said NATO had only recently learned that opposition forces had tanks. In the past, it was Gadhafi's tanks that had taken aim at civilians, he said.
"There's a lot of vehicles going back and forth," he said. "It is very difficult to distinguish who is operating the vehicles."
The airstrikes also injured 14 people, and an additional six are missing, said Gen. Abdul Fattah Yunis, a commander of the rebel forces.

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After the aerial attack Thursday morning, Gadhafi's troops pushed the rebels back, retaking territory and moving the front line farther east, Yunis said.
He said the rebels notified NATO of their tank movement and of their presence.

"There is no tension between us and NATO; this is a war situation, and we understand that mistakes are made," Yunis said.

Let me see how this NATO stance works...

You find out that kids playing road hockey were run over by a driver. The driver said "There were a lot of kids on the street one day, off the street the next day, besides, nobody told me that these were local kids playing road hockey. I wasn't properly informed. So I simply floored the car and flattened them. Just like NATO! And I'm really 'sorry' about killing those kids, but I'm not going to apologize."

A criminal in for sentencing told the judge "You guys arrest me once in a while when I commit a crime, but there are lots of times when you don't arrest me. Nobody has told me when your cops are going to be out arresting, so I just broke in and raped and robbed because nobody informed me. Just like NATO! Sure I'm sorry that I got arrested, but I'm not going to apologize because how was I supposed to know that this time you would catch me?"

I just don't get the "attitude" of NATO. Are they trying hard to be hated more by the eastern rebels than is Gaddafi? Just why puff up and make this idiotic statement about "sorry, but no apology"? NATO made a mistake. They should have said "we apologize and we will work harder to coordinate with the eastern rebels so this doesn't happen again!" Instead, they get all puffy and prideful and want to blame the victims for "confusing" the trigger happy pilots.

I bet the rebels would have been happier to overlook this killing, but NATO has been very slow to shoot at Gadaffi's forces and seems more than trigger happy to shoot at the rebels. If I were a rebel I would wonder just whose "side" NATO is on. There is night-and-day difference between the aggressive help the US gave, and this tepid, reluctant to bomb Gadaffi, but quick to bomb the rebels NATO "mission". This just plain stinks! Whoever is heading the NATO mission should be canned. He is more of a problem than a help.