NATO's Crimes in Libya

The International Prosecution Chamber in Stockholm

Box 70296
107 22 Stockholm
SWEDEN

Report on serious offences subject to public prosecution


The offences include violations of international law,¹ genocide,² terrorism,³ and financing of terrorism.⁴

Background

Until March 2011 Libya was a sovereign secular state, ranked by the
United Nations as a “High Human Development” country in a global context⁵ (HDI ranking 53 out 194, ahead of countries like Russia and Brazil) and the most advanced country on the continent of Africa.⁶
As late as Jan 4, 2011 – just weeks before the war started – several UN
members applauded Libya’s continued commitment to upholding human
rights.⁷

Today, seven months later, Libya has – as a result of decisions and
actions by individuals i.a. within the Swedish government and Sweden’s
military forces – been turned into a bombed out war zone with up to a
million refugees⁸
under the control of a “National Transitional Council” (NTC) which is
in the process of turning Libya into a theocracy regulated by Islamic
Sharia law.⁹



The leadership and cadre of the NTC rebels are dominated by past and present members¹⁰ of designated terrorist organizations¹¹ such as Al-Qaeda (AQ, AQI, AQIM)¹² and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).¹³

The council is presently headed by a de facto triumvirate – holding executive/financial/military power:

1. Mahmoud Jibril – a university lecturer educated, and for
   several years resident, in the US and whose studies was mentored by a
   renowned CIA case officer working for CIA in Iran during the CIA/staged
   coup there in 1953.¹⁴
   
2. An American economics professor by the name of Ali Tarhouni.¹⁵
   
3. A senior Al-Qaeda asset/educator/leader previously operating in Afghanistan and Iraq but who currently acts under the name of Bel Hadj as the Commander in Chief for the NTC as well as military dictator of Tripoli.¹⁶
   

On March 19, 2011, two days after the adoption of UN resolution 1973,
this NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebel council announced the creation of a new
central bank and a new oil company.¹⁷
Starting a “revolution” with the creation of new central bank may be a
possible “first” in world history and casts the long shadow of as yet
unidentified international financial actors over the war against Libya.¹⁸

The war

The pretext and framework for the attack on Libya by Sweden and other
countries was United Nations resolution 1973. This resolution i.a.
authorized a ban on flights and measures “to protect civilians and
civilian populated areas” whilst excluding “a foreign occupation force
of any form on any part of Libyan territory”.¹⁹

The reality is that participants in the NATO-led war already at the
outset was in violation of resolution 1973 and that the motive was not
to protect civilians – but regime-change.

Testimony by former NATO military commander General Wesley Clarke
confirms that as early as 2001, Pentagon was instructed to prepare for
war against Libya²⁰ – i.e. long before Libya was reported as a “problem” somehow in need of a “solution”.

Thus, the backdrop carries distinct echoes of colonialism,²¹
spiced with the general geostrategical redrawing of the entire
Middle-East set in motion by the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001²² and envisaged by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC).²³

The event that is said to have triggered NATO’s attack on Libya was
the Libyan government’s own attempts to restore order and protect
civilians in the Benghazi area, where an estimated one thousand
jihadists²⁴ (Al-Qaeda/LIFG) had stormed military storage facilities, and armed themselves and started to shoot up the neighbourhood.

Given the miniscule size and poor to non-existent training of this “rebel” contingent,²⁵
the successful containment and disarmament of these rebels by the
Libyan government should have been a foregone conclusion – had it not
been for the intervention of French and subsequently US airpower on the
side of these Al-Qaeda jihadists.²⁶

Since March 31, 2011, NATO has conducted 9658 air strike sorties,²⁷
averaging 46-47 strike missions per day for 207 days. When assessing
the gravity of the war crimes reported here this massive air campaign
needs to be contrasted against the realities on the ground.

What are these realities?

Even before UN resolution 1973 Libya was reported to have no effective air force.²⁸ Moreover, and in regional terms, Libya did not have much of a military to speak of in the first place.

For example, indicated by the chart below is that whereas
neighbouring countries in the first decade of the 21st century escalated
their military expenditures – Libya did the opposite.²⁹



In fact, Libya under Qaddafi, was a remarkably constructive factor in
the region – being the founding father of the African Union.³⁰

Reported war casualties vary widely.³¹
What is clear is that the involvement of the armed forces of Sweden and
other countries not only changed the outcome of what would have been
the orderly neutralization of a local fringe Al-Qaeda/LIFG flurry into a
full-scale regime-change (for the worse) with a death toll, injured and
refugees at a very different order of magnitude.

Some key-points:

• The attack on Tripoli: There are reports that the
  NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG ground assault on Tripoli July 20, 2011, was
  amphibious (supported by NATO ships) and planned , directed and led by
  NATO-officers, also on the ground.³²
  The way in which the reportedly NATO-led rebels were at all able to
  progress through Tripoli was by NATO Apache attack helicopters strafing
  the streets to clear it of civilians.³³
  
• The attack on Sirte:³⁴
  Coordinated with NATO’s massive bombing campaign against the city were
  the rebels cordoning off, of it – preventing civilians attempting to
  escape the carnage from leaving.
  Why would the Swedish government, or
  any other government, for that matter, wish to prevent civilians from
  escaping an event that by observers have been likened with the town of
  Guernica during the Spanish Civil War?³⁵
  The
  level of popular support enjoyed by the Qaddafi government, as
  reflected by the resistance of the inhabitants of i.a. Tripoli and
  Sirte, indicates that the Libyan people in vast numbers view the Qaddafi
  government as the only legitimate government.³⁶
  
• Genocide on black Libyans:³⁷ Numerous reports exists on the apparent rascist agenda of the NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebel as they seek out and kill black people.³⁸
  Substantiated, as these reports are, the instigators of this as a
  generic policy in the war may not necessarily have been Al-Qaeda or the
  LIFG.
  
• The role of NATO’s so-called Special Forces (SF) units: There
  also exists high-profile testimonies of how Danish and French SF-units
  engaged in and set up a policy of publicly decapitating black libyans in
  order to terrorize the civilian population of Tripoli into submission³⁹ under the capital’s newly installed military dictator Bel Hadj.
  
• The destruction of the Great Man-Made River project:⁴⁰
  NATO’s wholesale destruction of Lybia’s world-renowned Great Man-Made
  River project is a text-book example of crimes against international
  law. Not only did NATO destroy the world’s most advanced water project –
  it also destroyed the factories capable of repairing this vital
  civilian infrastructure.
  
• Use of inhumane weapons such as depleted uranium⁴¹ and cluster bombs:⁴² Evidence points to the possibility of both cluster bombs and depleted uranium being used by NATO in Libya.
  
• The foreign occupation force prohibited by UN resolution 1973
  is in fact what the NATO-led war is all about, both tactically – with
  military ground force elements – and strategically – with the
  installation of a puppet terrorist-designated regime controlled by
  Anglo-American interests.
  

The offences

As a result of initiatives taken by members in the Swedish
government, made possible by individuals in the Swedish parliament, and
carried out by individuals in the Swedish military, the state of Sweden
today shares responsibility for the transformation of the most
humanitarian and successful state on the African continent into a
third-world war zone run by a conglomerate of terrorist-designated
rebels over which the agendas of Anglo-American intelligence and banking
oligarchs cast their long shadow.

For more details on casualties, the destruction of civilian life, and
civilian infrastructure brought by the military forces of Sweden and
other countries, consider the Libya reports from the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.⁴³

Given existing international agreements and the clear violations
committed by the participants of NATO’s Unified Protector campaign, of
the intent and boundaries set by UN Resolution 1973, it is evident that
crimes falling i.a. under the following categories have been and are
being committed:

1. War of aggression
   
2. Crimes against humanity
   
3. Genocide
   

These crimes were not the result of mission-drift or mission-swings –
but were pre-mediated for the purpose of imposing regime-change in
Libya in violation of international law.

Given the international consensus of the designation of i.a. Al-Qaeda
and LIFG as “terrorists” it is also evident that the following crimes
have been and are being committed by the individuals reported here:

1. Terrorism
   
2. Failure to report on Terrorism
   
3. Support of Terrorism
   
4. Financing of Terrorism
   

Dates and Periods:

1. March 29, 2011 Cabinet Meeting⁴⁴
   
2. March 30, 2011 Start of Sweden’s military operation FL01⁴⁵
   
3. April 1, 2011 Parliament vote⁴⁶
   
4. June 9, 2011 Cabinet Meeting⁴⁷
   
5. June 17, 2011 Parliament vote⁴⁸
   
6. July 1, 2011 Start of Sweden’s military operation FL02⁴⁹
   
7. September 15, 2011 Cabinet Meeting⁵⁰
   
8. September 21, 2011 Parliament vote⁵¹
   

Suspects:




These MPs listed below voted in favor of the war at event 3 and later abstained:

Björlund, Torbjörn
Brink, Josefin *
Dinamarca, Rossana *
Johnson, Jacob
Linde, Hans *
Olofsson, Eva
Olsson, Lena
Persson, Kent
Sjöstedt, Jonas *
Lillemets, Annika *

Interviews with Brink, Dinamarca, Linde, Sjöstedt, and Lillemets
(marked with * above) confirm that the reason for abstaining was the
realization that the Swedish government was in violation of UN
resolution 1973 in its participation of the NATO-led war.⁵²

Key suspects in the Swedish military:



Reported individuals from Sweden’s military establishment include the
chain of command from Commander-in-chief Sverker Göransson down to all
personnel part of the FL01/FL02/infoop operations . This also includes
any staff-members in Sweden involved in the planning, directing and
execution of these operations, as well as possibly members of units such
as Special Operations Group (SOG) and the parachute regiment at K3 and
which may have been involved in the clandestine parts of the war against
Libya in 2011 – including the atrocities reportedly committed by French
and Danish SF units.

Attached:

1. United Nations resolution 1973
   
2. United Nation’s Human Development Report 2010
   
3. Background paper: “How Al Qaeda men came to power in Libya”, Thierry Meyssan, Sep 7, 2011
   
4. West Point study: “Al-Qaida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq” Dec 19, 2007
   
5. Government Proposal: 2010/11:117 March 29, 2011
   
6. Government Proposal: 2010/11:127 June 9, 2011
   
7. Government Proposal: 2011/12:5 September 15, 2011
   
8. Video depicting use of cluster bombs by aircrafts
   
9. NTC Draft Constitutional Charter
   
10. “Libya’s Lessons”, Ben Barry, Survival, vol. 53, issue 5. Summary of the war from a western perspective.
    
11. Testimony former NATO Chief General Wesley Clarke March 2, 2007
    
12. Testimony Lizzie Phelan, Oct 4, 2011
    
13. Walter Fauntroy article, Sep 7, 2011
    
14. The Sirte Declaration 1999.
    
15. Rebuilding Americas Defenses, Project for a New American Century, 2000.
    

November 4, 2011

---

1 Cf. Sweden’s Criminal Code and International Agreements (BrB and folkrättstraktat).
2 Cf.Sweden’s International Agreements (Sveriges överenskommelser med främmande makter 1952:68. FN resolution 260, 1948-12-09).
3 Cf. Law (2003:148) "om straff för terroristbrott". Cf. EU framework decision 2002/475/JHA 2002-06-13.
4 Cf. Law (2002:444) "om straff för finansiering av särskilt allvarlig brottslighet i vissa fall."
5 Cf. Human Development Report 2010: The Real Wealth of Nations – Paths to Human Development http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_reprint.pdf, 2011-09-26 and http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/LBY.html 2011-09-26.
6 Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_Human_Development_Index, 2011-10-22.
7 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review –Libyan Arab Jamahiriya "United Nations, A/HRC/16/15,2011-01-04.
8 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/index.aspx?nid=410&dok_id=GZ02U1, 2011-09-30. http://www.unocha.org/top-stories/stories-by-country/results/taxonomy%3A107, 2011-10-27.
9 Article 1, draft constitutional charter: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/libya/Libya-Draft-Constitutional-Charter-for-the-Transitional-Stage.pdf, 2011-10-20.
10 Cf.http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-24;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-libyan-detainee-now-us-ally-of-sorts.html, 2011-09-24;
11 AL-QA’IDA’S FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN IRAQ – A FIRST LOOK AT THE SINJAR RECORDS,
West Point, 2007 sikd 12 et al. The coastal area around and between the
cities of Darna and Benghazi is the home base of the Al-Qaeda/LIFG
rebels and have by West Point been labelled as a sort of global capital
for Al-Qaeda, particularly in it’s recruitment for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/libyan-islamists-power-share-warning,2011-09-27.
12 Cf. https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/tesat2009_0.pdf, 2011-09-26; http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm, 2011-09-26. Cf. http://www.voltairenet.org/How-Al-Qaeda-men-came-to-power-in,2011-10-19; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html,2011-10-20.
13 Ibid. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576237042432212406.html, 2011-09-26. http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE1101E.shtml, 2011-10-25.
14 http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/1953/, 2011/10/24. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11265/1176650-298-0.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml, 2011/12/24. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/oppo-a02.shtml, 2011-10-20. http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/03/the-next-libyan-dictator-mahmoud-jibril/, 2011-10-20. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cottam-richard-1, 2011-10-20.
15
The second most important post that of Finance and Oil is held by a Ali
Tarhouni a Libyan national resident in Washington for the last 35
years: http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/uw-faculty-member-ali-tarhouni-named-finance-minister-by-libyan-opposition-1, 2011-10-20.
16 http://www.voltairenet.org/How-Al-Qaeda-men-came-to-power-in, 2011-10-27. Cf. http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-24; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-libyan-detainee-now-us-ally-of-sorts.html, 2011-09-24;
17 http://www.ntclibya.org/english/meeting-on-19-march-2011/, 2011-10-20.
18 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
19 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. sections 4 & 6
20 Testimony of General Wesley Clark, 2007-03-02 on Democracy Now!
21 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
22 9/11 – Synthetic Terror – Made in the USA, Webster Tarpley: Cf. http://www.bokus.com/bok/9780930852375/911-synthetic-terror/.
23 http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf, 2011-11-01.
24
Estimates reported ten days after the US launched Operation Odyssey
Dawn suggested a thousand fighters, virtually all of which were other
Jihadists. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/29/1000-freelance-jihadists-join-libyan-rebels/print/, 2011-10-21. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1103/30/ita.01.html, 2011-10-21. http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/libyas-rebel-forces-need-more-than-just-weapons/, 2011-10-21.
25
Estimates reported ten days after the US launched Operation Odyssey
Dawn suggested a thousand fighters, virtually all of which were other
Jihadists. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/29/1000-freelance-jihadists-join-libyan-rebels/print/, 2011-10-21. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1103/30/ita.01.html, 2011-10-21. http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/libyas-rebel-forces-need-more-than-just-weapons/, 2011-10-21.
26 "Libya’s Lessons", Survival, 53:5, Ben Barry 2011.
27 http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_10/20111024_111024-oup-update.pdf, 2011-10-27.
28 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201132316258646677.html#, 2011-10-20.
29 THE NORTH-AFRICAN MILITARY BALANCE, Anthony H. Cordesman, Aram Nerguizian CSIS, 2010.
30 http://www.africa-union.org/Docs_AUGovernment/decisions/Sirte_Declaration_1999.pdf, 2011-11-01.
31 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_2011_Libyan_civil_war, 2011-10-27.
32 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8716758/Libya-secret-role-played-by-Britain-creating-path-to-the-fall-of-Tripoli.html, 2011-09-26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/30/western-troops-on-ground-libya?CMP=twt_iph, 2011-09-26. Cf. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/04/nato-uses-attack-helicopters-for-first-time-in-libya/
2011-09-26. Attack helicopters are not weapons systems traditionally
attached to the Air Force, but the army (or navy when used as force
projection on-shore).
33 http://www.voltairenet.org/NATO-carnage-in-Tripoli, 2011-09-26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J3SU9qUAkSg#t=1006s, 2011-10-30.
34 http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_71994.htm,
2011-09-22. Details found under the heading "Key Hits 22 September"
confirms that NATO air missions are in direct support of the
Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebels in their attempts to capture Sirte. Cf.
http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/Aktuellt/centralanyheter/Libyeninsatsens-slutdatum-narmar-sig/
: even the media reporting by the Swedish military establishment
confirms that Swedish units are acting in violation of UN resolution
1973: Generalmajor Mats Brindsjö: "Now we will fully start to focus on
the mission of protecting civlians" ["Nu fokuserar vi helt på uppgiften
att skydda civila"].
35 http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/17/nato-bombing-sirte-guernica/, 2011-10-19
36 http://www.voltairenet.org/Sirte-martyred-by-NATO, 2011-10-19.
37 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25622, 2011-10-27.
38 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
39 http://www.afro.com/sections/news/national/story.htm?storyid=72369, 2011-09-26.
40 http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/07/27/great-man-made-river-nato-bombs/, 2011-10-27.
41 http://rt.com/usa/news/nato-depleted-uranium-libya/, 2011-20-27; http://www.voltairenet.org/NATO-War-Crimes-Depleted-Uranium, 2011-10-27.
42 AFP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJefXVG37Eo&feature=player_detailpage, 2011-10-27.
43 http://www.unocha.org/top-stories/stories-by-country/results/taxonomy%3A107, 2011-10-27.
44 http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/16/49/75/8b46bcd2.pdf, 2011-09-25.
45 http://blogg.forsvarsmakten.se/flygvapenbloggen/2011/09/06/medaljering-av-fl-01/,
2011-09-24. According to this official Air Force blog entry, the
Swedish war effort started just 23 hours after the Cabinet Meeting on
March 29, 2011 – i.e. two days before the Parliament voted for it.
46 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3154&rm=2010/11&bet=UF%C3%B6U3, 2011-09-25.
47 http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/17/04/12/d4408741.pdf, 2011-09-25.
48 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3154&rm=2010/11&bet=UF%C3%B6U4, 2011-09-25.
49 http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/Internationella-insatser/Libyen-UP/Nyheter-fran-Libyen/FL-02-flyger-vidare/, 2011-09-24.
50 2011/12:5, 2011-09-15.
51 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3120&doktyp=betankande&bet=2011/12:UF%C3%B6U1, 2011-09-30.
52 tel conversations 2011-09-28 to 2011-09-30.