Libyan Rebel General Slams NATO for Not Attacking Enough

Threatens to Complain to Security Council That Not Enough Bombs Being Dropped

The constant claims from Obama Administration officials that the war in Libya is not about conquering the country on behalf of the rebels appears not to have reached Benghazi, where a top rebel general is openly condemning the US and NATO for not making the war even bigger than it is now.

Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis made the comments in a news conference in Benghazi, where he insisted NATO had not helped the rebels conquer either Brega or Misrata, two hotly contested cities, and slammed them for “using the excuse that we don’t want to kill civilians.” NATO insisted they actually had been coming those regions quite a bit, despite the lack of a military victory by the rebels.

“NATO should be with us,” Younis insisted, adding that the rebel government would complain to the UN Security Council if the war wasn’t escalated. Younis had previously held the position of Interior Minister in Gadhafi’s regime, before defecting in late February.

Which sparked something of an incident at the news conference, when one of the people in the room noted that Younis, as Interior Minister, would have been giving the orders for the regime’s massacres up to the point where he resigned. Younis denied this, but only after the man was dragged from the room. His fate is unknown.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.