RSN: The US Intervention in Libya Was Such a Smashing Success That a Sequel Is Coming, Dispatchers Ignored 19-Year-Old's Emergency Calls Before Police Killed Him

Reader Supported News | 28 January 16

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Curator, Reader Supported News

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Glenn Greenwald | The US Intervention in Libya Was Such a Smashing Success That a Sequel Is Coming 
 
Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept 
Greenwald writes: "Just as there was no al Qaeda or ISIS to attack in Iraq until the U.S. bombed its government, there was no ISIS in Libya until NATO bombed it. Now the U.S. is about to seize on the effects of its own bombing campaign in Libya to justify an entirely new bombing campaign in that same country." 
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he immediate aftermath of the NATO bombing of Libya was a time of high gloating. Just as Iraq War advocates pointed to the capture and killing of Saddam Hussein as proof that their war was a success, Libya war advocates pointed to the capture and brutal killing of Muammar el-Qaddafi as proof of their vindication. War advocates such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and Nicholas Kristof were writing columns celebrating their prescience and mocking war opponents as discredited, and the New York Times published a front-page articledeclaring: “U.S. Tactics in Libya May be a Model for Other Efforts.” It was widely expected that Hillary Clinton, one of the leading advocates for and architects of the bombing campaign, would be regarded as a Foreign Policy Visionary for the grand Libya success: “We came, we saw, he died,” Clinton sociopathically boasted about the mob rape and murder of Qaddafi while guffawing on 60 Minutes.

Since then, Libya — so predictably — has all but completely collapsed, spending years now drowning in instability, anarchy, fractured militia rule, sectarian conflict, and violent extremism. The execution of Saddam Hussein was no vindication of that war nor a sign of improved lives for Iraqis, and the same was true for the mob killing of Qaddafi. As I wrote the day after Qaddafi fled Tripoli and Democratic Party loyalists were prancing around in war victory dances: “I’m genuinely astounded at the pervasive willingness to view what has happened in Libya as some sort of grand triumph even though virtually none of the information needed to make that assessment is known yet, including: how many civilians have died, how much more bloodshed will there be, what will be needed to stabilize that country, and, most of all, what type of regime will replace Qaddafi? … When foreign powers use military force to help remove a tyrannical regime that has ruled for decades, all sorts of chaos, violence, instability, and suffering — along with a slew of unpredictable outcomes — are inevitable.”

But the much bigger question was when (not if, but when) the instability and extremism that predictably followed the NATO bombing would be used to justify a new U.S.-led war — also exactly as happened in Iraq. Back in 2012, I asked the question this way:

How much longer will it be before we hear that military intervention in Libya is (again) necessary, this time to control the anti-US extremists who are now armed and empowered by virtue of the first intervention? U.S. military interventions are most adept at ensuring that future U.S. military interventions will always be necessary.

We now have our answer, from the New York Times:

Worried about a growing threat from the Islamic State in Libya, the United States and its allies are increasing reconnaissance flights and intelligence collecting there and preparing for possible airstrikes and commando raids, senior American policy makers, commanders and intelligence officials said this week. … “It’s fair to say that we’re looking to take decisive military action against ISIL in conjunction with the political process” in Libya, [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph] Dunford said. “The president has made clear that we have the authority to use military force.”

Just as there was no al Qaeda or ISIS to attack in Iraq until the U.S. bombed its government, there was no ISIS in Libya until NATO bombed it. Now the U.S. is about to seize on the effects of its own bombing campaign in Libya to justify an entirely new bombing campaign in that same country. The New York Times editorial page, which supported the original bombing of Libya, yesterday labeled plans for the new bombing campaign “deeply troubling,” explaining: “A new military intervention in Libya would represent a significant progression of a war that could easily spread to other countries on the continent.” In particular, “this significant escalation is being planned without a meaningful debate in Congress about the merits and risks of a military campaign that is expected to include airstrikes and raids by elite American troops” (the original Libya bombing not only took place without Congressional approval, but was ordered by Obama after Congress rejected such authorization).

This was supposed to be the supreme model of Humanitarian Intervention. It achieved vanishingly few humanitarian benefits, while causing massive humanitarian suffering, because — as usual — the people who executed the “humanitarian” war (and most who cheer-led for it) were interested only when the glories of bombing and killing were flourishing but cared little for actual humanitarianism (as evidenced by their almost complete indifference to the aftermath of their bombing). As it turns out, one of the few benefits of the NATO bombing of Libya will redound to the permanent winners in the private-public axis that constitutes the machine of Endless Militarism: It provided a pretext for another new war.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34859-the-us-intervention-in-libya-was-such-a-smashing-success-that-a-sequel-is-coming

Flint Residents Told That Their Children Could Be Taken Away if They Don't Pay for City's Poison Water 
John Vibes, The Free Thought Project 
Vibes writes: "Flint's government continues to charge people for the poison water and then threatening to foreclose their home or take their children if they refuse to pay. Michigan law states that parents are neglectful if they do not have running water in their home, and if they chose not to pay for water they can't drink anyway, then they could be guilty of child endangerment." 
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Trump Steps Up Attacks With 'Bimbo' Tweet Before Fox News Debate 
Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey, Reuters 
Excerpt: "U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday escalated a fight with Fox News, using the word 'bimbo' in a derogatory tweet about anchorwoman Megyn Kelly after he dramatically pulled out of a debate only days before the first votes of the 2016 campaign are cast." 
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Dispatchers Ignored 19-Year-Old's Emergency Calls Before Police Killed Him 
Carimah Townes, Think Progress 
Townes writes: "Before he was killed in Chicago for allegedly swinging a bat at a police officer, 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier tried calling 911 three times. But audio recordings released this week by the Independent Police Review Authority reveal that two dispatchers ignored LeGrier's pleas for police assistance." 
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Janet Cooksey holds a photo of her son Quintonio LeGrier, who was fatally shot by police 

at a West Garfield Park residence Dec. 26, 2015. (photo: Megan Crepeau/Chicago Tribune)

efore he was killed in Chicago for allegedly swinging a bat at a police officer, 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier tried calling 911 three times. But audio recordings released this week by the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) reveal that two dispatchers ignored LeGrier’s pleas for police assistance.

In the first call made on December 26, LeGrier asks the dispatcher to send an officer, but doesn’t specify why one is needed. The teenager repeatedly says the word “emergency,” but the dispatcher says she won’t send an officer until LeGrier says his full name. She hangs up in less than two minutes.

LeGrier tries calling again, sounding more distressed. He asks “can you please send the police?” four times, but a second dispatcher says she’ll only send an officer when LeGrier answers her questions. The call ends after 41 seconds, and the dispatcher declines to send help.

A third dispatcher sent help when LeGrier called a third time — shortly before his father placed his own 911 call. Antonio LeGrier requested police help, explaining that his son was attempting to bust down his door with a baseball bat.

When Officer Robert Rialmo arrived at the scene, he shot LeGrier seven times. He also shot a neighbor in the chest, killing her accidentally.

The shooting occurred amidst growing public outrage in Chicago, as protesters slammed the Chicago Police Department’s record of police brutality and recklessness — and the leaders who have covered it up. LeGrier’s family members pointed out that the 19-year-old had a history of mental illness, which highlights how police are ill-equipped to handle people who have emotional breakdowns.

But LeGrier’s shooting also raises questions about the role dispatchers play in emergency calls. Similar to the Chicago case, dispatchers in other parts of the country have been negligent in their responses to people in dire need of help. A Denver audit found that hundreds of dispatchers “failed to verify or properly broadcast addresses,” didn’t call medics when they were urgently needed, left people waiting on the phone, and failed to report all of the information relayed to them when dispatching officers. Elsewhere, dispatchers have fallen asleep on the job, waited an hour to report a call, and hung up on Spanish-speaking callers.

A Cleveland dispatcher failed to mention a crucial detail that could have saved 12-year-old Tamir Rice’s life. The caller who reported Rice said the gun in his hands was probably fake — a detail the dispatcher left out altogether.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/34853-dispatchers-ignored-19-year-olds-emergency-calls-before-police-killed-him

Michael Bloomberg Isn't a Moderate - He's Just out of Touch 
Michael Maiello, Rolling Stone 
Maiello writes: "The former New York mayor's ideas have already been field-tested and rejected by Americans." 
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Lawmakers From 17 Latin American Countries Forge Progressive Network for Sovereignty 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "Lawmakers from 17 countries founded the Parliamentary Network for the Sovereignty and Union of Latin America and the Caribbean on the sidelines of the CELAC summit to defend progressive governments and confront the lies spread by mainstream media." 
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Seattle Becomes 6th City to Sue Monsanto Over PCB Contamination 
Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch 
Chow writes: "Seattle joins the growing list of cities in the American West that has slapped Monsanto with a PCB lawsuit. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, is a highly toxic chemical that the company manufactured decades ago." 
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