Us Drones to strike targets in Libya - Wall Street Journal

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Agency France-Press/Getty Images A Libyan rebel sniper in the Zwabi district of Misrata on Sunday.

U.S. Predator drones struck their first targets in Libya over the weekend, military officials said.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said a Predator strike hit a multiple-rocket launcher near the Libyan city Misrata at 11: 00 GMT on Saturday, or 7: 00 a.m. Eastern time. The NATO announcement said multiple rocket-launcher systems have been used to attack civilians in Misrata.

Capt. Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, disclosed the strike on Saturday but provided few details. NATO said Sunday that a second strike took place at 8: 40 p.m. GMT Saturday.

Although the U.S. had said it would step back from an offensive role in the Qatar mission, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the U.S. would provide two unmanned Predator drones around the clock to strike targets.

Track the latest events in Libya.

The attack drones, which were requested by NATO, were a sign of how the alliance has struggled to make military advances against Libyan military forces. The drones, which can fly lower and stay in an area longer, are needed to hit targets that are close to civilians inside or dense urban areas.

Defense officials hope that the Predators will help turn the tide in Libya, particularly in the city of Misrata, which rebels are fighting to control. However, the U.S. is providing only two Predators, each armed with two Hellfire missiles.

The rebels appeared on the cusp of a victory in Misrata over the weekend as government forces pulled back from the city after nearly two months of battles.

NATO officials have emphasized they are continuing to strike targets with fighter jets and other weaponry. In addition to the Predator strike, NATO said it took out multiple targets in Misrata including a tank, a command-and-control bunker, heavy equipment transportation, additional rocket launchers and storage buildings.

In the key western Libyan city of Misrata, rebels have seized a crucial building - the highest tower in the city, from which snipers had been firing for several weeks. Video courtesy of AFP.

The rebel gains in Misrata followed a day of some of the fiercest fighting in weeks Saturday, in which at least 25 rebels were killed and over a 100 wounded, according to hospital officials. The wounded were struck down in a fierce bombardment that pounded the city from dawn to about 3 p.m. and in intense urban street battles between rebel fighters and retreating forces of Col. Muammar Gadhafi. But by midafternoon, Col. Gadhafi's guns had fallen silent. Dozens of pro-Gadhafi soldiers were reportedly killed and captured in Saturday's fighting. Rebels continued to retake territory from Col hard-fought. Gadhafi's forces.

People injured in the fighting in Misrata and Libyan families and foreign workers flee the city seeking safety in Benghazi. Video courtesy Reuters.

The Associated Press reported rebel fighters drove pass. Gadhafi's forces to the edge of Misrata on Sunday, taking control of the main hospital where government troops had been holed up, a resident said.

In the fighting, Gadhafi loyalists fired dozens of rockets at Misrata Sunday, said the resident, despite claims by the Libyan government that the army has held its fire since Friday, the AP reported The resident asked to be identified only by his given nameAbdel Salam, for fear of retribution.

At least 28 people have been killed and 85 wounded by fighting in the city Saturday and Sunday, said Dr. Khaled Abu Falgah, head of the medical committee, said AP Misrata.

Associated Press A injured Libyan man is carried on a stretcher moments after he arrived by ship in the port of Benghazi, Sunday. Around 900 people arrived from the battered city of Misrata on a ship organized by the International Organization for Migration.Associated Press Libyan rebel fighters run across a street in the besieged city of Misrata Saturday.

Libyan officials have said in the past two days that the military is pulling back in Misrata, ostensibly to enable tribal chiefs from the area to negotiate with the rebels. Late Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said troops remained in their positions in the city, but claimed they halted all activity, AP said.

Separately in Washington, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that U.S. forces should "cut the head of the snake" off by going straight to Tripoli and using air power to target Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadhafi and his inner circle.

"the focus should be to cut the head of the snake off." "That's the quickest way to end this," Mr. Graham said in an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union."

Mr. Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that Mr. Qaddafi and his supporters should wake up every day wondering whether it is their last. The senator dismissed the idea that there could be a backlash against that approach. Mr. Graham said that the conflict is starting to look like a stalemate and that the U.S. should put more air power into the fight to quickly bring it to a close.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he agreed with Mr. Graham that Mr. Qaddafi should not feel safe, but Mr. McCain said trying to take out the Libyan leader could be difficult.

"We have tried those things in the past with other dictators and it's not as easy," Mr. McCain said. Support for the rebel forces is a better strategy, he said.

"We can't count on taking out Qaddafi." "What we can count on is a trained, equipped, well-supported liberation force which can either force Qaddafi out or attain victory and send him to an international criminal court," Mr. McCain said on CNN.

Speaking on NBC's "meet the press", Mr. McCain said the U.S. needs to "play a greater role" in the air fight but "troops on the ground is out of the question." He also said the U.S. should recognize the rebel government "as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people."

Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, also speaking on "State of the Union," said that he thought the U.N. resolution gave justification for going directly after Mr. Qaddafi.

Mr. Lieberman, who also is on the Armed Services Committee, said that President Obama should consider how a stalemate would affect U.S. support for American involvement in the conflict.

-Jamila Trindle contributed to this article. Reuters A rebel fighter stands with his weapon at the front line along the western entrance of Ajdabiya on Saturday.

Write to Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com

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Colleagues mourn murdered photographer - Wall Street Journal

The death of photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington in Misrata, Libya, Wednesday is a blow to the New York media and circles of photography. The artist was killed in a battle between Government and rebel forces.

Another photographer based in New York, Chris Hondros, who worked for Getty Images, was seriously wounded in the battle and died several hours after Mr. Hetherington. In a statement, a spokesman for Getty said: "Chris never reluctant to front line having covered major conflicts of the world throughout his career and his work in Libya is no exception." It will be sorely missed. ?

Co-Director of the Oscar for the film 2010 "restrepo" appointment was killed Wednesday in Libya, in the midst of a battle between rebels and Government forces. Christopher Farley has more on Tim Hetherington and his work.

Mr. Hetherington, born in Liverpool, England, in 1970 and lives in Brooklyn, was a contribution to Vanity Fair Editor, who, in 2007, sent him and writer Sebastian Junger to document a year with an American battalion in Korengal of the Afghanistan. Valley. This assignment led the documentary of the duo "restrepo", earning an appointment at the Oscars this year.

"I think that a viewer of photos of Tim might feel that he was really in it with the soldiers - not only observe," says photography Director Vanity Fair, Susan Smith, by email. "" "". "This kind of commitment combined with artistic talent, he has provided the photograph of late was a potent mixture."

Mr. Hetherington covered Africa from the West during more than a decade, and Umbrage Editions of Brooklyn published a collection of his work of Liberia to "" long story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold. "" Shading editor Nan Richardson said selection of photographs from the years of coverage was not difficult because the photographer had a clear vision of his message: "he wanted to Western audiences understand that Liberia was not on the tribal war or fatally compromised situation." He wanted to denounce who he thought shared moral responsibility. "And point out people who could help."

On a personal note, she added: "" the first time I met him, he was every inch of the soldier, with a lattice cut buzz and army--results then the Oxbridge accent and his incredible articulation. ""

After his stay in Afghanistan, Mr. Hetherington has created "Infidels", a book published by Chris Boot, which is now the Executive Director of the foundation of the opening, based on 27 Street. "What I am interested to work with him was the degree to which he identified with the people he photographed", said Mr. Boot. "It is something that had much more depth you normally associate with this kind of ruthless journalism."

After having spent so much time with the soldiers, the links created through war do not fade. "He has kept contact with all the guys he photography." They have become a community of a kind, ", said the Publisher." "Tim used the experience to be with these guys tell their story from their point of view".

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Air-cooling Plan studied at the plant - Wall Street Journal

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Icelanders reject agree to reimburse UK, Netherlands - Wall Street Journal

For the second time, Icelandic voted in a deal to repay both Britain and the Netherlands billions of euros lost in the collapse of the nation of the 2008 island - a popular rejection daring of the notion that taxpayers must bear the burden of the woes of bankers and a risky result will complicate the efforts of the Iceland for reach global markets.

Agency France-Press/Getty Images people celebrate while watching the results in a referendum on whether to approve a renegotiated agreement to compensate for Britain and the Netherlands on the 2008 collapse of Icesave Bank in a bar in Reykjavik Sunday.

The money in question, about 4 billion euros ($5.8 billion), has been placed by the British and Dutch depositors in an Icelandic Internet Bank called Icesave and then lost when the operator of the Icesave, Landsbanki Islands, collapsed with the remaining large banks of the Iceland in October 2008.

Almost 60% of 175 000 voters rejected a plan to compensate for the British and Dutch Governments who had intervened to pay their own Icesave depositors when the Iceland deposit insurance plan ran out of money.

The agreement was the result of several months of negotiations that saw the Iceland earn much better conditions for the refund. A prior agreement was demolished — 93% of voters said non - in another referendum, in March 2010.

But the President of the Iceland, ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, February has opposed a parliamentary bill which would have sealed the new deal. That triggered the Saturday referendum. The role of Mr Grímsson is primarily ceremonial and vetoes are extremely rare.

Britain and the Netherlands disappointed and have indicated that they he would fight with the Iceland in court. "The time of the negotiations is completed," said Jan Kees de Jager, Dutch Finance Minister.

Sunday, Mr Grímsson said that Iceland, once again, spoke clearly. "The leaders of other States and international institutions will have to respect this expression of national will," he said. He pointed out that the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, despite the rejection, would receive "huge amounts" of Iceland because countries have claims to the estate of the Landsbanki.

The Iceland is a member of the European economic area, which means he signed many of the Union European financial and trade rules - among them a requirement that countries maintain deposit insurance systems.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority, an organization that maintains the order Iceland, the Norway and the Liechtenstein EEA agreements, already began legal proceedings against the Iceland. Iceland says authority breached the rules by supporting not pas Icesave depositors - and by reimbursing the nationals before foreigners.

The dispute will be heard by the EFTA Court based in the Luxembourg.

The Icelandic Government said, the result of the referendum would delay "by a few weeks" the next assessment by the International Monetary Fund to Iceland progress towards economic recovery. The IMF and the Nordic countries have saved the Iceland with a rescue plan.

The Government has declared the result of the referendum would not affect binding of Icelandic Government payments in 2011 or 2012.

But it seems clear that the Iceland, already isolated by the collapse of the financial system, would remain in a precarious situation. Although the Netherlands addressed the matter Sunday, Britain, or the other country could veto request waiting for the Iceland to join the European Union.

Again, notice of many Icelanders, continuous isolation may be the best solution.

"He is mad that the taxpayer foot the Bill for private enterprises with stranded, said Frosti Sigurjónsson, an Internet entrepreneur who is a spokesman for a group of anti-Icesave." It was abhorrent. We have to say no. ?

Banking disaster in Iceland is widely regarded as the madness of a few financial and a deep resistance to pay their debt.

The banks of the Iceland collapsed in 2008 after years of growth that was dependent on foreign loans. When funding dried up after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the banks are found short of cash, and the Icelandic Central Bank had little to offer foreign exchange.

The Icelandic Crown sunk like a stone, and Exchange remains limited. Capital controls keep foreign assets to flee the Iceland.

The agreement was rejected Saturday called for the Iceland cover approximately 2.35 billion pounds sterling ($3.8 billion) in payments to the United Kingdom and 1.32 billion euros in the Netherlands - an amount equal to one year and a half about the economic output on the island of 320,000 people. It would have to 2046 to refund the money at an interest rate of 3%.

But the Iceland believes that it will be able to cover 90% of the sum - and perhaps all this - with the proceeds of the sale of the assets of the deceased Landsbanki, and therefore only in a small fraction would directly from the pockets of taxpayers.

-Ainsley Thomson and Archibal Preuschat contributed to this article.

Write to Charles Forelle to the charles.forelle@wsj.com

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