After devastating Libya and partaking in the murder of an estimated 100,000 Libyan men, women and children, RAF pilots return home to their families in the UK. In a deeply obscene news update, the Daily Mail is literally using 'puppy dog’ imagery to cynically whitewash the murderous war crimes that these British pilots have committed.

The article of November 1st, titled: 'Overjoyed spaniel welcomes home her master as Libya Tornado crews return', contains heartwarming photos of an RAF pilot’s spaniel dog⁽¹⁾ being reunited with her master. The "touching scenes" include another RAF pilot’s three year-old son "looking on proudly", dressed in his miniature RAF uniform.

In the report, RAF Wing Commander Andy Turk repeats the 'no boots’ lie, "Because there were no British troops, it was very important that the RAF maintained our intelligence and surveillance". This is one of the most notorious myths of the Libya war; not mentioned in the piece is the well-known fact that British SAS troops have been on the ground⁽²⁾ in Libya, leading the ground war ever since February.⁽³⁾

What is perhaps even more sickening than this grotesque display of 'puppy dog’ jingoism is the comments posted by Daily Mail readers. Comments included "Fantastic job done again guys and lovely pictures. Welcome home and well done," and "My son worked round the clock at RAF Lossiemouth to keep those GR4 Tornadoes flying to Lybia, via Italy. Proud of you, son". One reader even felt the need to voice how uplifting the story was: "Best story I’ve read all week. All the pics are great but the spaniel’s unbridled joy at seeing her loved one return is especially uplifting".

This contemptuous piece of 'journalism’ serves as a reminder of how emotion and opinion has been manipulated over the Libya war. Here, the utter criminality of NATO’s genocidal onslaught has been whitewashed by the heartwarming imagery of a pining puppy dog. These are heights of manipulation that this writer previously thought unreachable, even by the most cynically depraved minds.

One has to wonder how the British public would react if the fruits of these pilots’ labours were published instead of this sentimental hogwash.

What would the world think if NATO’s deliberate terror-bombing of the Libyan people’s national water supply⁽⁴⁾ was common knowledge?

Perhaps the British people should know about the RAF raid launched on Zlitan in August,⁽⁵⁾ which killed 85 civilians including children. This raid was carried out by No. 9 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Marham. This is the very same squadron that is featured returning home, to RAF Marham, in The Daily Mail’s 'puppy dog’ piece. The pilots pictured are very likely directly responsible for the deaths of those innocents.

Perhaps the British media could print the story of Libyan man Khaled K. El-Hamedi,⁽⁶⁾ whose entire family was murdered by NATO including his pregnant wife Sala, his 3 year-old son Khweldi, his 4 year-old daughter Khalida, and his son Salam who was 1 year old.

Maybe the people of the UK and the world should know that NATO has practically levelled Sirte to the ground. Through the employment of 'Fallujah tactics’⁽⁷⁾ and the indiscriminate bombing and firing this involves, the city has been terrorised and brutalised in unimaginable proportions.

The fruits of NATO’s labours in Sirte and wider Libya are at once horrifying, nightmarish, and heartbreaking. In Sirte, medical staff have been overwhelmed as the bodies of innocent civilians including young children⁽⁸⁾ have poured into Ibn Sina Hospital.

How would Daily Mail readers react to seeing the following young girls in the same hospital in Sirte, languishing in unimaginable pain and terror after being maimed in a NATO bombing raid? One of the young children has had her lower jaw ripped away, while the girl next to her lays still, catatonic, after having her legs mangled by NATO ordnance.

Fantastic job, guys. Welcome home and well done.

Needless to say, it is easy to imagine precisely how the British public would react if presented with the realities of the Libya war. British citizens would oppose the war with unmitigated disgust and outrage, instead of the tacit support that has characterised mainstream opinion – manipulated by the sort of poisonous propaganda peddled by the likes of The Daily Mail.

Notes

(1) 'UK pilots return to RAF base after seven-month deployment to Libya’ – The Daily Mail, November 1, 2011.
(2) 'Libya: full-scale US invasion planned for October; special forces on ground since February’ by Martin Iqbal.
(3) 'NATO paves the way for civil war & foreign occupation as Western oil giants pounce on Libya’ by Martin Iqbal.
(4) 'Pure Evil: NATO Attacked Libyan Water Supply Pipeline and the Factory that Makes Replacement Pipes’ by Scott Creighton.
(5) 'Bombing of Zlitan by the RAF’ – Human Rights Investigations, August 21, 2011.
(6) 'Testimony of a Libyan man who has filed a lawsuit against NATO for killing his family’ – Eccleza.net, November 5, 2011.
(7) 'NATO & NTC militia employ 'Fallujah’ tactics in Sirte; critical humanitarian catastrophe unfolding as civilians are openly targeted’ by Martin Iqbal.
(8) 'Ibn Sina Hospital, Sirte: doctor speaks, overwhelmed, over corpses of children killed by NATO’ – empirestrikesblack.com, September 27, 2011.