US: Investigate Fatal Boat Episode Dying to Leave Libya

Salem-News.com Eye on the World report.

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon E. Panetta

(HONG KONG) - A disabled boat with 72 human beings aboard departed Libya last March, with hopes of reaching a new land. Instead, what most aboard the boat found, was death. 63 of the seventy two people died by the time currents washed the vessel back onto the shores of Libya.

© 2011 Human Rights Watch

However the emergency calls went out and a number of U.S. and Canadian warships reportedly heard the call, yet failed to respond to rescue the imperiled souls, which is a tremendous dereliction of duty if it is true.

One of the key pieces of evidence is the report corroborated by numerous witnesses, that a military helicopter hovered over the disabled boat at one point, dropping biscuits and water down to them. It wasn't enough and the helpful crew never returned.

Our goal with Eye on the World is to illustrate and highlight politically oriented problems and tragedies that traditional media channels don't have time or interest in covering.

The world has its own set of laws that were agreed upon by the ruling nations in 1948, and many people are not aware of this simple fact. At the root of the concept of world citizenry itself, is the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an overriding and supreme law that ensures many essential human rights that governments today fail to observe. Also central to any hope of human success, is the understanding of the human hierarchy of needs, as defined by Abraham Maslow- more information on this at the conclusion of this entry. We must use the Internet as a tool of justice at every junction, and we need to assist all human beings, everywhere, and not allow cultural, racial or religious preferences as determiners.

In his letter to U.S. Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, Mr. William Gomes asks for detailed information about US ships patrolling the area where the disabled boat drifted for the period of March 26-April 10, 2011, including the names of the vessels and their individual patrol zones. He also inquired as to which US Navy ships were in the area in the period of March 26-April 10, 2011; when US Navy ships in the MSA received the alert issued by the Italian Coast Guard on March 27, 2011, what action, if any, taken by US Navy ships in the MSA upon receiving the alert, and whether any US Navy ship sighted the drifting boat at any point, and if any US helicopter came into contact with the Zodiac boat in question, whether any further action was taken.

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March 29, 2012 Leon E. Panetta Secretary of Defense United States Department of Defense 1400 Defense Pentagon Washington DC 20301-1400 Dear Secretary Panetta, I am writing to inquire further about internal investigations into the fatal boat episode of March-April 2011, in which a disabled boat filled with migrants fleeing Libya drifted for two weeks in the Mediterranean before landing back in Libya on April 10, 2011. Sixty-three out of the 72 people on board died. I have been informed that in a letter dated July 8, 2011, Human Rights Watch urged you to conduct a full investigation to ascertain any responsibility of any US Navy ships in the Mediterranean for this tragic loss of life. I also urge you to cooperate fully with an inquiry into the incident by the Migration Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). According to information gathered by the signatories to this letter and the Centre for Research Architecture (Forensic Architecture Project), the boat carrying 72 migrants left Tripoli in the night of the 26th to the 27th of March 2011. Towards the end of the day on March 27, 2011, the boat already faced difficulties and placed a satellite call to an Eritrean priest, Don Moses Zerai, based in Rome. Zerai says he called the Italian Coast Guard that day and the following. According to the Italian Coast Guard, it used GPS technology to locate the position of the satellite phone used to call Don Zerai, placing the boat, a 10-meter rubber Zodiac craft, at 16.52 GMT on March 27, 2011, at LAT 33˚58’.2” N, LONG 012˚55’.8” E in the Libyan searchand rescue area. The Italian Coast Guard sent out a distress signal immediately after indicating the location of the boat and asking all ships in the Sicily Channel to report any sighting; this alert was sent out every four hours for ten days.[i] The next day, March 28, 2011, the World Wide Navigational Warning Service (WWNWS) issued a Hydrolant Navigational Warning. This alert called on all ships to “keep a sharp lookout, assist if possible.” As of the morning of the March 28, 2011, the boat was left without fuel and drifted until it was pushed back to Libyan shores where it landed on April 10, 2011. Survivors have stated that a military helicopter hovered above the disabled boat on March 27, 2011, following their distress call, and threw down water and biscuits. They also say they sighted one warship probably between the 3rd and 4th of April 2011, and attempted to attract the vessels’ attention. I understand from a United States Department of Defense briefing with Vice Admiral Gortney on March 24, 2011, that 38 military ships were patrolling NATO’s Maritime Surveillance Area (MSA) or in its vicinity on that day.[ii] Of these, the following US Navy ships were in the MSA: USS Barry USS Ponce USS Kearsarge USNS Lewis and Clark 1 BN/2 MAR (-) The following US Navy ships were in the vicinity but outside the MSA: USNS R P Peary USNS Kanawha USS Mt. Whitney USS Stout I would be grateful for detailed information about US ships patrolling the area where the disabled boat drifted for the period of March 26-April 10, 2011, including the names of the vessels and their individual patrol zones. In particular we would appreciate the following information: Which US Navy ships, either from the lists above or others, were in the MSA in the period of March 26-April 10, 2011. The patrol sector for each US Navy ship in the period of March 26-April 10, 2011. When US Navy ships in the MSA received the alert issued by the Italian Coast Guard on March 27, 2011. When US Navy ships in the MSA received the WWNWS alert issued on March 28, 2011. The name and location of US Navy assets within 100 nm radius of the position of the Zodiac boat as specified in the Italian Coast Guard alert on March 27, 2011, and the WWNWS alert on March 28, 2011. What action, if any, taken by US Navy ships in the MSA upon receiving the alert. Whether any US Navy ship sighted the drifting boat at any point. Whether any US helicopter came into contact with the Zodiac boat in question, whether any further action was taken. I know that NATO warships in the Mediterranean provided assistance to boat migrants in some instances. Nonetheless, the shocking loss of life in the Mediterranean in 2011 – the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that at least 1500 people died attempting the crossing last year – demands concerted efforts to investigate as well as to prevent such tragedies in the future. I look forward to a response from your office to our questions, and to engaging in a constructive dialogue with you about these serious issues. Sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes William’s Desk www.williamgomes.org

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[i]Carlo Bonini, “Sessanta profughi alla deriva lasciati morire da navi Nato l’Alleanza replica : tutto falso″, La Repubblica, May 10, 2011, http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2011/05/10/sessanta-profughi-alla-deriva-lasciati-morire-da.html(accessed March 6, 2012).

[ii]United States Department of Defense New Briefing with Vice Admiral Gortney from the Pentagon on Operation Odyssey Dawn, March 24, 2011, http://www.defense.gov/news/d20110324pptslides.pdf(accessed March 6, 2012).

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

As children we are educated in right and wrong, we are told how to conduct ourselves; we learn both expectations and limitations, and from that point we go forth with these tools, and our individual personalities, and fail or succeed accordingly.

In school we quickly understand that without paper, there is no place to write. Once we have paper, a pen or pencil is required to move to the next point. There is a great analogy that exists between this simple concept of paper and pen, and what we know today as Maslow's hierarchy of needs- the theory in psychology proposed in Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation.

He demonstrated how without the correct necessities, a person can do little good for themselves, and has none to offer for others. However when people are housed and have clothing, heat, food, health and security, anything is possible. However if just one of these dynamics is removed from the mix, the chance for success can be adversely affected.

Wikipedia describes Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a pyramid consisting of five levels:

The lowest level is associated with physiological needs, while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to identity and purpose.

The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no longer be met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level.

For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will continue to value his work performance (esteem needs) and will likely return to work during periods of remission.

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Special thanks to William's Desk

williamgomes.org

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.