The Arab League steals NATO's thunder
While the UN and NATO countries dither about imposing a no-fly zone over Libya – something which the rebel forces have themselves asked for repeatedly – the Arab League has announced that it is prepared to do this itself, possibly in cooperation with the African Union.
This is a surprising development (to me, at least) and it certainly puts a rocket under the speculation of all those who claim that the imposition of any such no-fly zone will cause further problems with other Arab states. Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, said in a statement: “The Arab League will not stand with its hands tied while the blood of the brotherly Libyan people is spilt.”
Those who favour a no-fly zone so far include Britain and the United States. Britain says it is prepared to go ahead, but requires the support of allies. UN backing, the British government says, is not a requirement.
The Arab League was propelled into the no-fly zone proposal by Muammar Gaddafi’s three-hour speech this morning, in which he warned that if there is military invasion by European or American forces, thousands of Libyans would die. And not at their hands, but at his.
“We will never accept it,” he said. “We will start a war and thousands and thousands of Libyans will die if the United States or NATO enters Libya…..We are ready to hand out weapons to a million, or two million or three million, and another Vietnam will begin. It doesn’t matter to us. We no longer care about anything.”
That’s it. He no longer cares about anything. He’s going down, and he’s taking Libya with him.
28 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
U imbaghad jigu erba injuranti grassi milli ghad ghandna Malta u jghidulekk “Ahna inzommu mieghu ghax kien jaghtina c-children’s allowance.
Daphne, has it occurred to you that what you call “dithering” and “stealing of thunder” might be deliberate strategy?
Besides, a no-fly zone would stop the revolution in its tracks, as both sides dig in and consolidate.
That’s exactly what we don’t need. We need a drive into Tripoli, in which the only use for airpower would be to provide ground support.
Now if we’re ready to have NATO bombing the shit out of Libyan troops, then that’s one thing. But we don’t.
This is one war which can be won cleanly, with rifles on the ground. The insurgents need weapons and ammunition (why do you think Libyan planes bombed the weapons dump this morning, not the insurgents?).
They seem to be pretty organised, and the geography of the place is as simple as it gets. This is no Afghanistan.
We just need to let them know that we’ll be behind them all the way. Hence the US carriers and Cameron prancing about talking about no-fly zones out of Cyprus (using what planes?).
Now they’ve got the Arab League on their side, so there’s no excuses. Some of them are going to have to die, but it’ll be worth it.
HP,
Gaddafi had enough equipment and supplies in depots all over Libya to supply 3-4 divisions with modern equipment so I do not think the rebels need ammo.
What I think they need is a coherent command structure, fuel and logistical support which they will need as by the looks of it they do not have air superiority and the roads are limited and can easily be blocked by Gaddafi’s air force.
Regarding equipment I have seen pictures of T-72M1 in the hands of rebels so they probably had army units with A class equipment which have defected.
I still think a no-fly zone which is effective will create more problems than it solves as the IADS system in the Tripoli area is quite a modern one and the only way to enforce it would be to destroy it and the casualties will be horrific – think about Baghdad.
NATO does not have the political backbone to attack these sites without American leadership.
Have to disagree with you on the “pretty organised” bit Baxxter.
One major reason why Gaddafi has stayed in power for 42 years is the inability of his opponents to organise themselves into a decent opposition, a sort of government-in-waiting.
Organisation is just not one of the better traits of the Libyan people I’m sorry to say, whether in war or in peace.
Even now, organisation, and equally important leadership, is lacking on the opposition side. No Ho Chi Minh, no Spartacus here.
I’ll reply to both.
Re. ammo and supplies: if they want a quick assault on Tripoli, the insurgents are going to have to use large amounts of ammo very quickly. If not, it’ll just turn into another Afghanistan, with one succesful IED per week, and a few pot shots every afternoon.
Re. organisation: news footage shows the insurgents handing out wages for newly-rectruited volunteers, which were out on parade and all. The backbone of the insurgent army seems to be the defectors from the Libyan army, and they’re trying to organise it along proper military lines (i.e. not a Taliban-type thing).
As I said, the geography of Libya simplifies things IMMENSELY. You have a long seaboard, so your right flank is protected, unless Gaddafi tries an amphibious landing, which is beyond his means.
And the rebels really only have to take Tripoli, and the war would be won. No mountains for the enemy to disperse to. Just a few big cities, with Enemy No. 1 staying put in the capital. This could be among the easiest insurgency ever. A straight, linear drive into the capital along the coastroad.
Wow…HP, inti mohli hawn. Ghax ma tmurx sal-Pentagon forsi jtuk job. Jaqaw int minn dawk li tghaddi l-gurnata kollha tilghab Assasin’s Creed, jew?
Baxxter is spot on. Gaddafi’s worries are the ammo stores which are not all in Tripoli, but scattered all over, thus the attacks to blow them up.
The insurgents need weapons ASAP, so that they can attack the capital and finish the job themselves. They might not have the experience, but they have something more important, ‘determination’.
You make cogent arguments Baxxter, however I see this more as a sly political move. We are seeing a refreshing change in the Arab world and this nascent identity has to prop itself up.
If the ‘west’ got itself mixed in so soon, the naysayers will have fuel for their arguments that this ‘people’s uprising’ was in fact orchestrated by the west.
Empowering regional organisations to do their job is the best thing. After all, even in the case of humanitarian aid in case of disaster, the new doctrine is to use the facilities and resources in the region, instead of pumping in foreign aid thus destroying whatever’s left of the local industry.
From what’s happening in Wisconsin, I have to say that Obama is one sly fox … or I’m misreading the tea leaves again.
Really surprising! But isn’t that how it should be?
I’m sure most people would agree that the MENA region would be a lot less hostile to the west if we were not in the region to begin with.
Apart from that, how many more conflicts can the United States afford to lose? As for the U.K, they can’t even seem to be able to afford a home guard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/8347897/British-forces-would-struggle-to-mount-small-military-intervention-claim-officers.html
Bloody marvellous, we’ve got World War III erupting round the corner, and just see what our future prime minister spends his time doing.
=================
Maltastar : News
Joseph Muscat visits Carnival floats
02 March 2011 19:21
Today, Dr Joseph Muscat visited a number of Carnival Float committee’s who showed him around the workshops and gave him a sneak preview of a few carnival floats.
What an effin’ joke this sorry excuse for a man is.
What else would expect? He’s a clown. A little stupid clown.
A clown with a court jester on either side, one named ‘Angel’ and the other Joey.
I would have expected him to be at his office waiting for a phone call from the Prime Minister seeking to consult with him regarding the next move Malta should take with respect to the Libyan crisis.
I guess Dr. Gonzi has to go it alone since inspecting the Carnival floats was more important business for Joe.
I wonder whether disarming the Mirage fighters was done on Joseph’s advice.
What a jerk!
It appears that the Carnival Float Committee is ‘consulting’ Joseph Muscat too.
Ah, so that’s what they meant when they said they’re too busy to attend solidarity demonstrations.
There’s another one this afternoon in Valletta at 2pm. Perhaps Joseph could pop by in between inspecting carnival floats.
He always chooses venues where he feels at home the most. That’s if he’s not nursing some hairline fracture for two solid months. What an alternative in waiting.
Somebody has to inspect those damn floats and there is no one better for the job than the king of Carnival himself.
Unless he is changing diapers!
“We are taking no option off the table so long as the Libyan government continues to turn its guns on its own people,” she said.
Clinton said she feared the prospect of Libya becoming infested with al-Qaida or affiliated terrorist groups on the scale of Somalia, the Horn of Africa country where the al-Shabab terrorist organization has gained a foothold.
“One of our biggest concerns is Libya descending into chaos and becoming a giant Somalia,” Clinton said. “It is right now not something that we see in the offing, but many of the al-Qaida activists in Afghanistan and later in Iraq came from Libya and came from eastern Libya, which is now the so-called free area.”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/02/realistic-options-ousting-muammar-al-qaddafi-look-limited/
Doesn’t this type of oscillation worry you?
It seems that the USA would rather have the “devil” they know rather than risking the possibility of giving a foothold to al-Qaida!
And another worrying factor could be that with the billions and billions of dollars that the Gaddafis have usurped from their nation, could easily use it to entice some of the “weak” leaders of the western world, for you know what.
We all know that politics is a dirty game and my hunch is that the Gaddafis are there to stay; unfortunately.
Wouldn’t it be better, politically, if the no-fly zone is imposed by the Arab League, with NATO providing logistical support and humanitarian aid?
The Arabs can’t complain about meddling European colonialists, then.
They will also need help from the US or NATO to take out the anti aircraft systems.
Gaddafi has a considerable amount of advanced Russian anti aircraft systems and no Arab nation has the equipment or expertise necessary to neutralise them without suffering heavy losses in the process.
The problem is of course that it means Western forces will need to attack ground targets (rather than just Gaddafi’s aircraft) which means that many will (incorrectly) interpret it as an invasion of Libya.
The other thing is that such operations are diffcult and no matter how much care is exercised accidents will happen and some people who do not deservee to will die.
Nevertheless I do believe that the alternative (that is non intervention by the West) is far worse.
Most welcome news! An Arabic solution is preferable to a UN or NATO imposed no-fly zone and Britain and the US should jump at this opportunity and help the Arab League and the African Union and supply them with arms in order to eliminate Gaddafi.
Gaddafi said that he does not care how he can retain power even at the expense of thousands of Libyan lives, so why would the rest of the world care about his and his sons’?
The greatest enemy of the anti-Gaddafi movement is time – the more they dilly-dally, the stronger Gaddafi gets assisted by the importation of mercenaries from wherever he can get them.
This is going to linger on for some time. Many businessmen are hurting financially. Some will be ruined if this civil war does not end soon.
Desperate men who stand to lose everything and become poor tend to take drastic action. They have an uncomplicated solution and no-fly zone is not it.
By next week, the world should have a clearer picture.
Is this a joke? This piece of news has no value in my opinion. Look at the list of state members of the Arab League. Most of them cannot even handle their own problems let alone those of others.
It would have value if they commissioned the US to do the job for them.
We could lend them a few of our kaċċaturi. They do a pretty good job turning Malta into a no-fly zone during the hunting season (i.e. all year round).
Libya has always been a high risk zone commercially.
Rating agencies say it and large banks support the risk assessment. They do not finance businesses that depend on the Libyan market.
It is not wise of businessmen to have their sales focused on high risk countries. A healthy business must have a good spread in its operations.
I agree with Macduff – if the no-fly zone is imposed by the Arab League, with NATO providing logistical support and humanitarian aid, then Gaddafi would have no excuse to harshen his stand on the rebels and saying that this is because of European and US military intervention.
Why is the Arab League not imposing the NO FLY ZONE? Does it have any interest in not doing anything to help the Libyan people’s fight for democracy?
On the first notion of NATO considering their imposing a NO FLY ZONE on Libya, the Arab League rushed to propose that this should be done by the League itself, possibly together with the (disorganized) African Union.
Since then days are passing by and in the meantime the civilian anti-Gaddafi side is systematically taking a beating and counting its losses in human lives. Could it be that the Arab League is deliberately aiming at allowing Gaddafi get the upper hand. Is it really the Libyan people that are in the League’s interests ? Or after all could it be the Libyan Oil, which back under Gaffafi rule will undoubtly be used as a strong and powerful merciless blackmailing tool against Europe?