"Unless NATO does this, he will slaughter us all."
The people of Libya are not alone. Europe is going to talk them to death.
From The Telegraph, today:
“We want a no-fly zone and surgical strikes. No-one in Libya would object to that. We want NATO to take out Gaddafi’s bases,” said Doctor Suleiman al-Obeidi who came from a hospital in the northern town of Al-Bayda to help out.
“We are civilians. What can we do against heavy weapons? Against tanks, Grad rockets and warships? Give us tanks, give us planes and we will do it ourselves, we will defeat his machine. Unless NATO does this, he will slaughter us all.”
Also in The Telegraph, today:
Libya: G8 dismiss military intervention
World leaders have refused military intervention in Libya, leading to accusations that it is now too late to help the rebels against Muammar Gaddafi.
France and Britain failed to persuade other Group of Eight nations meeting in Paris to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, where pro-Gaddafi forces made further gains on Tuesday against rebel strongholds.
The French-led no-fly zone proposal was absent from the G8 foreign minister’s closing statement in Paris, following resistance from Russia, Germany and the US.
Reacting to G8 dithering, Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister said: “If we had used military force last week to neutralise some airstrips and the several dozen planes that they have, perhaps the reversal taking place to the detriment of the opposition wouldn’t have happened.” Mr Juppé added: “But that’s the past.”
“Gaddafi is scoring points. We have perhaps missed a chance to restore the balance.” There was, he said, nothing to stop Mr Gaddafi overrunning the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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Here are the links to the full reports:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8383137/Libya-Ajdabiya-hit-by-fresh-airstrikes.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8383630/Libya-G8-dismiss-military-intervention.html
What the hell can people do to make this stop, if their leaders don’t want to do anything? I despair.
Bombard their offices with messages telling what to do and where to put it.
The Libyan protesters and the ‘interim council’ can request intervention by foreign troops and not hardheadedly insist that they do not want ‘foreign troops on Libyan soil’.
If a serious invitation is extended to the US and EU, one can be assured that Britain, the US and France will lead the way.
Without an explicit invitation by the Libyans, all powers to be are stalemated and will blame China (UN) and Germany (EU) for the reluctance to intervene citing lack of unanimity and therefore illegal armed intervention..
As far as I could make out, the Libyans ARE asking for help. Or did I miss something?
The US had the wrong leader in power for two very different situations. Bush got them involved in a war they never should have entered. Now Obama is failing to get involved in a war that would have been completely justified. It literally makes me want to cry.
So now we need a Council to bring together the UN, the G8, the NATO, the EU, the Council of Ministers of the EU, the EU Parliament, the EU Commission, the French government, the British PrimeMinister, Obama, Berlusconi, John Dalli and, of course, the Labour Party, to decide the fate of Libya, and when exactly to impose a no-fly zone.
Give me Ronald Reagun any time. He would have ended the conflict before it started. And the world would be relieved and applauding.
You may recall that Ronald Raygun already tried once but was foiled by KMB.
It’s very disheartening, especially as NATO, for one, has a precedent of doing exactly what the Libyan people want when they bombed Yugoslavia to stop them doing what Gaddafi is doing right now!
Serbia had Russia’s backing then, Nato still intervened.
What’s stopping them now?
One word (two actually) – Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has its own rebellion to deal with. Which is why the US is treading very carefully indeed. If it helps the rebels in Libya it would be a huge precedent for the Shia in Saudi Arabia, who’ve been trying to topple the regime for the last five decades at least.
And without the US, NATO cannot act.
As for the Europeans, I’m not sure our public has actually understood what “intervention” means.
Only one word – SHAME!
Either France or the UK could easily take out Gaddafi on their own, in a few days. It seems however that they are looking for political ‘approval’ from their allies and I can imagine why: military action can get messy and if it results in, for example, civilian casualties, they will want to have their back covered.
Could easily take out Gaddafi on their own? How?
Walk up to his door, ring the bell and offer him a can of poisoned ice tea?
It may have escaped your notice that the Libyan army is one of the better equipped armies. The elite troops haven’t defected because they are loyal to Gaddafi.
Loyal and elite. Get it?
The Libyan army is badly trained and poorly maintained and not adequately equipped.
You’re thinking of Gaddafi’s personal guard.
By taking out Gaddafi I meant taking out his air force and his heavy weapons, not him personally.
Reagan could easily have taken out Gaddafi when he tried many years ago. The only reason that operation failed is because they didn’t realise that our dear Prime Minister of that time would warn Gaddafi. That was a critical misjudgment.
At the time the USAF had the option of using the brand new (and yet unknown to the world) F-117 which would not have been detected by our ATC radar (and neither any other). They had in fact prepared two missions both ready to launch, one with the F117s and one with the more conventional F111. At the last minute they decided not to use the F117 stealth planes to avoid the risk of compromising this as yet top secret plane.
The thinking was that the older F111s would still be able to dodge Libyan radar long enough to surprise them. What they didn’t factor in was the advance warning from Malta. If they had had even the least suspicion of thath they would have risked the F117s and today we would not be talking about Gaddafi.
They can do even better today with the B2 and F22. The only limitations today are political, not military or technical.
To operate a bare-minimum no-fly zone, given that Italy has refused to become involved and Malta is, ahem, neutral, France and the UK would have to deploy aircraft carriers. The British HMS Illustrious can only support helicopters.
The Ark Royal has been scrapped. The Charles de Gaulle, the only French carrier, can support a limited and insufficient number of Harriers and Super Etendards. The Spanish have one small carrier and they are keeping away for fear it might get slightly scratched.
Germany has nada – niente – rien – xejn.
On the other hand, the USA deploys (take a deep breath) the Enterprise, Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Nimitz, Carl Vinson, Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Stennis, George HW Bush and Harry Truman. The Kitty Hawk is mothballed but functional. Each American carrier is effectively larger than the French, Spanish and Italian carriers put together.
Obama could wipe out the Libyan forces in the time it takes him to play a round of golf. The golf will happen. And the carriers will sleep.
if the USA deploys just two or three of these ships,you mention, wouldn’t we have all those ,don’t know what to call them, shouting and protesting to stop ,as the odds are not fairly balanced,and the “poor Libyan” military forces are outnumbered.I am afraid it is now too late, they should have given them the arms and support they needed from day one, and the Libyan people would have done the job themselves.All we can now do is watch the masacre and let the leaders of ,what we call free nations, live with their blood stained, conscience.,and may Gid forgive them.
http://www.moroccoboard.com/viewpoint/68-hassan-massiki/5147-algerias-pilots-bomb-targets-in-libya-rebel-leader-said