French plane fires first shot in Libya intervention

Yahoo ^ | 3/19/11 | Mohammed Abbas - Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – The French air force destroyed Libyan tanks and armored vehicles on Saturday, the first shots fired in a U.N.-mandated military intervention to protect civilians from attacks by Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

A French defense ministry official said "a number of tanks and armored vehicles" were destroyed in the region of Benghazi, with initial action focusing on stopping Gaddafi's forces from advancing on the rebels' eastern stronghold.

Gaddafi's troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi on Saturday after a unilateral ceasefire declared by his government failed to materialize, prompting leaders meeting in Paris on Saturday to announce the start of military intervention.

"Those taking part agreed to put in place all necessary means, especially military, to enforce the decisions of the United Nations Security Council," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting Western and Arab leaders.

Sarkozy said an operation supported by France, Britain, the United States and Canada, and backed by Arab nations, would continue unless the Libyan leader ceased fire.

"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."

Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite their current insistence they have no plans to send ground troops to Libya.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.

"It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country."

[TigersEye]

I don't think that plane was shot down by the French.

“Initial reports indicate the Libyan leader Gaddafi has violated UN resolution 1973, which was passed on Thursday night. However, our reporter says he was at the hospital mortuary when the body of the jet pilot was brought in. He was told that the pilot was one of the Libyan rebels. Later reports confirm the plane belonged to the rebels and was shot down by Colonel Gaddafi’s forces. (Sources: twitter, BBC, The Guardian).”

http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/heavy-shelling-benghazi

Plane Shot Down Over Rebel-Held City on Libya First report about it.

“Initial reports indicate the Libyan leader Gaddafi has violated UN resolution 1973, which was passed on Thursday night. However, our reporter says he was at the hospital mortuary when the body of the jet pilot was brought in. He was told that the pilot was one of the Libyan rebels. Later reports confirm the plane belonged to the rebels and was shot down by Colonel Gaddafi’s forces. (Sources: twitter, BBC, The Guardian).”

http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/heavy-shelling-benghazi

[353FMG]

Is it an aspirine factory again or is it Tylenol this time?

After they have destroyed all capability of Libya to defend itself in the future, who will take of it?

France could’ve taken care of Libya, the 110 cruise missiles is plainly overkill on the US part. I guess that this is one way to find out if your weapons work the way the were designed.

[maddog55]

The french fighting.. there’s an oxymoron.

[FlyingEagle]

European heaven: British fight the wars, French do the cooking, Italians do the lovin, Germans do the organizing.

European hell: British do the cooking, French do the fighting, Italians do the organizing, Germans do the loving.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Libya is in military terms, a pissant weak little country, and fighting Gaddafi’s forces won’t be that much of a challenge. NK on the other hand, is a nuclear armed nation with an army of a size that probably matches or exceeds the size of Libya’s entire population.

Even noble actions and intentions must be tempered with pragmatism...

[shekkian]

It’s a Quagmire!!!!

Giggity

[353FMG]

I was trying to be facetious — it was all tongue-in-cheek.

What pragmatism are you talking about? This whole Libyan action is so hypocritical. Does it really need for superpowers and the Arab League to jump on this backward nation with both feet?

How is little Libya going to defend itself in the future if all its military capabilities are destroyed? Let the Arab League do the bombing (if they can).

What will the alternative be in the future? If Daffy is replaced by a bigger a-hole, are we going to jump on it again?

[tsowellfan]

Al Qaeda is loving it

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Pragmatism in the sense that we can take out Libya with considerably less risk than would be the case if we were trying to take out the Norks.
Vile as the Nork regime is, it just ain’t worth the risk of us watching mushroom clouds rising above one of our major cities if we started making a concerted effort to remove the Kim clan from power...