Posted on 03/01/2011 10:43:56 AM PST by gandalftb
David Cameron threatened Colonel Gaddafi with military action last night, promising a no-fly zone and arms shipments to his enemies.
In a dramatic move that could define his premiership, the Prime Minister even suggested he could send British troops into Libya as a peacekeeping force to stop Gaddafi’s henchmen massacring democracy campaigners.
At a National Security Council meeting yesterday morning, he ordered military chiefs to draw up plans for the no-fly zone. If Gaddafi turned his air force on the rebels, RAF warplanes would be able to intervene.
In another hard-hitting move, the Pentagon started moving warships in preparation to police a no-fly zone and world leaders imposed a raft of diplomatic and financial sanctions.
‘We must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people,’ he told MPs. ‘In that context I have asked the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff to work with our allies on plans for a military no-fly zone. My message to Colonel Gaddafi is simple: go now. We do not in any way rule out the use of military assets.' Asked whether Britain could supply arms to the Libyan opposition, Mr Cameron told MPs: ‘It is certainly something we should be considering.
Britain signed an arms embargo at the weekend preventing further sales of weapons to Libya. But Mr Cameron could justify sending weapons to the rebels using a loophole in the embargo allowing ‘humanitarian’ weapons drops.
France said it would fly aid to the opposition-controlled eastern half of the country.
Britain could deploy up to 59 Eurofighter Typhoons from RAF Coningsby and RAF Leuchars in Scotland. They are expected to fly from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where British ‘eye in the sky’ AWACS aircraft are already stationed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Ok, so where is the leader of the free world???
He’s not walking the picket lines in Wisconsin!
He’s not telling Qaddafi to leave ... now!
He’s not looking for ways to cut the budget!
Must be golf day.
there is no arrest warrant out for Qadaffi over PanAm 103
There is an arrest warrant out against the so-called “president” of Sudan for being a genocidal thug
oh, wait... Sudan? Too bad all their oil is way far in the south. too much trouble to go to war to stop genocide over that.... Paging George Clooney
Yep, this looks like a British lead operation, the US is being pulled into this by the nose.
this could be why France is yelling, No UN mandate, No Go.
With respect, that is what we do want. Any involvement to guide this thing will taint any democratic tendencies and legitimize the Islamists. The Libyans need to do this themselves, and they will.
That said, should the Brits request it we'd be honor-bound to help them. I doubt if 0bama feels that way but I do.
Overthrowing a nation is dangerous and an act of war.
Unfortunately if international intervention is needed, the British have the will-power to intervene militarily but have gutted their armed forces. The U.S. has the armed forces, but Obama lacks the will-power.
I don’t care for the UN one bit. I think its an affront simply to go to them for anything.
That being said Libya’s dictator did attack the United states and great Britain 22+ years ago with a terrorist attack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
Gaddafi murdered 190 of our people, destroyed a British town, and murdered 43 of their subjects.
We are perfectly justified to take this uprising as an opportunity to get rid of this Gaddafi.
So is attacking a nation, Gaddafi has already drawn first blood against both the United States and the United Kingdom 22 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
We are perfectly justified to take this opportunity help the rebels take down this tyrant. He is a criminal to our people as well.
During which Mussolini killed 20% of the entire population.
Just because we "have an opportunity" doesn't mean we should attack a sovereign nation.
Sounds like it's going to be difficult to stop people from killing people without killing them.
If we take the sides of the rebels as we should, we will hopefully have a say in how this North African country takes shape after this is over.
LOL Naive beyond belief. The rebels are by the very fact the ones who want increased “freedom” to set up an islamic type government that is far more hostile to Israel.
And us. The end result is going to be very very bad and it’s not worth one drop of American blood.
Your post brought a smile to my face. ;)
Cause Rebels are not activity rebelling against North Korea with a good chance over overthrowing its leadership. Victory is not so comparatively cheap.
If we can drop a few bombs to aid the rebels why not?
Call me optimistic, but this could be a ‘Falklands’ moment, when Britain suddenly realised in needed to retain a fixed-wing carrier force (I know we are temporarily between carriers at the moment, but the plan is to have them again).
Camoron may well learn the lesson that slashing the defence budget in an increasingly unstable and volatile world is unwise, and will cause difficulties like this if they are allowed to stand.
Hopefully anyway...
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