They just don't get it...

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

It turns out that a British diplomat turned up at the border and asked to be taken to rebel commanders in Libya. he had with him a detail from the SAS, a crack British Special Forces outfit, similar to the American Delta Force, only with stiffer upper lips and no chewing gum to hand out.

Anyways, the Libyan commanders didn't ask for, and didn't want any forign troops involved in what they see as 'their' struggle against Gaddaffi. So they captured the SAS guys and threw them into the brig, only releasing them unharmed once they had got the british diplomat out of their country.

http://news.antiwar.com/2011/03/05/libyan-rebels-capture-british-sas-unit/

So, there you have it. The Libyans are asking for a UN backed intervention in their struggle.
They want the UN , not the UK or the USA to send in any ground troops.

Seeing as if the rebels win, they are going to have to go to their own people and say that' we are not the sellouts to Western Powers like Gaddaffi was ( remember that the jets and tanks he is currently using to murder his own people were supplied by the same people who want to start an invasion) - well , i think it is only fair that they should be the ones who set the terms on how Gaddaffi is otten rid of. Ok, he has to go, nd his own people are the ones to take him down.

Ii don't see the military dictators and undemocratic despots who rule Arab League countries being very enthusiastic about establishing a bit more democracy in the world , somehow - esp. in a place like Libya.

And that leaves the UN. So, what is the UN for? UK/USA forces have basically been acting like the military wing of their countries corporate interests of late. i don't blame the Libyans for telling the SAS that they were unwelcome.

I do think that the Libyans have every right to appeal to the international community, via the UN , which pledges itself to uphold human rights , to which they belong , to give them a hand by way of enforcing a no fly zone and supporting the Libyan Ground forces with airstrikes on Gaddaffis mercenaries, together with his tanks and artillery.

I am suprised that the UK Government didn't get it that the age of gunboat diplomacy is over, but what else can we expect of ex public schoolboys like 'Call Me Dave'? Cameron and his cronies in the British foriegn office 'just don't get it' - but I hope that someone out there in the wider world does, and does what the rebels are begging the international community to give them without delay.

But if you disagree with the idea of airstrikes, and the Libyans are not going to co operate with any foriegn troops that they regard as 'invaders', then what role or position do we want the UN to adopt here? It has been said in this community that ' this is not what the UN is for - well, ok, what should it be doing instead?

Comments

[dwer.livejournal.com]

just playing devil's advocate, but at what point can a country start to rehabilitate? Fine, US foreign policy has been spotty at best in the past, but Obama is a worldly kind of guy, is it within the realm of possibility that he's joined the UN coalition because he really does think that it can effect the outcome of the civil war to produce democracy?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Given his deafening silence to what's happening over in Bahrain and his evident lack of any plans whatsoever for the other revolutions....it is a debatable assertion.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

The Bahrain thing really bothers me. The silence is obviously because of Saudi Arabia. The other ones, I don't worry as much, they've mostly been completed by the people. I wouldn't mind seeing something said about Yemen.

But the biggest issue really is that we got nothing left. 400 marines, some bombers and a bunch of cruise missiles. The US won't be occupying anything in Libya any time soon.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately we make the mistake of thinking we can do this kind of limited warfare. It never works with missiles and planes and helicopters, you *always* need boots on the ground, and then you need not 1,000 troops but 100,000, and then you need 1,000,000.....

I'd love to see Yemen get a mention or two, not to mention follow ups on Egypt and Tunisia. It's been a very bizarre March in a lot of ways...

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe the Brits and the French will handle the boots on the ground part of it.

bizarre doesn't even begin to describe it.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Sure, what could possibly go wrong there? O.X

Yeah, it's like March Madness ate some Magic Mushrooms..... X.X

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

From what I am hearing on Sunday morning , as I write, the ' boots on the ground will be Libyan , and *Not* UK/US.

"Full measures, short of military occupation" are worded as the resolution . Arm the rebels, airstrikes on Gaddaffian positions, no fly zones - I think it clear that the Coalition is playing by the rules the rebels want.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

And we were just "advisors" to General Diem, and there was no possible means for that to turn into a real war.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

It bothers me too. the point is that the States may b in no shape to help - but europe? we ought to be doing something instead of just hoping that Uncle sam will fix things for us.