UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council approved a measure on Thursday authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from harm at the hands of forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.Read the rest here.
The measure allows not only a no-fly zone but effectively any measures short of a ground invasion to halt attacks that might result in civilian fatalities. It comes as Colonel Qaddafi warned residents of Benghazi, Libya, the rebel capital, that an attack was imminent and promised lenient treatment for those who offered no resistance.
“We are coming tonight,” Colonel Qaddafi said. “You will come out from inside. Prepare yourselves from tonight. We will find you in your closets.”
Speaking on a call-in radio show, he promised amnesty for those “who throw their weapons away” but “no mercy or compassion” for those who fight. Explosions were heard in Benghazi early on Friday, unnerving residents there, Agence-France Presse reported.
The United States, originally leery of any military involvement in Libya, became a strong proponent of the resolution, particularly after the Arab League approved a no-fly zone, something that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called a “game changer”
With the recent advances made by pro-Qaddafi forces in the east, there was a growing consensus in the Obama administration that imposing a no-fly zone by itself would no longer make much of a difference and that there was a need for more aggressive airstrikes that would make targets of Colonel Qaddafi’s tanks and heavy artillery — an option sometimes referred to as a no-drive zone. The United States or its allies might also send military personnel to advise and train the rebels, an official said.
In the most strident verbal attack on Colonel Qaddafi to date by an American official, Mrs. Clinton said Thursday that the Western powers had little choice but to provide critical military backing for the rebels. “We want to support the opposition who are standing against the dictator,” she told an applauding audience in Tunisia on Thursday. “This is a man who has no conscience and will threaten anyone in his way.”
She added that Colonel Qaddafi would do “terrible things” to Libya and its neighbors. “It’s just in his nature. There are some creatures that are like that.”
Great, another war. You would think two were enough. Someone explain to me exactly how this is any of our business.
>Someone explain to me exactly how any of this is any of our business.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't, but it would be funny if the UN OK's a no-fly zone and the US had nothing to do with it (that's not the case, but still).
Our leaders are crazed ideologues. They won't be happy until they've led us into another world war.
ReplyDeleteThese battles we are picking will eventually be fought over here. Our troops need to start refusing to fight.
America is always in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. We're criticized for intervening in Somalia, and criticized for not intervening in Rwanda; criticized for intervening in Iraq, and criticized for not intervening in the Sudan. America can't win for losing.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I lean non-interventionist, but I recognize that we'll have done the "wrong thing" either way.
More accurately, I'd say it's "damned if you do, criticized if you don't." I'm fine with the latter. The rest of the world can indulge in its gotterdammerung without us.
ReplyDeleteBut a growing and overlooked problem is that we keep importing the rest of the world here. So we end up invading the world BECAUSE we invited the world.
The endgame is the world's intertribal disputes will start being fought on US soil.
To the TA-G I say, "Huzzah!"
ReplyDeleteWe'll have a lot of 'splaning to do when Ricky comes home, Lucy.