Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Well I am undecided at the moment but one question the British citizens are going to ask is how can we afford it or is this nation not in as much debt the condems say we are.

Gadaffi has ordered a ceasefire from 19:00 hrs GMT to all Libyan forces will be interesting to see if he does carry that out this time or is it propaganda to get the Arab league on his side.

[WendyB]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

well exactly, PF. Not to mention the cost of replacing our airplanes if any got blown out of the sky. Plus the possibility of our pilots coming home in a box. I'm all for Queen and Country, but I always presumed that was Queen and our country.

[The Debt Star]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

I do wish the media would stop referring to them as "the rebels." They are revolutionaries, not rebels.

Gaddaffi is the rebel. He grabbed power for himself in 1969 when King Idris was out of the country undergoing a major medical operation in Turkey.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

I do wish the media would stop referring to them as "the rebels." They are revolutionaries, not rebels.

Gaddaffi is the rebel. He grabbed power for himself in 1969 when King Idris was out of the country undergoing a major medical operation in Turkey.

That is the first useful post I have read all day on libya instead of all the propaganda on mse the world will be a better place with Gadaffi gone

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Interesting article here by the great Kate Adie.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...knew-kate-adie

[leclerc]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Probably the wrong thing to do, and probably will start another war, (but only on this thread), but here goes anyway....

I am not necessarily aiming this at any particular British politicians, although I suppose given that DC has only just come to power, I can't really blame him for what has gone before, but can someone please explain why it is so important that we go in and sort out Libya?

When millions were being slaughtered in Rwanda a few years ago, I didn't notice us sending in the troops to sort it out. Nor did I notice a fat lot being done to deal with Mugabe and the goings on in Zimbabwe. Come to think about it, I don't remember much being done in Tiananmen Square either. So why is Libya so different?
Economic sanctions in the 1990's did happen.Arms embargo fro 15 years plus pressure put on China lead to compensation to the victims of the massacre being paid
Is it because the other people getting slaughtered were less deserving of saving? Of course not. Rwanda hasn't got anything we need? Because Britain helped Mugabe into power in the first place? China, as a superpower, would have just told us to get the **** out of their country?

Sorry, I may be very naive but it all seems a bit selective to me

I don't remember the Rwandan bombing in Lockerbie nor do I remember Rwandan Oil or for that matter Zimbabwe .



Cameron disagreed with the Al Megrahi decision and has never liked Gadaffi. I suspect that is why he needs this. I would add that the international community has blood on its hands over Rwanda. I am surprised you haven't added Ivory Coast to the list to be honest .

[WendyB]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

I don't remember the Rwandan bombing in Lockerbie nor do I remember Rwandan Oil or for that matter Zimbabwe .



Cameron disagreed with the Al Megrahi decision and has never liked Gadaffi. I suspect that is why he needs this. I would add that the international community has blood on its hands over Rwanda. I am surprised you haven't added Ivory Coast to the list to be honest .

Exactly, my point is that were we doing it for humanitarian reasons, then we would have been in there in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, etc.

As for the economic sanctions you mentioned, yes they happened, but my point was that we didn't send the troops in, to stop it happening did we? Putting pressure on to force compensation payments isn't quite the same as stopping the people being killed in the first place, is it?

You are right, the international community does have blood on it's hands, and all this coverage of Libya and Britain and France going in to stop the killing is just so hypocrytical,

FWIW I disagreed with the Al Megrahi decision too and Gaddafi has never been high on my list of personal favourites either

Oh yes, I forgot about Ivory Coast....

[Luminol]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Not that I've been living under a stone recently, but I can't believe we are 'at it' again, we are still reeling from the Iraqi and still in Afghanistan. I know there are different reasons... that's not the point I'm making, I just sometimes wonder, Why us? it always seems to be us in the thick of it....no matter who's in Government in the UK, the power goes to there head I think...

and yes I'm over simplifying it...

Lumi x

[leclerc]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Wendy, they are unlikely(99% unlikely) to send in ground troops(Italy might due to having nationals held by the Libyan government) but there are other issues potentially, ie what if the "rebels" decide to go on the offensive, would the UN Resolution allow for so called "rebel" tanks to be bombed?

[WendyB]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

Who knows??

I didn't really mean ground troops, as such, perhaps I should have been more specific and said pilots.

Seems to me that we are becoming the Police for every crisis that pops up. Someone said on the radio this morning that the Libyan situation was the start of a revolution, and that by entering into the fray at this early stage, the process has been "fast forwarded" so to speak, which has inevitably changed the end game....

Perhaps we should have directed the resources at arming the "rebels", thus making it a level playing field, and let them sort it out for themselves?

Just because we think democracy is the best way, doesn't necessarily follow that everyone else has to do it, does it?

[leclerc]

Re: Plane Crashes In Rebel-Held Libyan Town

I completely agree with you re arming the rebels. The problem with doing that is that the UN rushed to get sanctions in place and that prevented any weapons for being sold to either side.