UK minister regarding the Libyan Crisis*
Member of UK government on being asked how long the UK would be involved in the military operation in Libya, replied: “How long is a piece of string? We don’t know how long this is going to go on for.”
As the saying goes there is now’t so queer as folk, but even I am having difficulty understanding how people who opposed the Iraq war, could go on to give cart-blanche to take military action against Libya to much the same people who inflicted that murderous onslaught upon the Iraqi people. Do they now believe those like David Cameron, who supported the war on Iraq, have had some St Paul type conversion and instead of raining down cruise missiles, cluster bombs and drone fired rockets, they will instead sprinkle down rose petals? Sadly we have already witnessed how little has changed, when Libyan farmers coming to the aid of two downed US flyers, they were shot and maimed by the US marine rescue squad sent to pick them up. One a young man of 20 has had his leg amputated.
Was it the UN resolution which motivated them to change tack, if so they must be extremely pliable (Lib Dem MP’s?) or more gullible than I thought. This august organization was not called a thieves kitchen for nothing, where nations pit their own advantage at the expense of others. Besides, the fact Germany, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and China refused to sign up to the resolution speaks volumes. It is impossible to ignore Germany’s abstention, as since the end of WW2 it is the only major Western power to have experienced the boots of foreign solders on its soil. If the German people understand one thing, it is no good can come from occupying other peoples lands and make no mistake that is what is happening in Libya.
Lawrence of Arabia once advised his masters in London, “It is better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly.” Yes, like those in Tunisia and Egypt, the Libyan people have had enough of their oppressive regime but as Simon Jenkins wrote today:
“The West has no moral superiority in telling these countries how to conduct their politics. This is especially so given the chaos and horror the West has inflicted on Iraq and Afghanistan. Cameron talks of "brutality": has he forgotten Abu Ghraib and Bagram?”
What has been happening in Libya was not a continuation of the Arab Spring, although if the Libyan people were left to their own devices it may have developed that way. It started out as a small group of men with guns challenging the Gaddafi regime in the hope, or more likely safe in the knowledge if they could prod the old tyrant hard enough and use the western media astutely, he would react; and then the West would do exactly what they are now doing. The whole sorry Libyan escapade reeks of the spooks in Langley, Vauxhall and the Boulevard Mortier in Paris.
There is a line in the sand about this type of military act, if a government embarks on it without an exit strategy, they are up to no good, as they are hiding their true motives from their own population. The coalition has now admitted it has no exist strategy, indeed it is worse than that, when Nick Harvey, the Armed Forces minister, was asked how long Britain would be involved in the military operation in north Africa. He replied: “How long is a piece of string? We don’t know how long this is going to go on for.”
* Url:http://www.organizedrage.com/2011/03/coalition-minister-on-being-asked-how.html
