Obama, NATO, and those Arab supporters all meet tomorrow to discuss and set up a military command structure and sort targets, etc. Once that is all organized, I would expect air strikes to begin within 24 hours or so. As of right now, nothing is set or prioritized. This UN thing was really scrapped together last minute.
What would they strike if UN monitors go into Libya and find that Gadhafi is adhering to the ceasefire and that there are no flights happening?
And my other question is: if the rebels counter attack into a "Gadhafi-held" city, does the UN bomb the rebels to protect civilians as per the resolution? Or do they provide air-support for the rebels to oust Gadhafi?
What would they strike if UN monitors go into Libya and find that Gadhafi is adhering to the ceasefire and that there are no flights happening?
And my other question is: if the rebels counter attack into a "Gadhafi-held" city, does the UN bomb the rebels to protect civilians as per the resolution? Or do they provide air-support for the rebels to oust Gadhafi?
Well, the news right now seems to be that Ghaddafi is saying one thing while his hands are doing another. Sporadic fighting seems to be ongoing. Like those in power have said, words about cease-fires mean little; actions are what they're looking for. It also seems that Obama is looking for a cease-fire more than an actual fight -- it appears the US is not willing to submit troops or jets to the no-fly zone, and is looking to only back it diplomatically and with AWACS and the such while allowing other nations to take the lead militarily. If a cease-fire truly takes effect (Ghaddafi has never earned trust from anyone, remember, so I take what his regime says very lightly), I believe Obama would prefer it over a fight.
Your second question is kind of the kicker. No one can answer that except for those in power. They need to have an answer to what is the ultimate objective of this no-fly zone. Is it to simply get a cease-fire? Oust Ghaddafi? Assist the rebels in their fight? What?
That being said, Ghaddafi has far more heavy equipment than the rebels have, and it's kind of difficult to fire 152mm self-propelled artillery in a city and not kill some people. The rebels will be doing more small-arms fighting, and it will be difficult (perhaps conveniently so) to distinguish a rebel from a regular civilian. If rebel = civilian (which it did at the beginning of these protests -- remember, they didn't take up arms until Ghaddafi's forces started machine-gunning), than I don't think France, Britain, etc., will be doing much bombing of them. Only one side has shown the desire to drop bombs on cities, and if the rebels aren't indiscriminately laying waste to towns, than I don't think they'll be stopped by the those manning the no-fly zone. You might even have Ghaddafi-controlled towns rise up now and join them peacefully if the regime is successfully neutered, and there won't be a need for any sort of rebel counter-attack.
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"An adherent of homeopathy has no brain. They have skull water with the memory of a brain."
Last edited by HPLovecraft; 03-19-2011 at 12:41 AM.
One of my biggest concerns beyond the rules of engagement is that you have a bunch of rebels running around with shoulder launched surface to air missiles and truck mounted anti-aircraft artillery who are going to be shooting at every jet they see.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
While our leaders are busy talking in Paris, the Libyan government forces have made it into Benghazi. The glacial speed of the west's response is pretty disappointing.
While our leaders are busy talking in Paris, the Libyan government forces have made it into Benghazi. The glacial speed of the west's response is pretty disappointing.
Well that's pretty much our MO since...well almost forever. It's a farce, really. The West had an unique chance to actually help rebels in the fight they started on their own to topple a dictator. And this fight is actually supported by the muslim world because it originated within the country (rather than the US/NATO "policing" countries where they are not welcomed). But of course the diplomacy had cups of tea to drink first with their pinky out while civilians were being slaughtered...
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"I have all the Libyan people with me and I'm prepared to die. And they are prepared to die for me. Men, women and even children," Gadhafi said in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama and read to reporters by a government spokesman in Tripoli on Saturday.
Quote:
Gadhafi -- in separate letter addressed to Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- called the U.N. moves "invalid" because the resolution does not permit intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.
"Libya is not yours. Libya is for all Libyans," said the letter, also read by the spokesman. "You will regret it if you take a step toward intervening in our internal affairs."
"It is not your country. We could never and would never fire one bullet against our people," the letter said.
Everyone expected Russia and China to abstain and not take part. We bitch about the American's hiding behind their commercial interest, but those two countries are ruthless about it.
We have France and Britain and America involved here.
So I'm confused, are you talking about the length of time that it took to arrive at this point?
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Sounds like the Americans will not be contributing aircraft at lease initially. I heard they are going to use ship fired weapons to take out air defence systems in Libya, but will leave the NFZ to other countries.
