I have said elsewhere on this blog that I am no fan of Gaddafi, and that Libya will be much better for his passing, but at what cost to the people of Libya must we want his head so badly as to rush the country head on into Civil War?
NATO’s mandate in Libya was to protect civilians, not to take sides in a civil war between secular nationalists on one side and Al Qaeda Islamists and CIA backed-exiles on the otherWithout any shadow of a doubt the British government has breached UN resolutions meant to secure a no fly zone and protect Libyan civilians, instead the RAF and troops on the ground have been used to aid the advance of rebels and support the overthrow of the regime at any cost.
Even the western media have involved themselves in the overthrow by telling us almost hourly that the Rebels are now in control of this town or that city, and the NTC are on the brink of setting up a transitional government.
Meanwhile more and more young men and women on both sides die, more and more civilians are drawn into the conflict and the infrastructure of the country crumbles.
Its no good the RAF bombing compounds and Gaddafi strongholds and clearing the way for the rebels to advance if the rebels who advance lack any military training or discipline when they reach their targets.
I firmly believe that the uprising and assault on Tripoli last Saturday and Sunday was led by UK and other special forces, it was supposed to be the end game, I am also sure that western media were primed to broadcast the downfall of the regime and the success of the rebels, but here we are a week later and still the struggle goes on still the death count rises and still the west try and pretend that they are nothing but innocent bystanders and protectors of the weak.
Who are we trying to kid? Hospitals are now closed, with 100's of bodies lying in deserted beds, the law of the gun is the only law and order in town, and vital services are cut off or destroyed.
One day soon Gaddafi will fall, it is inevitable, and if the rebels are too incompetent to achieve it then NATO led forces will finish the job off.
But what of the future? will the differing factions currently engaged in hand to hand combat really agree on how the country will be run? Will their really be no retribution for those who backed the old regime? And will Libya prosper any more under a Puppet Government than it did under a Local Dictator?
I believe passionately in the rights of people to rise up against their dictator and take control of the own destiny, but this whole sorry affair has a bad taste of the grand old Duke of York to me, and I am left wondering just how many Libyan civilians on both sides will have lost their lives since we stepped in to defend them?
I have no trust anymore in our governments intention, I don't believe that NATO is acting in the best interests of the weak and I fear that UN resolutions have become toothless edicts which can be manipulated by the Western powers to meet their own needs at any cost to human life elsewhere. And even more disturbing in some ways I have lost faith in the BBC and others to report the news rather than a government sponsored version of what they want the news to be
Shame on us all for not speaking out with a much louder voice
