LETHALFORCE
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Democracy will now come to Libya and all their oil will disappear.
Uprising in Libya
- Thread starter Blackwater
- Start date
sandeepdg
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Its a very complex proposition, and anyway a helicopter like Mi-26 is extremely vulnerable in hostile environments. It can carry at the most 100 people and its top speed is around 295 kmph, cruising speed is 255 kmph. Plus, maneuvering such a behemoth over strong winds over the sea is not gonna be easy, I suppose. Compared to that, an IL-76 heavy lift can around 200 people in one sortie with a top speed of 900 km/hr. It can carry out multiple sorties in day, and can evacuate atleast 800-1000 people form Libya to Egypt.
sandeepdg
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3 special AI flights bring 1034 Indians back from Libya
NEW DELHI: A total of 1,034 Indians arrived here by three special flights of Air India today from strife-torn Libya, taking the number of evacuees from the north African country to 3,262.
Today, the first special flight (AI-160), an Airbus 330 aircraft carrying 251 passengers and 10 infants, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here at around 2.20am, an airline official said.
The second flight (AI-180), a Boeing 747-400, brought 380 Indians at 07.40am while the third one (AI-170), also a Boeing 747-400, landed at 01.15pm with 393 passengers on board, the official said.
Air India has brought back a total of 3,262 passengers from Libya so far and has sent three more aircraft — two Boeing 747-400s and an Airbus 330 — this morning for Tripoli to airlift Indians still stranded there.
From today, private carriers also joined the evacuation exercise along with the flag carrier, following directions from the Government.
Jet Airways will be sending a 170-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Djerba in Tunisia from Mumbai to bring back around 1,400 Indians who have reached there and are housed in local hotels by Indian Embassy personnel.
Also, Kingfisher operated a flight, an Airbus 321 with a seating capacity of 196, from here for Borg-el-Arab airport in Alexandria in Egypt to bring back Indians who have crossed over to that country.
Yesterday, the national carrier had brought back a total of 1,045 Indians in three batches from the strife-torn country.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...dians-back-from-Libya/articleshow/7619418.cms
NEW DELHI: A total of 1,034 Indians arrived here by three special flights of Air India today from strife-torn Libya, taking the number of evacuees from the north African country to 3,262.
Today, the first special flight (AI-160), an Airbus 330 aircraft carrying 251 passengers and 10 infants, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here at around 2.20am, an airline official said.
The second flight (AI-180), a Boeing 747-400, brought 380 Indians at 07.40am while the third one (AI-170), also a Boeing 747-400, landed at 01.15pm with 393 passengers on board, the official said.
Air India has brought back a total of 3,262 passengers from Libya so far and has sent three more aircraft — two Boeing 747-400s and an Airbus 330 — this morning for Tripoli to airlift Indians still stranded there.
From today, private carriers also joined the evacuation exercise along with the flag carrier, following directions from the Government.
Jet Airways will be sending a 170-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Djerba in Tunisia from Mumbai to bring back around 1,400 Indians who have reached there and are housed in local hotels by Indian Embassy personnel.
Also, Kingfisher operated a flight, an Airbus 321 with a seating capacity of 196, from here for Borg-el-Arab airport in Alexandria in Egypt to bring back Indians who have crossed over to that country.
Yesterday, the national carrier had brought back a total of 1,045 Indians in three batches from the strife-torn country.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...dians-back-from-Libya/articleshow/7619418.cms
pmaitra
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You are right. That is why I said an expert opinion from a helicopter pilot would help. Although I have experience in flying in a helicopter, a pilot is the one who can provide the best answers.
Regarding Ilyushin-76, although it does not need well prepared runways, will still need a semi-prepared runway or at least a field to land.
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U.S. Military Readies Libya Options -- With Caution
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- Officials looking at options for U.S. military intervention in Libya are recalling the lessons of Somalia, where American troops were sent to help feed starving children and 15 months later were evacuated ahead of howling mobs that then sacked the U.S. Embassy. Forty-two Americans were killed in combat and dozens were injured. Today in Somalia, an al-Qaeda franchise holds power.
Lesson No. 1, planners say: Beware the Law of Unintended Consequences.
The spreading chaos in Libya and the bloody stalemate between rebels and defiant remnants of Moammar Gadhafi's regime have prompted demands for armed intervention on behalf of the popular uprising to topple the regime, help restore order and feed and house those who have fled the fighting.
With orders from the White House to prepare "all options," military planners across the armed services are scrambling, from the XVIII Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division headquartered here, to the U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., down to the future operations cell of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, embarked on the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault carrier headed toward Libya from the Red Sea.
Most of the Marines assigned to the 26 MEU are currently fighting in Afghanistan, so Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday ordered 400 Marines from the United States to join the Kearsarge in the Mediterranean Sea later this week.
In a meeting with reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday, Gates said no further decisions have been made on potential missions in Libya. He noted that a U.N. Security Council resolution does not contain authorization for any military operations.
None of the U.S. planners involved will talk on the record. Privately, though, planners, strategists and analysts describe a range of potential missions from imposing "no-fly'' and "no-drive'' zones (to prevent the movement of Gadhafi's security forces) to launching limited and short-duration humanitarian relief operations. And because operations planners must consider worst-case situations, some also are looking at larger-scale armed intervention. Preferably, U.S.officials said, any U.S. intervention would take place under United Nations auspices and be undertaken jointly with NATO allies and others.
But while the necessary work is underway of planning what would be complex military operations, there is a sense that the conflict in Libya will unfold on its own.
"I don't see a military mission," said Robert Killebrew, a retired Army strategic planner. "It would be one thing if there were Americans being held hostage. Then we have to intervene. Barring that, it's unclear what the military would do." Killebrew is now a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.
The risk of U.S. military involvement is reflected in a variant of Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn rule." As the former four-star general and then-secretary of state warned President Bush in 2002, regarding an invasion of Iraq, "You break it, you own it."
By intervening in Libya, "the United States and its allies might find themselves in the position of midwifing a bad outcome if the situation degenerated into civil war or chaotic violence, or if radical Islamist elements gained power," write Jason Hanover and Jeffrey White of the Washington Institute on Near East Policy.
And there is the precedent of Somalia, where a well-intentioned impulse to "do something" turned into a deadly rout. In August 1992, President George H.W. Bush authorized the military to begin flying food shipments into drought-stricken Somalia. But supply convoys run by relief organizations came under attack by local gangs, which hijacked the food for resale on the open market. By December, Bush -- who had lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton -- came under pressure to protect the convoys, and sent in Marines and troops of the 10th Mountain Division, a force that reached upwards of 10,000 assigned to work with international troops under a U.N. mandate.
Operation Restore Hope grew into a series of deadly clashes with Somali gangs and, it turned out, elements of early al-Qaeda units. Under the U.N. mandate, American troops had no authority to disarm the gangs, and the fighting escalated to the deadly October 1993 firefight portrayed in the book "Blackhawk Down."
U.S. forces were withdrawn, with the last troops being evacuated by sea the following March. As they withdrew, mobs stormed the American embassy building, which had recently been expanded.
The debacle soured many on the idea of peacekeeping in a chaotic situation where local government authority had broken down. An official Army history of Restore Hope concluded: "The American soldier had, as always, done his best under difficult circumstances to perform a complex and often confusing mission. But the best soldiers in the world can only lay the foundation for peace; they cannot create peace itself."
Libya, of course, is not Somalia. Rather than an ungoverned territory fought over by rival gangs and warlords, Libya is a settled, developed country that presents its own complications to military planners. Among them:
-- A no-fly zone, patrolled by U.S. and European aircraft, would be extremely complex, requiring coordination with a rotation of aerial refueling tankers, and strike fighters poised against Gadhafi's surface-to-air missile batteries. Even if tightly enforced, a no-fly zone would have little or no impact on the outcome of the struggle on the ground, analysts say. Gadhafi has occasionally used strike fighters from his decrepit air force against rebel forces to little evident effect, while the struggle on the ground has continued unabated.
-- A "no-drive" zone, designed to prevent Gadhafi from using his ground forces, would have to be enforced by aircraft. U.S. JSTARS aircraft could track moving vehicles with ease -- but could not tell whether vehicles were occupied by anti-Gadhafi forces or pro-Gadhafi forces. That raises the potential for mistakenly killing pro-democracy protesters.
-- Humanitarian intervention: The 26th MEU aboard the USS Kearsarge has the equipment and the training to evacuate civilians from shore and temporarily treat as many as 600 injured civilians in its hospital bays. It could easily land several hundred Marines to provide security and other support for civilian humanitarian organizations helping to feed and house refugees. But as the Somalia precedent suggests, such armed intervention, even if initially limited in scope, can easily expand.
U.S. forces can overcome such problems, of course. But any military option, analysts stress, carries with it enormous uncertainties.
"Libyans in my opinion have to do this for themselves," said Killebrew. "They will eventually kick Gadhafi out. Rebels want to fight their own war, and for us to intervene in a family fight is always a scary thing to do."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/03/01/u-s-military-readies-libya-options-with-caution/
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- Officials looking at options for U.S. military intervention in Libya are recalling the lessons of Somalia, where American troops were sent to help feed starving children and 15 months later were evacuated ahead of howling mobs that then sacked the U.S. Embassy. Forty-two Americans were killed in combat and dozens were injured. Today in Somalia, an al-Qaeda franchise holds power.
Lesson No. 1, planners say: Beware the Law of Unintended Consequences.
The spreading chaos in Libya and the bloody stalemate between rebels and defiant remnants of Moammar Gadhafi's regime have prompted demands for armed intervention on behalf of the popular uprising to topple the regime, help restore order and feed and house those who have fled the fighting.
With orders from the White House to prepare "all options," military planners across the armed services are scrambling, from the XVIII Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division headquartered here, to the U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., down to the future operations cell of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, embarked on the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault carrier headed toward Libya from the Red Sea.
Most of the Marines assigned to the 26 MEU are currently fighting in Afghanistan, so Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday ordered 400 Marines from the United States to join the Kearsarge in the Mediterranean Sea later this week.
In a meeting with reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday, Gates said no further decisions have been made on potential missions in Libya. He noted that a U.N. Security Council resolution does not contain authorization for any military operations.
None of the U.S. planners involved will talk on the record. Privately, though, planners, strategists and analysts describe a range of potential missions from imposing "no-fly'' and "no-drive'' zones (to prevent the movement of Gadhafi's security forces) to launching limited and short-duration humanitarian relief operations. And because operations planners must consider worst-case situations, some also are looking at larger-scale armed intervention. Preferably, U.S.officials said, any U.S. intervention would take place under United Nations auspices and be undertaken jointly with NATO allies and others.
But while the necessary work is underway of planning what would be complex military operations, there is a sense that the conflict in Libya will unfold on its own.
"I don't see a military mission," said Robert Killebrew, a retired Army strategic planner. "It would be one thing if there were Americans being held hostage. Then we have to intervene. Barring that, it's unclear what the military would do." Killebrew is now a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.
The risk of U.S. military involvement is reflected in a variant of Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn rule." As the former four-star general and then-secretary of state warned President Bush in 2002, regarding an invasion of Iraq, "You break it, you own it."
By intervening in Libya, "the United States and its allies might find themselves in the position of midwifing a bad outcome if the situation degenerated into civil war or chaotic violence, or if radical Islamist elements gained power," write Jason Hanover and Jeffrey White of the Washington Institute on Near East Policy.
And there is the precedent of Somalia, where a well-intentioned impulse to "do something" turned into a deadly rout. In August 1992, President George H.W. Bush authorized the military to begin flying food shipments into drought-stricken Somalia. But supply convoys run by relief organizations came under attack by local gangs, which hijacked the food for resale on the open market. By December, Bush -- who had lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton -- came under pressure to protect the convoys, and sent in Marines and troops of the 10th Mountain Division, a force that reached upwards of 10,000 assigned to work with international troops under a U.N. mandate.
Operation Restore Hope grew into a series of deadly clashes with Somali gangs and, it turned out, elements of early al-Qaeda units. Under the U.N. mandate, American troops had no authority to disarm the gangs, and the fighting escalated to the deadly October 1993 firefight portrayed in the book "Blackhawk Down."
U.S. forces were withdrawn, with the last troops being evacuated by sea the following March. As they withdrew, mobs stormed the American embassy building, which had recently been expanded.
The debacle soured many on the idea of peacekeeping in a chaotic situation where local government authority had broken down. An official Army history of Restore Hope concluded: "The American soldier had, as always, done his best under difficult circumstances to perform a complex and often confusing mission. But the best soldiers in the world can only lay the foundation for peace; they cannot create peace itself."
Libya, of course, is not Somalia. Rather than an ungoverned territory fought over by rival gangs and warlords, Libya is a settled, developed country that presents its own complications to military planners. Among them:
-- A no-fly zone, patrolled by U.S. and European aircraft, would be extremely complex, requiring coordination with a rotation of aerial refueling tankers, and strike fighters poised against Gadhafi's surface-to-air missile batteries. Even if tightly enforced, a no-fly zone would have little or no impact on the outcome of the struggle on the ground, analysts say. Gadhafi has occasionally used strike fighters from his decrepit air force against rebel forces to little evident effect, while the struggle on the ground has continued unabated.
-- A "no-drive" zone, designed to prevent Gadhafi from using his ground forces, would have to be enforced by aircraft. U.S. JSTARS aircraft could track moving vehicles with ease -- but could not tell whether vehicles were occupied by anti-Gadhafi forces or pro-Gadhafi forces. That raises the potential for mistakenly killing pro-democracy protesters.
-- Humanitarian intervention: The 26th MEU aboard the USS Kearsarge has the equipment and the training to evacuate civilians from shore and temporarily treat as many as 600 injured civilians in its hospital bays. It could easily land several hundred Marines to provide security and other support for civilian humanitarian organizations helping to feed and house refugees. But as the Somalia precedent suggests, such armed intervention, even if initially limited in scope, can easily expand.
U.S. forces can overcome such problems, of course. But any military option, analysts stress, carries with it enormous uncertainties.
"Libyans in my opinion have to do this for themselves," said Killebrew. "They will eventually kick Gadhafi out. Rebels want to fight their own war, and for us to intervene in a family fight is always a scary thing to do."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/03/01/u-s-military-readies-libya-options-with-caution/
pmaitra
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US examining 'full range of options' on Libya: Obama
US examining 'full range of options' on Libya: Obama
TNN, Mar 4, 2011; Times of India
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Thursday he is examining the "full range" of military options, including a no-fly zone, if the revolt in Libya turns into a bloody stalemate and humanitarian disaster.
Accusing Moammar Gaddafi of encouraging violence against his citizens, Obama again called on the Libyan leader to stand down for the good of his country.
"We are looking at every option that's out there, in addition to the non-military actions that we've taken. I want to make sure that those full range of options are available to me," he said.
A no-fly zone, which US military leaders have warned would necessarily be preceded by US air strikes, "is one of the options that we would be looking at."
Obama said he had authorized the use of US military aircraft to help move refugees who have fled the unrest in Libya, and was sending US teams to the Libyan border to help coordinate humanitarian aid efforts.
"I don't want to be hamstrung," Obama said. "I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people, in consultation with the international community.
"And we are doing that not just here in the United States within our own agencies, but we're also doing it in consultation with NATO," he told a White House news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Libyan warplanes struck the town of Brega on Thursday, as a rag-tag army of rebels holding the eastern strategic city manned machine-guns on pick-up trucks after two bombs fell near the local oil refinery.
The attack sparked fears of a new bid by troops loyal to Gaddafi's regime to recapture the key port, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the main eastern city of Benghazi.
Obama acknowledged: "There is a danger of stalemate that over time could be bloody. And that is something we're obviously considering.
"So what I want to make sure of is that the United States has full capacity to act potentially rapidly if the situation deteriorated in such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands.
"Or a situation in which... defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and in great danger," he said.
Obama said the United States and the entire world "continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people."
"Let me just be very unambiguous about this. Colonel Gaddafi needs to step down from power and leave. That is good for his country. It is good for his people. It's the right thing to do," Obama stressed.
And he warned that those still loyal to the regime should know "that history is moving against Colonel Gaddafi."
Libya has been rocked by the revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule which erupted on February 17 following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia which ousted their long-time leaders.
Obama said the United States has already moved swiftly to implement "the most rapid and forceful set of sanctions that have ever been applied internationally," freezing some $30 billion of Libyan assets.
But until now there had appeared to be strong differences within the administration over any recourse to military force.
Defense secretary Robert Gates and top US military officials warned Wednesday that imposing no-fly zone would be a major military undertaking, and would necessarily require air strikes to take out Libya's air defenses.
"Let's just call a spade a spade," Gates told US lawmakers, decrying "loose talk" about a no-fly zone.
"A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses. That's the way you do a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that's the way it starts," Gates said.
Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, and John McCain, a Republican, have both urged Obama to impose a no-fly zone.
Obama said the immediate priority was to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees and Libyans inside the country who may find themselves facing food shortages if Gaddafi continues to hunker down.
He said he had instructed the US Agency for International Development to send teams to the border with Libya to coordinate with United Nations and international humanitarian relief groups inside the country.
He also said he had authorized US military aircraft to help fly Egyptians stranded on the Tunisian border back home, and civilian charter flights to help refugees from other countries to find their way to their home countries.
A major European operation was under way on Thursday to airlift out of Tunisia thousands of people, most of them Egyptian workers stranded at the border.
Read more: US examining 'full range of options' on Libya: Obama - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...a-Obama/articleshow/7624610.cms#ixzz1FbS01zDL
US examining 'full range of options' on Libya: Obama
TNN, Mar 4, 2011; Times of India
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Thursday he is examining the "full range" of military options, including a no-fly zone, if the revolt in Libya turns into a bloody stalemate and humanitarian disaster.
Accusing Moammar Gaddafi of encouraging violence against his citizens, Obama again called on the Libyan leader to stand down for the good of his country.
"We are looking at every option that's out there, in addition to the non-military actions that we've taken. I want to make sure that those full range of options are available to me," he said.
A no-fly zone, which US military leaders have warned would necessarily be preceded by US air strikes, "is one of the options that we would be looking at."
Obama said he had authorized the use of US military aircraft to help move refugees who have fled the unrest in Libya, and was sending US teams to the Libyan border to help coordinate humanitarian aid efforts.
"I don't want to be hamstrung," Obama said. "I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people, in consultation with the international community.
"And we are doing that not just here in the United States within our own agencies, but we're also doing it in consultation with NATO," he told a White House news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Libyan warplanes struck the town of Brega on Thursday, as a rag-tag army of rebels holding the eastern strategic city manned machine-guns on pick-up trucks after two bombs fell near the local oil refinery.
The attack sparked fears of a new bid by troops loyal to Gaddafi's regime to recapture the key port, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the main eastern city of Benghazi.
Obama acknowledged: "There is a danger of stalemate that over time could be bloody. And that is something we're obviously considering.
"So what I want to make sure of is that the United States has full capacity to act potentially rapidly if the situation deteriorated in such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands.
"Or a situation in which... defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and in great danger," he said.
Obama said the United States and the entire world "continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people."
"Let me just be very unambiguous about this. Colonel Gaddafi needs to step down from power and leave. That is good for his country. It is good for his people. It's the right thing to do," Obama stressed.
And he warned that those still loyal to the regime should know "that history is moving against Colonel Gaddafi."
Libya has been rocked by the revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule which erupted on February 17 following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia which ousted their long-time leaders.
Obama said the United States has already moved swiftly to implement "the most rapid and forceful set of sanctions that have ever been applied internationally," freezing some $30 billion of Libyan assets.
But until now there had appeared to be strong differences within the administration over any recourse to military force.
Defense secretary Robert Gates and top US military officials warned Wednesday that imposing no-fly zone would be a major military undertaking, and would necessarily require air strikes to take out Libya's air defenses.
"Let's just call a spade a spade," Gates told US lawmakers, decrying "loose talk" about a no-fly zone.
"A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses. That's the way you do a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that's the way it starts," Gates said.
Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, and John McCain, a Republican, have both urged Obama to impose a no-fly zone.
Obama said the immediate priority was to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees and Libyans inside the country who may find themselves facing food shortages if Gaddafi continues to hunker down.
He said he had instructed the US Agency for International Development to send teams to the border with Libya to coordinate with United Nations and international humanitarian relief groups inside the country.
He also said he had authorized US military aircraft to help fly Egyptians stranded on the Tunisian border back home, and civilian charter flights to help refugees from other countries to find their way to their home countries.
A major European operation was under way on Thursday to airlift out of Tunisia thousands of people, most of them Egyptian workers stranded at the border.
Read more: US examining 'full range of options' on Libya: Obama - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...a-Obama/articleshow/7624610.cms#ixzz1FbS01zDL
Oracle
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Obama wants Gaddafi out, sends jets to Libya
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy and must leave office, US President Barack Obama said while authorising the use of military aircrafts for humanitarian purposes in the strife-torn African nation on Thursday.
"Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," Obama said at a White House news conference.
The US president said, the "violence must stop. Those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable... The aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met. I have approved the use of US military aircraft to help move Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt."
Tens of thousands of people from many different countries are fleeing Libya.
"We commend the governments of Tunisia and Egypt for their response, even as they go through their own political transitions," he added.
Obama said he has also authorised USAID to charter additional civilian aircraft to help people from other countries find their way home.
"We are supporting the efforts of international organizations to evacuate people as well," he said.
He has also directed USAID to send humanitarian assistance teams to the Libyan border, so that they can work with the United Nations, NGOs and other international partners inside Libya to address the urgent needs of the Libyan people.
With respect to America's willingness to engage militarily, Obama said he has instructed the Department of Defence, and the State Department to examine is full range of options.
"I don't want us hamstrung. I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community," he said.
"We are doing that not just here in the United States within our own agencies, but we're also doing it in consultation with NATO," he said.
"There may be situations in which Gaddafi is hunkered down in his compound but the economy -- or food-distribution systems in Tripoli, for example, start deteriorating. And we are going to have to figure out how do we potentially get food in there," Obama said.
"So there are a whole range of options, military and non-military, that we're examining. We we'll be making these decisions based on what's best for the Libyan people and how can we make sure that we're minimizing the harm to innocent civilians during this process," he said.
"Throughout all this, we will continue to send a clear message that it's time for Gaddafi to go," Obama said.
"My approach throughout the convulsions that have swept through the Middle East is, number one, no violence against citizens; number two, that we stand for freedom and democracy. And in the situation in Libya, what you've seen is, number one, violence against citizens, and the active urging of violence against unarmed citizens by Gaddafi," he said.
"So let me just be very unambiguous about this. Colonel Gaddafi needs to step down from power and leave. That is good for his country. It is good for his people. It's the right thing to do," Obama said.
"Those around him have to understand that violence that they perpetrate against innocent civilians will be monitored and they will be held accountable for it. So to the extent that they are making calculations in their own minds about which way history is moving, they should know history is moving against Colonel Gaddafi and that their support for him and their willingness to carry out orders that are direct violence against citizens is something that ultimately they will be held accountable for," he said.
Source
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy and must leave office, US President Barack Obama said while authorising the use of military aircrafts for humanitarian purposes in the strife-torn African nation on Thursday.
"Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," Obama said at a White House news conference.
The US president said, the "violence must stop. Those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable... The aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met. I have approved the use of US military aircraft to help move Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt."
Tens of thousands of people from many different countries are fleeing Libya.
"We commend the governments of Tunisia and Egypt for their response, even as they go through their own political transitions," he added.
Obama said he has also authorised USAID to charter additional civilian aircraft to help people from other countries find their way home.
"We are supporting the efforts of international organizations to evacuate people as well," he said.
He has also directed USAID to send humanitarian assistance teams to the Libyan border, so that they can work with the United Nations, NGOs and other international partners inside Libya to address the urgent needs of the Libyan people.
With respect to America's willingness to engage militarily, Obama said he has instructed the Department of Defence, and the State Department to examine is full range of options.
"I don't want us hamstrung. I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community," he said.
"We are doing that not just here in the United States within our own agencies, but we're also doing it in consultation with NATO," he said.
"There may be situations in which Gaddafi is hunkered down in his compound but the economy -- or food-distribution systems in Tripoli, for example, start deteriorating. And we are going to have to figure out how do we potentially get food in there," Obama said.
"So there are a whole range of options, military and non-military, that we're examining. We we'll be making these decisions based on what's best for the Libyan people and how can we make sure that we're minimizing the harm to innocent civilians during this process," he said.
"Throughout all this, we will continue to send a clear message that it's time for Gaddafi to go," Obama said.
"My approach throughout the convulsions that have swept through the Middle East is, number one, no violence against citizens; number two, that we stand for freedom and democracy. And in the situation in Libya, what you've seen is, number one, violence against citizens, and the active urging of violence against unarmed citizens by Gaddafi," he said.
"So let me just be very unambiguous about this. Colonel Gaddafi needs to step down from power and leave. That is good for his country. It is good for his people. It's the right thing to do," Obama said.
"Those around him have to understand that violence that they perpetrate against innocent civilians will be monitored and they will be held accountable for it. So to the extent that they are making calculations in their own minds about which way history is moving, they should know history is moving against Colonel Gaddafi and that their support for him and their willingness to carry out orders that are direct violence against citizens is something that ultimately they will be held accountable for," he said.
Source
Oracle
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Gaddafi faces war crimes trial
AL-UQAYLA: Muammar Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day on Thursday but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces.
In Paris, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said France and Britain would support the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Libya if Gaddafi's forces continued to attack civilians.
In Libya's east, the site of a struggle for control of a strategically vital Mediterranean coastal road and oil industry facilities, witnesses said a warplane for a second day bombed the oil terminal town Brega, 800 km east of Tripoli.
Warplanes also launched two raids against the nearby rebel-held town of Ajbadiya, witnesses said.
Gaddafi's son, Saif el-Islam, said the bombing of Brega was intended to scare off militia fighters and gain control of oil installations. "First of all the bombs (were) just to frighten them to go away," he said. "Not to frighten them."
But on the ground, events appeared to turn against Gaddafi, as rebels spearheading the unprecedented popular revolt pushed their frontline against government loyalists west of Brega, where they had repulsed an attack a day earlier. The opposition fighters said troops loyal to Gaddafi had been driven back to Ras Lanuf, home to another major oil terminal 600 km east of Tripoli. They also said they had captured a group of mercenaries.
In The Hague, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi and members of his inner circle, including some of his sons, could be investigated for alleged crimes committed since the uprising broke out in mid-February.
He said a request for arrest warrants over Libya could be made in a few months time. "We have identified some individuals in the de facto or former authority who have authority over the security forces who allegedly committed the crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "They are Muammar Gaddafi, his inner circle including some of his sons, who had this de facto authority."
Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told BBC Radio the news from The Hague was "close to a joke". "No fact-finding mission has been sent to Libya. No diplomats, no ministers, no NGOs or organisations were sent to Libya to check the facts. No one can be sent to prison based on media reports," he said.
The strife is causing a humanitarian crisis, especially on the Tunisian border where tens of thousands of foreign workers have fled to safety. reuters
Source
AL-UQAYLA: Muammar Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day on Thursday but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces.
In Paris, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said France and Britain would support the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Libya if Gaddafi's forces continued to attack civilians.
In Libya's east, the site of a struggle for control of a strategically vital Mediterranean coastal road and oil industry facilities, witnesses said a warplane for a second day bombed the oil terminal town Brega, 800 km east of Tripoli.
Warplanes also launched two raids against the nearby rebel-held town of Ajbadiya, witnesses said.
Gaddafi's son, Saif el-Islam, said the bombing of Brega was intended to scare off militia fighters and gain control of oil installations. "First of all the bombs (were) just to frighten them to go away," he said. "Not to frighten them."
But on the ground, events appeared to turn against Gaddafi, as rebels spearheading the unprecedented popular revolt pushed their frontline against government loyalists west of Brega, where they had repulsed an attack a day earlier. The opposition fighters said troops loyal to Gaddafi had been driven back to Ras Lanuf, home to another major oil terminal 600 km east of Tripoli. They also said they had captured a group of mercenaries.
In The Hague, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi and members of his inner circle, including some of his sons, could be investigated for alleged crimes committed since the uprising broke out in mid-February.
He said a request for arrest warrants over Libya could be made in a few months time. "We have identified some individuals in the de facto or former authority who have authority over the security forces who allegedly committed the crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "They are Muammar Gaddafi, his inner circle including some of his sons, who had this de facto authority."
Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told BBC Radio the news from The Hague was "close to a joke". "No fact-finding mission has been sent to Libya. No diplomats, no ministers, no NGOs or organisations were sent to Libya to check the facts. No one can be sent to prison based on media reports," he said.
The strife is causing a humanitarian crisis, especially on the Tunisian border where tens of thousands of foreign workers have fled to safety. reuters
Source
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If i was a libyan rebel i wouldn't want outside interference. But thats just my opinion.
sandeepdg
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Gaddafi likens his crackdown to India's action in Kashmir
NEW DELHI: Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi told PM Manmohan Singh last week that his actions against his people in Libya were akin to India's actions against Kashmiris.
On the eve of the UN Security Council debate and vote against Libya on February 26, Gaddafi, in a missive to Singh, asked for India's support for his actions as civil war broke out in Libya.
The request for support came even as African and European countries, including Libya's UN envoy who defected to the rebels, made an impassioned plea in the Security Council to refer Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court. India voted for the UNSC resolution, which was passed unanimously.
Gaddafi has reportedly used airplanes to strafe his own people who are fighting to take Libya out of Gaddafi's control. According to some estimates, over 6,000 people have died in the fighting, which continues even after 10 days.
Gaddafi's mercurial character, though, was on full display on Libya's national day, which he celebrated earlier this week. In a five-hour address in Tripoli, he mentioned India at least five times, including saying that he would give future commercial contracts to Indian and Chinese companies and that he was very pleased with India's vote in the UN Security Council.
Gaddafi has rarely been a person India has been comfortable with. In September 2009, Gaddafi, in a 100-minute speech at the UN General Assembly, railed against India and Kashmir as well. "Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict. It should be a Ba'athist state between India and Pakistan," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ias-action-in-Kashmir/articleshow/7631784.cms
NEW DELHI: Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi told PM Manmohan Singh last week that his actions against his people in Libya were akin to India's actions against Kashmiris.
On the eve of the UN Security Council debate and vote against Libya on February 26, Gaddafi, in a missive to Singh, asked for India's support for his actions as civil war broke out in Libya.
The request for support came even as African and European countries, including Libya's UN envoy who defected to the rebels, made an impassioned plea in the Security Council to refer Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court. India voted for the UNSC resolution, which was passed unanimously.
Gaddafi has reportedly used airplanes to strafe his own people who are fighting to take Libya out of Gaddafi's control. According to some estimates, over 6,000 people have died in the fighting, which continues even after 10 days.
Gaddafi's mercurial character, though, was on full display on Libya's national day, which he celebrated earlier this week. In a five-hour address in Tripoli, he mentioned India at least five times, including saying that he would give future commercial contracts to Indian and Chinese companies and that he was very pleased with India's vote in the UN Security Council.
Gaddafi has rarely been a person India has been comfortable with. In September 2009, Gaddafi, in a 100-minute speech at the UN General Assembly, railed against India and Kashmir as well. "Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict. It should be a Ba'athist state between India and Pakistan," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ias-action-in-Kashmir/articleshow/7631784.cms
sandeepdg
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That would be my opinion too. Covert help is ok to some extent, but no overt role is welcome. Its their country and they only have to lead the fight.
sandeepdg
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Britain seizes Libya-bound ship carrying £100m cash
Saturday, 5 March 2011
A cargo ship carrying £100m worth of Libyan currency destined for Colonel Gaddafi's regime was escorted into a British port and the money seized after officials warned the vessel's owners that the cash was the subject of United Nations sanctions.
The Sloman Provider, which had abandoned its journey to the Libyan capital Tripoli because of the ongoing violence, was accompanied into the Essex port of Harwich on Wednesday by a UK Border Agency vessel, and containers holding the bank notes were taken under guard to a secure location
Sloman Neptun, the German shipping company which owns the cargo vessel, said yesterday that it had already decided to return to Britain, where the currency had been printed by a contractor, before it was contacted by the British authorities and asked to return with the consignment.
With its huge revenue from oil and gas exports reduced to a trickle by the rebellion, Gaddafi's regime is increasingly desperate for new currency to meet its costs. British officials last week conducted a delaying operation to thwart attempts by allies of the dictator to get hold of £900m of Libyan dinars, which had been produced by specialist currency printing company De La Rue at its plant in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
It is understood that the £100m shipment had already left the UK before a control order banning the export of any Libyan currency came into force on Sunday.
A Home Office spokesman said: "A vessel which had been heading to Libya returned to the UK on Wednesday morning. A number of containers were offloaded from the boat and have been moved to a secure location."
A spokesman for Sloman Neptun said: "We did not want to go into Libya because of the troubles there and had already made the decision to return before we were contacted."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...bound-ship-carrying-163100m-cash-2232934.html
Saturday, 5 March 2011
A cargo ship carrying £100m worth of Libyan currency destined for Colonel Gaddafi's regime was escorted into a British port and the money seized after officials warned the vessel's owners that the cash was the subject of United Nations sanctions.
The Sloman Provider, which had abandoned its journey to the Libyan capital Tripoli because of the ongoing violence, was accompanied into the Essex port of Harwich on Wednesday by a UK Border Agency vessel, and containers holding the bank notes were taken under guard to a secure location
Sloman Neptun, the German shipping company which owns the cargo vessel, said yesterday that it had already decided to return to Britain, where the currency had been printed by a contractor, before it was contacted by the British authorities and asked to return with the consignment.
With its huge revenue from oil and gas exports reduced to a trickle by the rebellion, Gaddafi's regime is increasingly desperate for new currency to meet its costs. British officials last week conducted a delaying operation to thwart attempts by allies of the dictator to get hold of £900m of Libyan dinars, which had been produced by specialist currency printing company De La Rue at its plant in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
It is understood that the £100m shipment had already left the UK before a control order banning the export of any Libyan currency came into force on Sunday.
A Home Office spokesman said: "A vessel which had been heading to Libya returned to the UK on Wednesday morning. A number of containers were offloaded from the boat and have been moved to a secure location."
A spokesman for Sloman Neptun said: "We did not want to go into Libya because of the troubles there and had already made the decision to return before we were contacted."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...bound-ship-carrying-163100m-cash-2232934.html
SHASH2K2
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The Arab League on Saturday urged the United Nations to slap a 'no-fly' zone on Libya and said Muammar Gaddafi's regime had "lost legitimacy," in a boost for rebels fighting to unseat the strongman. The pan Arab organisation also announced its recognition of the transitional National Council set up by the rebels in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi and said they would open contact with the group.
Britain and the United States welcomed the 22 member League's support for a 'no-fly' zone over Libya.
Arab foreign ministers concluded crisis talks in Cairo by urging the UN Security Council "to assume its responsibilities in the face of the deteriorating situation in Libya and take the necessary measures to impose an air exclusion zone for Libyan warplanes."
They also called in a resolution for the establishment of safe havens "to protect the Libyan people and all other nationals" living in areas subjected to attacks by Gaddafi forces.
Libyan leader Gaddafi's regime "has lost its legitimacy (because of) the massive and dangerous violations" it has committed, said the resolution adopted after the talks at the League's headquarters in the Egyptian capital. The Arab League will "cooperate... with the (opposition) provisional National Council and provide support and protection for the Libyan people," it said.
The League "remains opposed to foreign intervention" warning, however, that "failure to act to solve the crisis will lead to foreign intervention," the resolution added.
"It is necessary to respect international human rights laws, stop the crimes against the Libyan people, stop the fighting, and withdraw Libyan forces from cities and regions they entered," the resolution said. It insisted that the Libyan people have a "right to achieve their demands" and democracy.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa told reporters that the decision to cooperate with the 30 member Libyan transitional council was de facto "recognition" of the opposition group. "We gave them (the council) legitimacy," Oman's foreign affairs chief, Yussef bin Alawi, told reporters.
Diplomats, earlier, said that nine of the 11 foreign ministers present had backed plans for a 'no-fly' zone.
Algeria and Syria had voted against. Syria's ambassador to the Arab League, Yussef Ahmad, warned at the meeting that a 'no-fly' zone could pave the way for foreign intervention in Libya.
But Mussa himself called for a 'no-fly' zone as proposed by Western countries and said he wanted the pan Arab organisation to play a role in imposing it, in an interview published on Saturday.
"The United Nations, the Arab League, the African Union, the Europeans -- everyone should participate," Mussa told German weekly Der Spiegel. "I am talking about a humanitarian action. It consists, with a no-fly zone, of supporting the Libyan people in their fight for freedom against a regime that is more and more disdainful."
Following the Cairo resolution, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "We welcome this important step by the Arab League, which strengthens the international pressure on Gaddafi and support for the Libyan people. The international community is unified in sending a clear message that the violence in Libya must stop, and that the Gaddafi regime must be held accountable".
In London, a foreign office spokeswoman described the League backing for the 'no-fly' zone as "very significant". "The outcome of today's Arab League meeting shows Gaddafi's actions do not have support in the region," she said.
The national council on March 5 declared itself Libya's sole representative at its first meeting in Benghazi, the rebel stronghold city in the North African country's east.
Ahead of the crisis talks the group appealed to the League for recognition and urged backing for a 'no-fly' zone to curb attacks on its fighters, in a letter to Mussa.
Britain and France have drawn up a Security Council resolution on a 'no-fly' zone (NFZ) to counter Gaddafi's assault on rebel forces, but the resolution faces opposition from China and Russia.
France, on Thursday, became the first country to recognise Libya's opposition, a move which prompted the Gaddafi regime to suspend its ties with Paris over its "illegal" decision.
Arab league's rant has got no legitimacy, majority of the countries in the league are being ruled by authoritarian regimes working unidirectionally for the interests of USA and NATO, these states don't give a heck about the rights of their own citizens and here they are talking about the "poor Libyans".
Somebody must tell them that "Charity starts at home".
Somebody must tell them that "Charity starts at home".
SHASH2K2
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Arab league is an important player and they have control of most important natural resource. Though they are not major military block but their consent means that there will not be any major opposition to military action in Libya.
What will deter West from taking such action is the fear of collateral damage and escalation of the conflict beyond mere enforcement of "no fly zone". Its a known fact that the rebels have suffered losses not due to air-strikes, but because of effective use of artillery. France had earlier withdrawn from similar arrangement of no-fly zone over Iraq because of civilian deaths.
Gaddafi has placed all potential targets close to the civilian areas, he has been playing his Geo-political cards well, so far.
SHASH2K2
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Well till few days back Arab league was not in favour of a no fly zone but they are in favor now. That means now west is trying to take maximum countries on board and their strategy seems to be right given current volatility across the globe. Problem here is that world has a real good chance to throw Gaddafi and his regime and if there is any collateral damage they are all ready for. Hundreds are losing life on daily basis and few more wouldn't really matter .
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Completely disagree.
Libyan Air Force is the is main cause of the rebel pushback. They already demanded 'no fly zone' over Libya stating that they can take over the ground forces but not the air force which is causing heavy damage to life and property. Till now rebels have only been able to take over 2-3 Libyan Su- 22/24. But the job to take over the air force is out of question for them.
