Let's Talk About Libya

And why not? That is all the Arab League, the EU, the UN and NATO are doing.

Read this report on the Battle for Benghazi.

Now, I cannot speak for ALL Libyans, because I haven't met them all. Those I have met over the last eleven years have been decent, hard-working people who want the same as you and I do: a roof, 3 squares a day, a job, and some freedom.

Good people are dying, or being maimed by the regimes' superior weapons. Benghazi will be a bloodbath. Of that there is no doubt. Libyans in Benghazi hate Gadaffi with a passion. Unlike Tripoli, where they will talk of him (in public) with a modicum of respect, in Benghazi the loathing is undisguised. It came as no surprise to me that when the brown stuff hit the twirly thing, it did so in the second city.

Of all the footage I have seen, one clip will remain with me for a very long time. In the clip there is a young anti-Gadaffi chap asking "Where is everybody? We need help".

Where indeed?

They are sat safe, comfy, and warm, in meeting rooms. Talking.

Not just talking, mind you.

"We are discussing very seriously and leading efforts in the Council around a range of actions that we believe could be effective in protecting civilians," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said in New York. 

Yep. They are talking seriously. 

I am sure this will bring comfort to the rebels as they are being strafed by Gadaffi's fighter jets, and being bombed by his artillery batteries. "The Americans are talking seriously, Allah be praised", I can imagine them muttering. 

And:

"Diplomats told Reuters that the United States, Britain and France now supported the idea of the council authorizing military action such as airstrikes to protect civilian areas."

How nice. We have some agreement. We support the idea.

The regime says (in the same report) that "..it will all be over in 48 hours".

Which is a crying shame because we westerners and the Arab League need at least another 4000 meetings to discuss what we may or may not do. Serious meetings involving serious discussions.

I know that the logistics required to create & enforce a no-fly zone are tricky, from a military standpoint. It takes a great deal of manpower and hardware. But it can be done. It should have been done weeks ago. It may have levelled the battlefield and given the rebels a fighting chance at a win. At the very least, it would have reduced the number of casualties significantly.

It now looks like the regime will flatten Benghazi by Saturday morning. Anyone they miss in the bombing campaign will be rounded up, and they will be killed with extreme prejudice. That is how Gadaffi rolls. It's what he does. In 1996, after some problems at a prison, he had over 12 hundred inmates gunned down. Just how does the west imagine he will treat those that defied him openly, for weeks on end? A cuddle and a pay rise?

Not gonna happen. Gadaffi is vicious. He hasn't ruled Libya for 41 years with sugar and spice and all things nice. He crushes his enemies. Many, many thousands will die. He may end up making Pol Pot look like an amateur.

But as long as we are having discussions, serious discussions, all is well. 

That's how we roll. 

EDIT: Thanks to Anon in the comments below, we have a report of an Arab nation getting involved in Libya. Unfortunately, it was in the form of help for Gadaffi from the Syrians.

CR.