Political analysts say that protecting civilians in Libya is actually the allied coalition’s secondary priority. The primary one is eliminating the country’s defenses and gaining control over Libya’s oil-rich regions through civil war between tribes.
The death toll is said to have reached 67, according to Libyan health officials.
‘Civilian deaths are inevitable’ – ex-ambassador
It was obvious from the moment US Defense Secretary Robert Gates started talking about a no-flight zone over Libya some weeks ago that it would involve eliminating all anti-aircraft defenses threatening patrolling fighter jets, argues former British ambassador to Libya Oliver Miles.And that, Miles continued, “is going to involve a lot of intrusive military activity and inevitably civilian casualties.”Killing civilians goes against the mandate of United Nations Security Council resolution 1973 – to protect civilians – he added. And while there is no doubt the allied forces will be successful in establishing a no-flight zone, Miles concluded, the question is how they will use their supremacy.
Downfall of Gaddafi could lead to civil war
The Arab League is a “collection of dictators, kings and presidents, all of them puppets of the US, but they are backing down because of the unbelievable hatred and outrage on the part of their own people for the fact that they went along with aggression against yet another Muslim Arab country,” argued Lew Rockwell, chairman of the Research and Educational Center at the US-based Ludwig von Mises Institute.If the coalition succeeds in killing Muammar Gaddafi, it will inevitably mean more ethnic and tribal conflict, which could lead to civil war, Rockwell said – which is exactly what the US needs to control the oil-rich parts of Libya.
Bomb now, reap rewards later
The mission involving hundreds of air strikes on Libya looks one of the US strategies to first blow up everything and then take command and fix things up again, which is a “big winning thing for a lot of military industrial corporations who are ready for war at any time” believes retired US Army Colonel and former diplomat Ann Wright.The obvious lack of planning and determination as to what this military operation in Libya is supposed to do has caused uproar in US Congress because there has been no direct threat to American national security in Libya whatsoever.“There is still a lot of anger in the US government about the [Pan Am Flight 103] Lockerbie bombing and I would not doubt at all that behind the scenes there is a lot of retaliation, and retribution going after Gaddafi to assassinate him – and I think that is wrong,” Ann Wright concluded.
Gaddafi has the momentum
A defense spending review indicated several months ago that Britain would no longer be able to conduct massive military operations such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the ongoing Libyan assault is a “desperate gamble” believes Sukant Chandan, a London-based freelance journalist on current affairs and cultural issues.‘’Now that the Arab League, which has taken a disingenuous, to say the least, position lobbying the bombing of Libya, is backing off and the Libyan rebels have no actual organization or strategy, the social base for the rebellion is very small and Gaddafi has a chance. Gaddafi is frankly a third word leader not to be messed with and Gaddafi is in a very good position,” Chandan says, adding that even the Americans are not expecting a stalemate in Operation Odyssey Dawn.