Air strikes on Libya

Let us be clear: We are no supporters of Moammar Qaddafi and, in accordance with the expressed wishes of what appears to be the overwhelming majority of Libyans, would like to see him gone.

As a consequence, the action against Libya so far, especially the establishment of a no-fly zone and the minimisation of Qaddafi’s ability to kill his own citizens — is perhaps the only option that could have been employed at this point in time. Almost too late, it appears that they have been successful in pushing back pro-Qaddafi forces from routing rebel forces. However, the end goal of this action is unclear since the forces have no mandate to remove Qaddafi nor would that be possible without the use of ground forces. Tacit acknowledgement of this has come from US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen who was quoted on March 20 as saying that the intention of the air strikes and missile attacks was not to oust the Libyan dictator and that he may well survive the air campaign. In the best case scenario, however, this attack will allow the rebel forces to regroup and eventually overcome Qaddafi’s band of thug supporters and mercenaries.

That said, the action by the international forces does however come across as odd given the silence over the protests and criticism directed of late against the absolute rulers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. This means that if the West bombs Tripoli whilst watching other Arab despots kill their own citizens, it will seem more and more as if there is an ulterior motive to the attacks. Yemen in particular has seen violence for several weeks because the people of Yemen are fed up with the decades-long rule of their head of state, but the West has so far not asked for Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, perhaps because he has said that he is committed to stamping out al Qaeda in his country. A double-standard will cause more problems in the long term leaving the basic problems of misrule, corruption and lack of genuine democracy and freedom to be resolved in the future. For its part, Libya must immediately abide by the no-fly zone set up under UN auspices and call an actual halt on all attacks on its own citizens, especially in the country’s east, which has been under the control of forces who want Mr Qaddafi to hand over power.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2011.