Are we at war with Libya?

[Waldo]

I have 3 questions.

 

How many people have died at the hands of their leader?

How many people will die in the coming months as a result of stopping the few above?

How much money are we going to earn out of their oil?

 

Ok four questions.how long will it be before we have to work on hearts and minds??

 

The UN dont give 2 hoops about their people if people were so much of a concern then we would have tackled Mugarbee,if anyone thinks its about anything else than oil then they really need a reality check!

 

If it is all about oil (and I suspect that is the case); then essentially, our armend forces are working for the oil companies. Maybe if we all stopped using the stuff (oil), then perhaps there wouldn't be so much confict in these oil rich contries?

 

Do you think we, the people in the developed world, care enough to stop buying the black stuff from BP?

 

I'm not meaning to point the finger at anyone; but are we not all of us adding fuel to the fire, each time we fill up our cars?

[Lucifer]

I'm trying to understand the implications of our decision to take part in a no-fly zone over Libya.

 

Does this mean we are in yet another war, or what other status is appropriate to your military going into a foreign airspace and shooting at the forces of that land.

 

Don't worry about it, all will be revealed, some more "heros" on the way then, who will bring out the Heros Mega Bar in purple, probably Cadbury via USlessA.

[Waldo]

... I believe there is oil in Libya, but I may be wrong.

 

http://www.eia.doe.gov/international/reserves.html

 

If you scroll down to the Africa section, Libya has the highest reserves of oil, out of all the African countries (higher than Nigeria), at around 43-ish billion barrels.

[Lucifer]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/international/reserves.html

 

If you scroll down to the Africa section, Libya has the highest reserves of oil, out of all the African countries (higher than Nigeria), at around 43-ish billion barrels.

 

Maybe we should lubricate the bank balances of the people who can bring Democracy to the OPEC relief fund, Our Petrolem for the EC.

Can I have half of 0.0007% please.

[Eater Sundae]

Of course it's not a war, it's a UN "Warranted Armed Response", (or W.A.R. for short).

 

Oh, bu@@er, maybe I haven't thought this through.

[HeadingNorth]

I agree the first part, following that rationale though we were never at War with Iraq as technically it hadn't been declared.

 

You're quite right, we never were. Nor were we at war with Argentina.

 

I'm struggling with the second paragraph though as I can't see the difference between targetting ships and targetting aircraft. Surely if we are prepared to shoot aircraft out of the sky, it is no different to shooting ships in the sea.

 

The different isn't what you're aiming at, it is that when a state of war exists, the when and the where are completely irrelevant; but when you are undertaking a specific objective, you can only justify military actions which directly support that objective.

 

To take a totally silly example; if we were at war with the United States, we would attack any of their warships and aircraft, whereever they happened to be; however if we were not officially at war but were liberating Jersey from the USA, we'd have no justification for attacking American forces in the Pacific Ocean, because Jersey is nowhere near the Pacific.

[Lucifer]

We aren't taking part in any actions against Libya as a country, but as the UN. So if there could be said to be a war, it is UN v Libya.

 

Though I actually agree with HeadingNorth, and so don't think there is actually a war at all.

 

We have loads of "Goodies" to fight with, what do they have, next to bugger all so it can't be war it will be stroll in the sand.

[Harleyman]

French jets are already over Libya according to this morning's news on CNN so the war has started. Fighter planes from UK, Canada also participating

 

So what happens if a no fly zone is successfully established? Absent the attacks by Libyan planes the rebels regroup and launch attacks against the Libyan army from their stronghold in Benghazi and the ground war really gets started. How will the UN deal with that situation ?

Sending in NATO troops to get involved on the ground in another war would only be the action of lunatics. The Arab League need to have pressure put on them to supply troops in this case. If this means that killing Khadafy's troops becomes necessary then let their fellow Arabs do it.

However, I see this as possibly heading towards another middle east ground war with the US being sucked in to take the lead if Obama isn't smart enough to keep the US in the position of being a participant and not that of the leader in this operation.

[harvey19]

I keep hearing about Col. Gadaffi killing civilians but what I see are rebels armed with automatic light and medium machine guns.

These people are trying to overthrow their countries leaders and therefore if they engage the states army in armed conflict they will be shot.

[HeadingNorth]

I keep hearing about Col. Gadaffi killing civilians but what I see are rebels armed with automatic light and medium machine guns.

These people are trying to overthrow their countries leaders and therefore if they engage the states army in armed conflict they will be shot.

 

It's widely (if not universally) accepted that Gaddafi's is not a legitimate government. I don't know if he bothers holding rigged elections or not, but he certainly has never won a valid one. He usurped power by force, and has only ever retained power by force.