RNA - Here in a "major report", the committee concludes that the ex-PM's government did not do enough to pursue political options with Colonel Gaddafi; that Britain’s bungled air war in Libya opened up a major new terror training base for twisted ISIL fanatics; that David Cameron is personally responsible for pushing through what they brand an “ill-conceived intervention” five years ago; and that he is blamed for the rise of ISIL, because of what happened afterwards.
In the report, the committee also slams the former PM for ignoring military chiefs’ warnings to ally with the French and bomb Colonel Gaddafi’s ranks. It says terrorists took advantage of the anarchy the air campaign created to launch a series of devastating strikes from Libyan training camps, including the Tunisia beach massacre in 2015.
In his defence, Cameron has simply claimed that the Libyan people must be blamed for failing to take their chance of democracy!
This is rubbish. There is no dispute about the fact that Britain’s actions in Libya were part of a deliberate regime-change campaign, the results of which are still playing out today – just like in Iraq. It is also preposterous to hear the committee simply call on the government to set up a “formal mechanism” to allow military and spy chiefs to make a formal protest about any future PM’s invasion order they don’t think is right.
Obviously, the interventionists are not feeling any remorse at all. Meaning, no British official, including David Cameron, will ever be held to account for the Libya debacle. After all, he is only responsible for the failure to develop a coherent Libya strategy! And their perfect alibi is that “the decision to intervene in Libya was an international one, called for by the Arab League and authorised by the UN Security Council.”
That said, the United States, Britain and France are still responsible for destroying Africa’s wealthiest nation, Libya, in order to re-colonise the African continent. They lied to the international community about “Gaddafi’s threat” in order to get them on board. Their military misadventure helped various terrorist outfits to take advantage of the anarchy the air campaign created to seize control of portions of Libyan territory. Worse yet, ISIL has used its presence in Libya to train terrorists and attack even Europe.
After five years, the interventionists simply condemn Cameron’s decision for lacking both “accurate intelligence” and a coherent strategy, and not the dirty war itself, which “admittedly” led to political and economic collapse, inter-militia and inter-tribal warfare, humanitarian and migrant crises, widespread human rights violations, the spread of Western weapons across the region, and the growth of ISIL in North Africa.
Under these circumstances, expect no justice for the people of Libya and certainly no end to their daily sufferings and horrors. Just like the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq war, there is no silver lining here apart from lip service.
Like the US-led invasion of Iraq, the invasion of Libya was decided well before all peaceful resolutions were exhausted, proving that the disastrous intervention was a war of choice. Despite their assertions to the contrary, it had nothing to do with “humanitarianism”, and because of the reality on the ground, it could happen again.
The saddest part of all this is that the so-called “major report” by the Foreign Affairs Committee about the “ill-conceived intervention” in Libya will fade away in the avalanche of other news. It will amount to nothing in Britain, let alone at the United Nations.
111/847/C