Libyans to fight (against Western powers) if West imposes no-fly zone: Gaddafi

Source: Reuters

ISTANBUL | Wed Mar 9, 2011 5:56am EST

(Reuters) - The Libyan people will take up arms against Western powers if they seek to enforce a no-fly zone in the country's airspace, Muammar Gaddafi said.

Britain and the United States have discussed an internationally backed no-fly zone as a contingency plan in case Gaddafi refuses to step down in response to the popular uprising that erupted mid-February.

"If they take such a decision it will be useful for Libya, because the Libyan people will see the truth, that what they want is to take control of Libya and to steal their oil," Gaddafi said in an interview broadcast by Turkey's state-run TRT news channel on Wednesday.

"Then the Libyan people will take up arms against them," Gaddafi said. The interview was conducted in Arabic and aired with Turkish subtitles.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/09/us-libya-gaddafi-airspace-idUSTRE7281T620110309

More shock and awe.

More green-screen night-vision footage on TV news.

More coverage by Cristiane Amanpour.

Wait - that last one is not necessarily a bad thing.

:hi:

The Arab League originally stepped up and said they would do it, though they seem to be backing off now. Libya has a credible IADS these days.

even with western EW and AWACS support

It will cost them planes to take down the IADS without US EW support

That's the question I was answering.

They *MIGHT* be able to pull it off with western support, but will certainly lose planes and pilots. Without it, it could well be a turkey shoot. Low time F-15s not withstanding.

Libya (and the rest of the world) learned a lot about creating survivable IADS after Desert Storm tore Iraq's to pieces on the first night of the war. Whether that is still holding in Libya, we really do not know. The best weapons to take down the Libyan IADS are not available outside of the US, though some good ones have reached NATO.

act.

that they are capable of managing their own affairs in a responsible manner.

They need to show the world that they will not tolerate tortuous, homicidal maniacs murdering fellow Arabs.

I only hope that the nonbinding resolution urging the creation of a no-fly zone that the Senate passed last week, will remain as it was passed--nonbinding.

our own affairs as they wanted to manage, with the possible exception of areas in which their own respective interests conflict with those of Israel.

Nevertheless, I believe that they are beginning to recognize the hazards of allowing lunatics to operate unchecked in their region. In view of that, it seems logical to expect them to support the advancement of a more enlightened and open-minded society.

Not only would that be good for them, but it might lead to the type of world that would benefit all people.

NATO Members Weighing Libya No-Fly Zone May Face Resistance

March 10 -- NATO countries are seeking to overcome divisions on a no-fly zone to ground Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s air force and forge a response to the fighting there that stops short of military involvement.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 28 defense ministers are meeting in Brussels today where they’ll discuss military options in response to Qaddafi’s aerial and artillery attacks against rebel-held positions. While countries such as the U.K. and France have urged NATO allies to consider a no-fly zone, with the U.S. less enthusiastic, Germany and other nations have expressed concern about the consequences.

“We don’t want to get sucked into a war in North Africa,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters in Brussels

"U.S. forces would be required in any military scenario overseen by NATO"...“France and the U.K. could take the lead on the political level but I don’t think you can do this without the U.S.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-10/nato-members-weighing-libya-no-fly-zone-may-face-resistance.html

Or the lives of your children?

Everyone can find a reason to believe that our hero Mummar is the only things that stands in the way of Western domination of Libya's oil or Al Queda control of Libya.

Hmmm, one side supports a no-fly zone and the other opposes it. Can't make both sides happy. Which side do we support?

He is smart enough to appeal to all sides to support his continued rule. Afraid that the US and UK are after Libyan oil, you should back Gaddafi. Afraid that Al Queda will take over Libya, you should back Gaddafi. He overlooks the fact that the Libyan people are tired of his dictatorial rule. He prefers to blame outsiders (which shifts the blame from his 40 years of oppression) but he's certainly not the first authoritarian ruler to use that PR strategy.

U.S. asks Saudi Arabia to supply rebels with weapons, in a bid to avoid direct military involvement in Libya unrest

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363780/Libya-US-ask-Saudi-Arabia-supply-weapons-rebels-bid-oust-Gaddafi.html#ixzz1G8uiuw4q


http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_pri_per_cap-crime-prisoners-per-capita
# 1 United States: 715 per 100,000 people
# 2 Russia: 584 per 100,000 people
...
# 46 Israel: 174 per 100,000 people
# 47 Libya: 173 per 100,000 people
# 48 Honduras: 172 per 100,000 people
= 49 Mexico: 169 per 100,000 people

F-22s Could Be Assigned To Libyan Operation

The Pentagon is generating plans for a no-fly zone over Libya—plans that could produce the first combat assignment for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.



(snips)

The Lockheed Martin F-22, F-16CJ Wild Weasels and some cyberoperations would be employed in shutting down Libya’s air defense system, which consists “almost exclusively” of Russian-built SA-6 surface-to-air missile (SAM)systems. The munitions are similar to those that opposed NATO forces involved in operations in Serbia and that shot down the single F-117 fighter lost in combat, says a former Air Force chief of staff.

“Creating and enforcing a leak-proof no-fly zone over Libya can be done without stretching U.S. forces,” the veteran fighter pilot says. “The Air Force has the capacity to do this without seriously affecting its missions in Afghanistan. There is no air superiority problem in Iraq or Afghanistan that requires more fighters and AWACS , than already committed .” U.S. aircraft carriers are moving to the western Mediterranean, but operations in Afghanistan may not permit them to maintain a long-term no-fly zone over Libya. That task would likely fall to the Air Force, says a senior USAF official. ”Basing could be an issue. “Obviously it would be desirable to operate from bases in Italy,” the former Air Force chief of staff says.

The Air Force’s bread-and-butter mission is to take down sophisticated, integrated air defense systems, attack air bases to render them unusable, destroy any radars that emit, and clear the skies of any aircraft in flight. After an intense, 24-48-hr. campaign, enforcing the no-fly zone is a routine operation.” Larger aircraft, such as tankers, Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Stars and Boeing E-3 AWACS could conceivably operate from Oman, Tunisia or Qatar.

The establishment of a no-fly zone would require “a massive SAM rollback effort, like that imposed on Iraq ,” the USAF official says. “Every time the Iraqis turned on a radar, we hosed them."


(more)

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2011/03/07/AW_03_07_2011_p28-293410.xml

I doubt he has a clue what "the Libyan people" want or will do. Delusions there

Good luck with that.

Calls for a no-fly zone over Libya ignore the perils of intervention. Long-term solutions aren't as simple as the click of a mouse



John Hilary guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 March 2011 16.14 GMT Article history

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/10/internet-activists-libya-no-fly-zone?commentpage=2#comment-9904896

Franco instigated the Spanish civil war! The revolutionaries have instigated the uprising (in self defense)!

Gaddafi also does not have the numbers on his side, he has mercenaries and more weapons, that's the only thing that's making it last as long.