British Army ready for Libya mission at 24 hours’ notice

cem Sat, 03/05/2011 - 8:57pm

Daily Telegraph, 5 March 2011

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British Army ready for Libya mission at 24 hours’ notice

[propaganda alert]

6 March 2011

compiled by Cem Ertür

1) British Army ready for Libya mission at 24 hours’ notice (5 March 2011)

2) Former UK Foreign Minister Straw: Gaddafi makes me glad we toppled Saddam (5 March 2011)

3) UK Prime Minister Cameron: We do not in any way rule out the use of military force against Libya (28 February 2011)

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Sources confirmed that The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, had been placed on heightened readiness, prepared to deploy to North Africa at 24 hours’ notice. [1] [UK] Special Forces soldiers and MI6 officers are thought to be on standby for deployment to Libya. [2]

Government sources said that British diplomats and specialist advisers could be deployed to Benghazi in eastern Libya to work with leaders trying to co-ordinate efforts to oust the Libyan dictator. British diplomats would help "support the transition" of power, sources said. [...] [Prime Minister] David Cameron this week suggested that Britain was considering giving military assistance to the opposition groups, telling MPs he was prepared to look at supplying weapons. [2]

“Without full and prompt compliance with the [United Nations] Security Council Resolution 1441, or the military action, Saddam would, as the ISG [Iraq Survey Group] concluded, have re-armed with WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. That would have meant that today in the Middle East, there would have been not just one highly dangerous proliferator but two: Iraq and Libya. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi without nuclear and chemical weapons is bad enough. With them, the situation today would be terrifying.”

[Former UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw (2001-2006), article in The Times, 5 March 2011. Mr Straw was the Foreign Minister of UK during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.] [3]

“For the future of Libya and its people, Colonel Gaddafi’s regime must end and he must leave. To that end we are taking every step possible to isolate the Gaddafi regime, deprive it of money, shrink its power [...] With respect to all these actions, Britain is taking a lead. [...]

And we do not in any way rule out the use of military assets [against Libya]. [...] I have asked the [UK] Ministry of Defence and the [UK] Chief of the Defence Staff to work with our allies on plans for a military no-fly zone [in Libya].”

[UK Prime Minister David Cameron, statement on the situation in Libya, The House of Commons of the British Parliament, London, 28 February 2011] [4]

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notes:

[1] Libya: British Army ready for mission at 24 hours’ notice

by James Kirkup and Richard Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 5 March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8363012/Libya-British-Army-ready-for-mission-at-24-hours-notice.html

[2] Libya: Britain to step up support for rebel forces fighting Gaddafi

by James Kirkup and Adrian Blomfield, Daily Telegraph, 5 March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8362636/Libya-Britain-to-step-up-support-for-rebel-forces-fighting-Gaddafi.html

[3] Gaddafi makes me glad we toppled Saddam

As the Libyan people struggle for freedom, there is at least one new democracy finding its way in the Middle East

by Jack Straw, The Times, 5 March 2011

[4] Prime Minister’s statement on Libya