Arab League condemns broad bombing campaign in Libya

This is exactly why we can't count on these dumbasses. It's kind of stupid to attempt to impose a no-fly zone without taking down the air defense systems. Without that all you have is an airwar. And while there is no way a libyan pilot can compete with a Marine Corps pilot, why chance getting our aircraft damaged or our pilots injured.

I do kind of wonder though, if anyone bothered to tell the arab league that we would begin this with a bomning campaign? I find it hard to believe that this caught them totally by surprise. If nothing else, they have seen us kick the shit out of some of their neighbors before. The arab league should know how it's done...

By Edward Cody - The Washington Post

CAIRO—The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, deplored the broad scope of the U.S.-European bombing campaign in Libya and said Sunday that he would call a league meeting to reconsider Arab approval of the Western military intervention.

Moussa said the Arab League’s approval of a no-fly zone on March 12 was based on a desire to prevent Moammar Gaddafi’s air force from attacking civilians and was not designed to endorse the intense bombing and missile attacks — including on Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces — whose images have filled Arab television screens for two days.

“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone,” he said in a statement on the official Middle East News Agency. “And what we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.”

Moussa’s declaration suggested that some of the 22 Arab League members were taken aback by what they have seen and wanted to modify their approval lest they be perceived as accepting outright Western military intervention in Libya. Although the eccentric Gaddafi is widely looked down on in the Arab world, the leaders and people of the Middle East traditionally have risen up in emotional protest at the first sign of Western intervention.

A shift away from the Arab League endorsement, even partial, would be an important setback to the U.S.-European campaign. Western leaders brandished the Arab League decision as a justification for their decision to move militarily and as a weapon in the debate to win approval for a U.N. Security Council resolution two days before the bombing began.

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Qaddafi Pushes Ahead With Attacks on Rebels as Arab League Calls for No-Fly Zone

You know obama has to be tickled that he didn't have to make the decision on the no-fly zone. He seems to have a hard time with decisions, except when it involves radically rearranging the lives of Americans.

It's good to see the arabs of the region taking a little responsibility for their own portion of the globe. The instability in Libya will only cause refugees to pour into the neighboring countries in larger numbers unless something is done to stem the violence.

obama once again proves his foreign policy skills are about as useless as the rest of his skills...

Associated Press

RAS LANOUF, Libya -- The world moved a step closer to a decision on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya but Muammar al-Qaddafi was swiftly advancing Saturday on the poorly equipped and loosely organized rebels who have seized much of the country.

Qaddafi's forces pushed the frontline miles deeper into rebel territory and violence erupted at the front door of the opposition stronghold in eastern Libya, where an Al-Jazeera cameraman slain in an ambush became the first journalist killed in the nearly month-long conflict.

In Cairo, the Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone to protect the rebels, increasing pressure on the U.S. and other Western powers to take action that most have expressed deep reservations about.

In surprisingly swift action and aggressive language, the 22-member Arab bloc said after an emergency meeting that the Libyan government had "lost its sovereignty." It asked the United Nations to "shoulder its responsibility ... to impose a no-fly zone over the movement of Libyan military planes and to create safe zones in the places vulnerable to airstrikes."

Western diplomats have said Arab and African approval was necessary before the Security Council voted on imposing a no-fly zone, which would be imposed by NATO nations to protect civilians from air attack by Qaddafi's forces.

Read the rest at the link above...