This is a telephone conversation between the British ambassador, Richard Northern MBE, in Tripoli and the senior Benghazi rebel politician Mustafa Abdel-Jalil about the presence of around 8 SAS troops who were captured near Benghazi and were freed late yesterday. They were taken to Malta aboard the HMS Cumberland which faces decommissioning but is playing a key role in the evacuations from Benghazi.
The ambassador tells Abdel-Jalil they were there as an advance party to 'liaise with the National Council' and to ensure there was a hotel where the main group could stay when they arrived. When told by Abdel-Jalil that they made a big mistake arriving by helicopter in an open area, the ambassador says, most unconvincingly, he had 'no idea how they were coming'.
Did he really think his absurd twitterings would be believed? It was a botched job. Does he understand the damage which could be caused by this poorly planned operation? It's very probable Gaddafi will now use this incident against the rebel politicians on the premise that they are associating with British forces.
Britain's behaviour with regard to the Libyan unrest is far below the standard the people of this country have come to expect. David Cameron talks about air strikes when we have no planes. A very serviceable aircraft carrier, the Arc Royal, is being broken up for scrap. Fifty senior military personnel, politicians and academics have written to the PM - although many of them were part of the problem - urging a rethink of the government's SDSR, while the MoD announced on Saturday that 200 troops from the Black Watch (3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland), are on standby for Libyan aid deployment.
Some reports indicate a massive build up of US naval forces, the UK and others, off the coast of Libya so intervention in the internal affairs of the country is already underway and the longer the civil war continues the greater the odds that the West will escalate its intervention, especially if it looks like Gaddafi can succeed in crushing the opposition.
None of this bodes well for Britain. We have a military which is being torn apart yet our PM, like his predecessor, refuses to acknowledge we can no longer deploy as an independent military. Whilst I acknowledge we must cut our cloth according to our means, our security is our most important public service and must be funded accordingly.
A quote from Global Researcher with which I concur:
And a sign where this all heading can be gleaned from the following:
"[T]he United States has demanded the UN Security Council (UNSC) to remove the provisions of charging mercenaries with war crimes in the killing of Libyan civilians."
Just in case no doubt some of its own mercenaries get caught. It's a replay of the US position over the use of mercenaries in Iraq where one of the first acts of overlord Bremer was to pass a 'law' to make it impossible to prosecute 'private contractors' for their actions.
Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya: all conflicts which have or will make these islands less secure than ever. The US have already started their interference. No doubt we shall follow.
Posts
