Colonel Gaddafi is no saint, but neither is Mugabe (and he's still in power), and it isn't good that he's attacking his own people; but, it is their country and they make the rules no matter how unpleasant we may view those rules. We might snipe from the sidelines about Gaddafi's despotic behaviour but it wasn't many years ago that everyman and his dog were lining up to do business with this reformed character. Blair, I seem to remember, led the charge and in the wake of the West's softening policy towards Libya much business has been done (and we do need his oil).
Indeed, I have an oil industry client who would be doing business with other such countries if it wasn't for the sanctions that make trade with Libya and Iran illegal. There must be hundreds of companies in the UK that are desperate for those contracts, which will go to other countries where there is no trade embargo.
That aside, I think what really stuck in my craw was when I heard Cameron talk about the need for urgent military action against Gaddafi and that if we leave him alone he will threaten not only UK security but world security! Where have we heard that before? The only time in recent years when military action was needed was the Falklands and possibly in the Balkans; other than that it seems that our presence (occupation) in other counties is actually feeding anti-western feelings that will put the UK in harms way and not vice versa as our politicians have us believe.
Looking at things cynically, this is fantastic opportunity for Cameron so that he can show that he is truly a world "stateman" (as Blair before who revelled in the war-mongering rhetoric), but what a pity it is always conflict that politicians like to associate themselves with in order to prove their statemanship. It is certainly disingenuous to start referring to Libya as a failed pariah state, especially, as mentioned above, following Blair's cosying up to trade with Libya.
As Churchill allegedly stated in 1954 (the words were spoken in private and so were never actually verified): “It is ‘better to jaw-jaw than to war-war”.
I can't say that I have a solution to this crisis, but seeing burned-out buses and cars on bombed highways in Libya and you can imagine that the rebel's support for the no-fly zones will soon turn to anger as the death toll of innocent civilians begins to rise.
At that point everyone might stop and see if we can't "jaw-jaw" for a change.
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