THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain could face terrorist attacks backed by Libya if Colonel Gaddafi clings to power, David Cameron has warned.
The Prime Minister told MPs that Britain’s own national security "interests" will be at risk if the Gaddafi regime survives in Tripoli.
British officials said that the Government’s leading role in international efforts to topple Gaddafi could increase the threat of reprisals from the Libyan leader and his followers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Gaddafi regime was considered one of the most active state sponsors of terrorism in the world, supporting and funding groups including the IRA.
The Gaddafi regime also paid compensation to the families of the 270 people killed when a Pan-Am airliner was bombed over Lockerbie in 1988.
Following the September 11th attacks on the US in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Gaddafi sought a rapprochement with the West and is largely believed to have ended his support for terrorist activities.
However, Western intelligence officials fear that the current Libyan crisis could potentially see him return to state sponsorship of terror, in reprisal for Western support for his opponents. » James Kirkup | Friday, March 18, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Libya: Tripoli on edge as regime enters new phase in fight to survive – Silver knives glinted in the afternoon sunshine as a tribal nomad in a blue headdress swatted carelessly with a fly whisk but the Friday market at Tripoli's old city walls offered no respite from Libya's troubles. » | Damien McElroy, Tripoli | Friday, March 18, 2011
