THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Gaddafi regime on Wednesday taunted the West over its failure to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and said it would "finish the job" of defeating the insurrection against its rule by Friday.As Col Muammar Gaddafi's troops advanced towards the rebel capital, Benghazi, Saif al-Islam, his son, told "traitors and mercenaries" to flee the country or face the consequences.
"We don't want to kill, we don't want revenge, but you, traitors, mercenaries, you have committed crimes against the Libyan people," he said, in an interview. "Leave, go in peace to Egypt." Asked about continuing British and French attempts to persuade the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone, he answered: "Military operations are over. Within 48 hours everything will be finished. Our forces are almost in Benghazi. Whatever the decision, it will be too late."
The failure on Tuesday by the G8 group of nations to agree military intervention in Libya is said to have "perplexed" Downing Street. An immediate decision was opposed by China and Russia but even the United States failed to come out in support of the idea.
At Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron told MPs: "Every world leader has said that Gaddafi should go, that his regime is illegitimate and if at the end of this he is in place that will send a terrible message not just to people in Libya but to others across the region who want to see greater democracy, greater openness in their societies."
Britain has tabled its own resolution at the Security Council along with France and Lebanon, as a representative of the Arab world. But with that unlikely to be passed any time soon, William Hague also said Britain could support military action, including a no-fly zone, even without a resolution.
The White House is said to be exploring "other options", such as using sequestered Libyan assets to fund the opposition. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she was hopeful the UN Security Council would take a vote on a Libya resolution no later than Thursday. » | Richard Spencer, Tripoli, Rob Crilly in Benghazi, Nabila Ramdani in Paris and Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Saif ul Islam al Qadhafi makes Barack Hussein Obama look so, so weak! The president of the USA just isn’t up to the job of dealing with the rough dynamics of the current geo-political scene. Maybe, he should have stuck with community organizing! – © Mark
