European Union prepares to send ground troops to Libya

[Hannah Bell]

The European Union is seeking to utilise the humanitarian cover of the fate of the besieged city of Misrata to send ground troops to Libya under its command. The operation could be mounted within a matter of days. In a reversal of previous policy, the German government of Angela Merkel has offered to play the leading military role.

The EU set up a military mission (EUFOR) ostensibly to back humanitarian aid efforts in Libya on April 1, giving the United Nations a four-month window to call on it to intervene. Misrata, or Misurata, Libya’s third largest city, looks set to be the initial focus of an operation that can then be easily expanded. The city has suffered heavy shelling for several weeks, though last week it received more than 600 tons of World Food Program food—enough to feed over 40,000 people for a month—and Turkey has already mounted efforts to evacuate civilians.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has officially requested a go-ahead from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The German Press Agency DPA reported that Ashton wrote to Ban on April 7 “telling him about the EU’s readiness to act...”

Another official said, “Everybody is aware that something has to be done… You can expect that there will be a mobilization of the international community in the coming days.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/liby-a11.shtml

[dkf]

1. Good luck to them. Just keep us out of it.

[DrDan]

2. we are in it to the tune of over $600B - and continuing to grow

Operatives on the ground

[SDuderstadt]

9. Nice try...

It's $600 M, not $600B.

[DrDan]

10. oops - yes - $600M

hwat do you mean - "nice try"?

[SDuderstadt]

11. "nice try" = you got it wrong n/t

[DrDan]

12. it happens. . . . .

[AlabamaLibrul]

16. not if you're mr. "nice try", to someone, all over every thread n/t

[SDuderstadt]

19. Was the information wrong?

Yes, by a rather large order of magnitude.

[AlabamaLibrul]

20. Good to know

but do you need to be so sanctimonious every time?

[SDuderstadt]

21. It was a gross error...

some people believe everything they read here, without fact-checking it.

You're welcome to believe correcting a mistake with an order of magnitude of a thousand is sanctimonious if you wish. Personally, I don't care.

[sabrina 1]

25. 'Nice try' implies that the person was deliberately trying to deceive

people and got caught. It appears that was not the case, that a mistake was made.

[SDuderstadt]

27. Unless you're a mindreader, it means...

"you swung and missed". If I had meant the poster was being purposely deceptive, I would have said something different.

[Baclava]

6. Agreed. WE need to stay the hell out of any ground fighting.

Sounds like Germany is itching for a fight now. Wonder what changed their minds?

[WatsonT]

14. First reversal they have

first time they start to suffer casualties or get pinned down and need help who do you suppose they're going to turn to?

[Marblehead]

3. Just another

quagmire, giggidy. Endless war

[Search4Justice]

4. Good...

... let them provide the cannon fodder and EVERYTHING else for that matter. The militaristic war agents need to be expunged from our government, regardless of which "party" they claim to be part of. The needs at home are FAR more important than those thousands of miles off our shores. Then WAR MACHINE is bankrupting this Nation, it has to stop NOW.

[Baclava]

5. .......to the shores of Tripoli

"There is a widespread sense in Africa that the war on Libya has nothing to do with humanitarianism and everything to do with oil. Even hitherto pliant bourgeois heads of state are worried that the eruption of neo-colonial militarism in Libya and now the Ivory Coast bodes ill for their own future."

"The United States’ response to the EU initiative could be to seek direct involvement as a means of bypassing President Barack Obama’s pledge that US ground troops would not be sent to Libya. But it feels constrained in its actions and is keen not to be seen as openly dominating the war against Libya, so it can conceal its imperialist war aims."

[Cali_Democrat]

7. Germany abstained from the Libya vote and now they offer to play a leading military role?

:wtf:

That's some wacky shit right there.

[Baclava]

8. Curiouser and curiouser...

oh wait...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb_m3kSA8iI/TWQAYD0ECaI/AAAAAAAAATI/JCHd5tsh23Y/s1600/2010+Oil+Exports+by+Destination.gif

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Sending in humanitarian aid to a war zone isn't 'wacky shit'

Of course, if you take the World Socialist Web Site's spin on it, it might seem so. WSWS would be happy to say 'let them die'.

[leftstreet]

17. Why doesn't anyone think of sending 'humanitarian aid' BEFORE it's a war zone?

Hmmm

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Because they didn't need the aid until someone started shooting at them

Any more questions?

[Cali_Democrat]

22. The crisis was taking place and Germany abstained. Now they're all for it?

That's inconsistency. Something doesn't smell right. I loved the fact that Germany abstained, now they've joined the US, UK and France in a fruitless quest.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. This is to deliver aid to the people of Misrata

There is a difference between that and attacking Gadaffi's aircraft and tanks.

[blindpig]

15. Humanitarian militarism .....

Leopold of Belgium is cackling in Hell.

[Baclava]

24. "Gawd save British Petroleum!" - - signed, The Queen

It's a strategic benefit to the US to see her European partners get their oil, I smell more boots.

The Marines are waiting....to the shores of Tripoli!

[liberalplus]

26. Its refreshing to see the EU doing their share to help

Libya ...it doesn't have to be United States all the time

:kick:
oops

[sabrina 1]

28. Help Libya??

You have to joking. The Libyan people specifically demanded NO FOREIGN TROOPS on Libyan soil. Now with the 'new leaders' who were shipped into the country who for years were studying neo-liberalism in this country and elsewhere, the original rebels have had their revolution hi-jacked.

Like Iraq, this was planned by the outside, it has little if anything to do with the Libyan people which they will learn sadly, as the Iraqis have, very shortly. They know what colonialism is all about, which is why they were so insistent on 'no foreign troops'. Looks like they are already irrelevant. The U.S. IS involved, has been from the beginning. And unless the American people stand up against it, there will be U.S. troops there also, as suggested already by a U.S. General.

I can't believe the cheering for yet another Western invasion of an oil producing country.

Just weeks ago when some of us predicted this, we were told we were 'betraying the rebels', that they would not allow it. Now, that is all forgotten and we move a huge step towards another Western takeover of another country where many people are about to die and many more will end up in our secret detention centers. It's Iraq all over again.

[inna]

30. thank you for another great post. I really appreciate your posts, as I'm sure do many others. nt

[malaise]

29. I thought Germany said it wanted no part of this mess n/t

[On the Road]

31. Holy Mother of God!

That's a surprise. How are they going to coordinate outside the auspices of NATO?

Personally, I'm glad they're doing this. It's been looking like the UN resolution was leading to a stalemate. Qaddaffi shelling cities and poisoning wells has really removed any last shred of legitimacy.