So were we right to assist?

[youngmafbog]

As Libya prepares for its first election do the anti war brigade (well represented on this site) now agree that we 'did the right thing' ?

Or would they have prefered to read about more Gaddafi slaughters jut so they could bask in their own self satisifaction?

[Gromit]

AOG

That is why I worded it

// large quantities of oil //

And not a little bit of oil.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

Well that's that one explained away, now what about this one?

/// I think you will find the Libyan people did the right thing. We stayed out of that one. ///

[boxtops]

we won't be able to intervene in foreign problems in future, not if we don't have the manpower and it's only for the defence of our own protectorates.

[Gromit]

// we stayed out of that one. //

We assisted from affar. Our planes flew from England and I assume our submarines fired from the Med. Special forces may have been in Libya, but they were not supposed to be there. We did not do any of the fighting, we bombed airports and radar stations. A worthwhile contribution which greatly assisted the redels. But we did not win it. The Libyan rebels did that.

[New Judge]

I have a different viewpoint to most on issues such as this. We seem to want to allow the populations in these countries to enjoy “freedom and democracy” that we are fortunate enough to have. The sort of freedoms and the democracy we have in the UK have been built up and developed over centuries. They could not have been introduced overnight. But that is precisely what we are suggesting should happen in the places in which we are interfering to a greater or lesser degree (Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya to name a few).

The difficulty is we have no idea why these places are ruled the way they are and even less idea how their populations will react when given their “freedom”. Most importantly we have absolutely no idea who the “rebels” or “freedom fighters” to whom we are lending our support are or how they will behave if given a sniff of power. Apropos Libya in particular, this article makes interesting reading:

http://www.dailymail....savage-vengeance.html

So to answer the question, we don't know what the "right thing" is and we'd do better minding our own business. (Cue for all the Human Rights and humanitarian aid activists to take to their keyboards).

[baza]

i think i agree with new judge now thats a rarety.

[SeaJayPea]

Only time will tell. If the entire Middle East gets into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, then the west will regret the going of the likes of Ghadaffi just as soon as they turn the oil off.

[Gromit]

President Obama visited Turkey shortly after he was elected President and spoke to the wider region. He said:
// The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical not just in rolling back the violent ideologies that people of all faiths reject, but also to strengthen opportunity for all its people. //

It is no coincidence that in the few years since, we have seen the violent dictatorships ousted across the area. The same dictatorships the west has supported for the last 50 years. And the time was right. In an age of satellite television and the internet, peoples living under a dictatorship can see a better alternative and have taken to the streets to get it. The future is unpredictable and some of the changes will not suit us. But for a great many people, the new democracy will be much better than the dictatorships they had live under previously.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// Our planes flew from England and I assume our submarines fired from the Med. Special forces may have been in Libya, we bombed airports and radar stations. ///

So we did all that, and yet still according to you "we stayed out of that one"???????????

[ichkeria]

"New Judge" is completely wrong, as it happens. We don't expect countries such as Libya to be democracies overnight. But we know dictatorship when we see it. It's not always possible to do anything about it but there are occasions where it is possible and in those cases we can assist.
And better to admit that than to adopt the hypocritical position of, say the Russians who claim to be against "regime change" - unless it's regime change in Georgia, Ukraine etc. of course :-)

Plainly the answer to the question is "yes".