The War On Libya Is Stupid As Well As Wicked


Vernon Coleman


So now we know. David Cameron is as half-witted as Gordon Brown. (We always knew Sarcozy wasn't a fully complemented picnic.)

The new war on Libya (and when you start bombing another country it seems fair to describe it as a war) is as unjustifiable as the other two we're involved in. (I can't remember how many wars America is currently waging. I don't think they can either.)

If we have to go into Libya to `save' the rebels, why aren't we in Yemen, Bahrain, China, North Korea, Zimbabwe and heaven knows how many other countries where dictators are doing nasty things to their citizens?

Well, oddly enough none of the others have any oil.

And although Libya only has 2% of the world supply that's still a pretty important chunk of what is now available to the West now that dictators everywhere are clinging to what they have or flogging it to China.

And, of course, Libya (unlike some of the others) has no nasty weapons with which to attack us. It's always comforting to be able to bomb the shit out of a country when you know they can't retaliate.

The problem is that you have to put your money on Gaddafi rather than yet another damned coalition. The dear old ducky may be 94% on the Barking Scale but he's got quite a few things in his favour.

First, a majority of his subjects seem to support him. Many revere him. They will fight to the death to protect him. And Gaddafi will, of course, use his own version of the BBC (another state broadcaster) to remind his citizens of the Crusades and the fact that we don't exactly have a blameless track record in the region. For an ace manipulator it won't be hard to whip up outrage in Tripoli. Gaddafi is a damned sight craftier than Nobel Peace Prize Winner Obama or any of the other halfwits in the Coalition. Putin and Merkel are not stupid - which is why they're keeping their tootsies clean. (Mrs Clinton seemed to think Germany was on our side with this one. But it must be difficult for America to keep track of `allies', `coalition partners' and `enemies'.)

Second, Gaddafi doesn't care how long this lasts. He's stocked up and ready for a siege. I can't see him taking that flight to South America that Hague was convinced he'd boarded weeks ago.

Third, Gaddafi will put women and children in with the tanks and he'll put guns and soldiers in with the sick, the elderly and the wedding parties. The next few weeks are going to see a constant stream of horror stories (with film and interviews) illustrating the innocent civilians we've killed.

Pity Cameron (who is becoming increasingly greasy) and the utterly nauseating Clegg couldn't see all this coming.

But then they (and Obama and Sarcozy) have to do something to try to distract attention from the mess they're making at home.

So we now have another bloody war.

Copyright Vernon Coleman 20 March 2011

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