Operation Ellamy hits Libya defences

HAVE YOUR SAY

21 March 2011

Question:
Will the UK government reverse it's short sighted decision to axe the Type 22 Batch 3 Frigates?
Shaun - Ex-RNZN

21 March 2011

"If you are killed, you have lost a very important pert of your life".
I should start with a small talk, like asking the "newlyweds"- the French, the Coalition government, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Americans about how did their first wedding night go, whether the foursome find it comfortable. Alas, some questions are not asked in a polite company.
Proverbial "writings on the wall" are very easy to read in Libya, because they are so bright in the desert background. They are in red. They are written in blood of people.
All writings in Africa tend to be done in blood.
So, desert foxes and rats are back.
Since WW2 the Western Desert campaigns emblazoned forever the names of Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk, Gazala, Sollum, Bardia, Sidi Barrani and El Alamein (these two across the border in Egypt) on the pages of military history. Outstanding British and German military leaders of the period - most famously Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery ("Monty") and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (The "Desert Fox") - vied for control of the self-same Mediterranean coastline currently under Gaddafi's barrages. Libya has seen it all before. This time there will be NO military heroes and coveted entries in the hall of fame of military campaigns.
The loudest cheerleaders for Libya, as Iraq, will be running round TV and radio stations in London, Europe and the US, then returning to their safe apartments and their UK/US/Europe paid tenures, in the knowledge that no bombs will be dropping on them. Their children will not be shaking uncontrollably and soiling themselves with terror at the sound of approaching planes.
Shame on France, shame on Britain and the US and a UN avowed: "... to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Every shattered body, every child maimed or blown to bits, every widow, widower, orphan, will have their name of those countries, and the UN., written in their blood in their place of death.
In time, it will emerge, who was stirring, bribing, de-stabilizing - and likely few will be surprised at the findings. But by then, Libya will be long broken and its people, fleeing, displaced, distraught.
When it comes to dealing with the usual "liberators", be careful what you wish for. In six months or so, most Libyans, whatever the failings of the last forty years rule, will be ruing the day.
How ironic is that Gaddafi is a child of the Western Desert campaign, born in 1942 near the town of Sirte (on Libya's Gulf of Sidra coast, halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi).
Remember, I wrote before quoting Robert Gates: " Let's call a spade a spade. All No Fly Zones begins with massive aerial bombardment". It just did.
Oroborus is biting its own tail, again...
Deimantas Steponavicius - Newcastle upon Tyne/UK/Meridian Delta

21 March 2011

A little quiz on the regional affairs.
1.Who spent a holiday in Tunisia in the middle of the popular battle to get rid of tyrant Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali? ( A. Alain Juppe back as French minister of foreign affairs and preaching about humanitarian values or B. Chanel icon Michele Alliot-Marie).
2. How much it costs a day for NATO to operate out of French military bases along the Mediterranean and Italian air force and naval bases in Sicily?( A.£200million a week or B. £230 million a week.)
3. The provisional, military Egyptian government, more sensibly, has already said it won't take part in military operations. What will they do instead? ( A. Egyptian military will ship assault rifles and ammunition across the border to eastern Libya or B. Egyptian military will introduce belly-dancing as part of physical training regime of its troops).
4.Will UN vote with the same zeal to impose a no drive zone on Saudi Arabia - to prevent it from sending tanks and troops across the causeway to repress people in Bahrain, a country it has already invaded?( A. No or B. Are you out of your tiny mind- never).
5.What did Col.Gaddafi say on Portuguese TV channel RTP? ( A. If the world gets crazy with us we will get crazy too. We will respond. We will make their lives hell because they are making our lives hell. They will never have peace or B.I think, I am on a wrong medication).
6. What did President Obama refer Bahrain's al-Khalifas and the House of Saud as on US TV?
( A. They are " evil dictators" or B. They may be controversial but they are ours).
7.And , finally- What is the Real reason for the situation in Libya? ( A. Libya is the largest oil economy in Africa, ahead of Nigeria and Algeria. It holds at least 46.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (10 times those of Egypt). That's 3.5% of the global total. Libya produces between 1.4 and 1.7 million barrels of oil a day, but wants to reach 3 million barrels. Its oil is extremely prized, especially with an ultra-low cost of production of roughly $1.00 a barrel.
When Gaddafi threatened Western oil majors, he meant the show would soon be over for France's Total, Italy's ENI, British Petroleum (BP), Spanish Repsol, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Hess and Conoco Phillips - though not for the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). China ranks Libya as essential for its energy security. China gets 11% of Libya's oil exports. CNPC has quietly repatriated no less than 30,000 Chinese workers (compared to 40 working for BP).
For its part Italian energy giant ENI produces over 240,000 barrels of oil a day - almost 25% of Libya's total exports. No less than 85% of Libya's oil is sold to European Union (EU) countries.
So a who's who of profiteers of the - in theory - UN-sanctioned US/North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)/Arab League military operation in Libya has got to include European Union and Anglo-American Big Oil. Not to mention Wall Street - think about those billions of dollars of Libyan financial assets deposited in Western banks, and now confiscated; and of course US/EU weapons producers. Or B. Colonel M. Gaddafi is a bad man and mistreats his own people).

Deimantas Steponavicius - Newcastle upon Tyne/UK/Meridian Delta

21 March 2011

I wonder how cost effective and safe it is to fly 3000 mile strike sorties with Tornados using 2 or 3 in flight refueling prods to get these 'long range' strike assets to their target.

Of course, in a better run and equipped UK armed forces we would have strike GR9 Harriers flying off Ark Royal just off Tripoli, with air cover from FA2 Harriers, and heavy weight bombing from new-build HS Buccaneers (if needed) which could have flown from Italy, to their target, and back again, with the same bomb load as the Tornado with a higher operational speed and no in flight refueling (or perhaps buddy-buddy refueling).

Better yet, with the UK having decided (fictitiously) to resurrect proper fleet air arm operations in the mid 80's, new-build Buccaneers and naval Typhoons would have been flying off new large fleet carriers for a decade or so by now, at considerably less expense than the less capable hotch-potch we have now. We would probably have exported the naval Typhoons and new-build Buccaneers (FADEC engines and digital avionics) as well, and sustained a much larger and profitable aerospace sector.

But instead we got what we had. Make do despite years of MOD waste and incompetence. Good luck to the airmen and sailors involved. As always they will muddle through and make the best of it. I'm proud of the UK armed forces but not of the MOD civil servants (on final salary pensions and oodles of perks) who send our people into harm's way ill equipped and strategically compromised.
Martin Bayliss - Stroud

21 March 2011

today's papers show planes by their flags, why is the Euro fighter shown with the European union flag, [someone]
also Cameron says we do not need carriers, interesting then the USA and the French, and Italy and even Spain is using and or has offered their carriers, but sadly the UK reduced to a second rate power can only watch , will this be Cameron's Achilles heel,
politicians come and go, the military have to live with the shame and shambolic decisions for years to come .

criss of herts - london