Everyone knows that speed made D-Day possible and that Elvis became a pillhead in the Armored Corps in Germany

Now this:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/ ... -interview

By the way, many in the Arab world believed Gaddafi was off his box on hashish (plus x or y or z,
according to whichever version you wish to believe) ... hence his Michael Jackson uniforms with
their rows of meaningless fancy-dress medals and sudden decrees that urban-dwellers MUST rear
chickens on their balconies, the confiscation of musical instruments (a decision reversed within 48
hours and the decree that schools must burn all textbooks in languages other than Arabic ...

.

MID-JULY to 1 AUGUST, 2014

One can speak with some authority here ...

Having run away from Tripoli after 16 days of listening to artillery and heavy machine-gun fire coming
from a new front line 7 km down the road ...

The locals said, "We were unfortunate to have one Gadaffi. Now we have a million."

Appallingly, some of Gadaffi's absurd Amazon bodyguard were killed by horrific mob violence.

hanno wrote:Like Iraq and Syria, it all went to shit when the strongman was removed. Thank you, America.

Sure, they were such lovely, peaceful places for all their citizens before that. And check your history on Syria. Assad was not "removed" by the US. His brutal regime lost vast amounts of territory to Syrian Sunni insurgents backed by hordes of Sunni foreign fighters. Assad's forces remain in power in historic Alawite and other Shia strongholds, which only ever represented 13% of the total population.

hanno wrote:I am not saying they were great places, but they were stable. Even many of the politicians who were for invading Iraq today say that it was a mistake. "War on Terror" and all that......

As for Syria: here it was exactly the opposite: nobody intervened (no oil, I guess) and look at the shit that caused today.

Changed your tact their, eh? First you said "thanks America" for taking out both Iraqi and Syrian strongmen and leaving chaos as a result, and now you are complaining about the US actually not doing so in Syria.

So you criticize US military intervention, unless of course you are criticizing lack of US military intevention...and smugly feel self righteous with both stances. Are you andyinasia's twin brother by any chance with your backpeddling?

And in case you forgot, the UK, Canada, Norway, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and a half dozen other countries also performed bombing sorties in Libya.

Aviation in the Libyan Revolution of 2011

[Originally written for Al Musallh magazine in Tripoli in 2014, before a new civil war erupted
and the fearful writer was obliged to flee Tripoli and cross the Tunisian border]

========================================================================

"We have carried out this operation very carefully, without confirmed civilian casualties."
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary-General of NATO, November 2011

(On 2nd March 2012 the United Nations Human Rights Council claimed that the Allied bombing campaign of 2011 had caused 60 civilian fatalities. The New York Times estimated that between 40 and 70 civilian fatalities had resulted from the Allied bombing.)

Soon after the Libyan revolution began, in mid-February 2011, the regime employed air power as a tool of repression, employing fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in the ground attack role against armed rebels and unarmed demonstrators, including an attack on at least one funeral procession.

Opposition sources, which had ready access to highly-sympathetic Western media, were quick to claim that the regime was using foreign pilots to kill Libyans; these were said to be of Syrian nationality. It is known that East German, Palestinian and Pakistani pilots had flown in the regime's air force in earlier years. It soon began to be rumoured that the regime was airlifting African mercenaries into Libya to crush the uprising. While shamelessly exaggerated for propaganda purposes, this claim later proved to have had some basis in fact; ill-trained and hastily-recruited mercenaries hailing from Niger, Chad, Mali and Kenya were captured by the regime's enemies.

On 21st February, a crew of two flew their Libyan People's Air Force Dassault Mirage F-1 to Malta in defiance of their orders to attack protesters in Benghazi; they requested Maltese asylum. On 23rd February the two-man crew of a Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter ejected from their plane rather than bomb targets in Benghazi.

Well-armed, motivated and skilled, rebel ground forces in Brega, Ra's Lanuf and elsewhere shot down several of the regime's aircraft soon after armed resistance began; a Mirage F-1, a Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer, a Mi-24 Hind, a MiG-21 Fishbed, a Su-22 Fitter and a MiG-23 Flogger all fell to accurate ground fire, usually inflicted by Russian-made Zu-23-2 AA guns.

There were numerous early defections from the regime's air force and the formation of a Free Libyan Air Force fighting alongside rebel ground units followed soon afterwards. Details remain imprecise but it is believed that the Free Libyan Air Force possessed 28, or more, serviceable fixed-wing aircraft and 9 or more serviceable helicopters. On 15th March, a MiG-23 Flogger accompanied by a helicopter sank two of the regime's naval craft close to what was then the front line between the two opposing ground forces.

By the 17th March, the foreign press was gleefully reporting that a heroically self-sacrificing rebel aviator had crashed his aircraft deliberately into the regime's command centre, the Azizia compound in Tripoli. Commendably, the BBC displayed an appropriate scepticism: "As for the claims made by the Libyan opposition abroad of a fighter jet suicide attack on Colonel Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia compound that evening - it's unlikely, but who knows? The rumour around town is that some even saw smoke rising from the compound."

Whether this tale was pure invention or had some foundation is fact is disputed; army officers who rallied to the rebel cause at opportune moments as the war progressed have flatly denied the veracity of the report.

It is thought that the Free Libyan Air Force flew 38 missions until the imposition of the no-fly zone. Additionally, a BAe 146 aircraft of the Free Libyan Air Force flew unarmed cargo flights to and from improvised airstrips on straight and level highways in Cyrenaica in insouciant defiance of the United Nations resolution.

Foreign intervention, acting in accordance with contingency plans prepared long before and meticulously updated over the years, was swift and effective. The systematic and well-planned use of modern air power deployed by first-rate air forces, ostensibly to protect the Libyan civilian population from the megalomaniac regime's supposedly merciless cruelty, made it impossible for the regime to deploy its formidable air force to crush the uprising briskly.

By Third World standards, the Libyan People's Air Force was, on paper at least, a formidable force before hostilities began, claiming to possess serviceable 374 aircraft based on 13 military airfields, with plenty of other airfields and serviceable airstrips available of required.

Any air force is only as good as its readiness rate and any listing of the aircraft in the inventory of the regime's air force is unavoidably misleading. Even before the defections, the regime had plenty of planes but insufficient airmen and skilled ground crewmen.

Among many other types, the regime's air arm possessed, in varying degrees of serviceability, twenty-two Mig-17 Fresco fighters, over a dozen MiG-21 Fishbeds, no fewer than one hundred and thirty MiG-23 Floggers, sixty-eight Mig-25 Foxbats, ninety Su-22 Fitters, one hundred and sixteen Soko Galeb ('Seagull') ground-attack aircraft, eight Dassault Mirage III aircraft, twelve Dassault Mirage F-1 fighter-bombers, one hundred and eighty Aero L-39 Albatros jet trainers, several Ilyushin Il-76 Candid transports and Il-78 Midas refuelling aircraft, an unknown number of Aermacchi SF-260 Warrior light ground-attack aircraft, twenty very versatile CH-47 helicopters and Bell 212, Mi-8 Hip, Mi-25 and Mi-35 Hind ground attack helicopters as well as numerous Su-24 Fencer and Tu-22 Blinder bombers.

The four ATR-42MP maritime surveillance aircraft purchased from Italy were to prove of no value to the regime during the naval blockade.

On 21st March 2011 a multinational coalition commenced military intervention intended to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. The initial coalition comprised Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.A. Other nations eagerly joined the fray subsequently.

The air and naval forces employed in the Libyan intervention constituted a formidable array. Initially, American and British naval vessels fired 110 - some accounts state 120 - Tomahawk cruise missiles against Libyan targets.

An effective naval blockade was put in place to monitor Libya's long coastline and Canadian, British and French aircraft began flying sorties over Libya. It was soon confirmed that French aircraft had attacked and destroyed tanks and other Libyan military vehicles.

The nations enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 numbered seventeen: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.A., all of them members of NATO. The others were Sweden, long an ex-officio member of NATO, and Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, all three of these being members of the Arab League.

For reasons primarily to do with the two countries' internal politics, the neighbouring nations of Tunisia and Egypt made no contributions of air or naval forces and did not offer the use of base facilities.

Belgium committed six F-16 fighter-bombers. The Bulgarian contribution to the naval blockade was the frigate Drazki and Romania sent the frigate Regele Ferdinand.

Canada contributed seven CF-18 fighter jets, two CC-177 Globemaster III heavy transports, two CC-150 Polaris refuelling aircraft, two CC-130J Super Hercules tactical transports and two CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft.

Denmark contributed six F-16M fighters and one C-130J Super Hercules transport. The Danes bombed 17% of all targets, dropping 923 precision bombs in the course of 599 missions. Subsequently, the Danes and Norwegians were eager to proclaim that they had bombed a disproportionate number of targets in relation to the number of their planes deployed. The six Norwegian F-16AM aircraft were based at Souda Bay in Crete.

France, the nation responsible for 35% of strikes, contributed eighteen Mirage aircraft, nineteen Rafale jets, six Mirage F-1 aircraft, six Super Etandard aircaft, two E-2 Hawkeye surveillance aircraft, two C-2 Greyhound carrier-borne cargo aircraft loaned by the U.S. Navy, three Eurocopter Tiger helicopters and sixteen Gazelle helicopters aboard the assault helicopter carrier Tonnerre. Additionally, France's naval contribution was formidable; the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, the anti-aircraft destroyer Forbin, the frigates Jean Bart, Dupleix and Aconit, the fleet tanker Meuse and a Rubis-class submarine.

France's immense contribution is all the more remarkable in light of the now-acknowledged fact that Muammar Gaddafi had contributed lavishly to Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election fund.

Greece contributed the frigate Limnos to assist the naval blockade and two or more Super Puma air-sea rescue helicopters in addition to one Embraer AWACS aircraft.

Despite Silvio Berlusconi's loud objections to armed intervention against a tyrant with whom he believed he had achieved a working modus vivendi, Italy contributed Typhoon fighters, four Tornado ground-attack aircraft and two Tornado air-to-air refuelling tankers, four F-16s,four AV-8B Harriers aboard the Guiseppe Garibaldi, four Eurofighters and four additional Tornado aircraft under specifically NATO command. Italy's naval contribution consisted of the frigate Libeccio, the auxiliary ship Etna, the destroyer Andrea Doria and the frigate Euro.

The Italian contribution of AV-8B Harriers was later doubled to eight, together with an undisclosed number of AMX fighter-bombers and both KC-130J and KC-767A tanker aircraft.

Jordan contributed six F-16 fighter aircraft as escorts for Jordanian transport aircraft flying humanitarian aid missions to rebel-held Cyrenaica.

Qatar contributed six Mirage 2000-5EDA attack aircraft and two c-17 transport aircraft.

NATO contributed three E-3 AWACS aircraft to monitor Mediterranean airspace.

Spain contributed six F-18s and two 707-331B(KC) air-to-air refueling tankers.

The Netherlands contributed six F-16AM fighters, a KDC refueling tanker and the minehunter Haarlem.

Sweden, long an absentee from the field of battle under the Swedish flag*, contributed eight JAS Gripen aircaft, a Saab 340 AWACs plane and a C-130 refueller.

Sweden was not, and is not, an acknowledged member of NATO, but it is an open secret that the Swedish military establishment cooperated closely with NATO on many occasions during the Cold War.

In spite of initial political misgivings and vociferous public disquiet, Turkey contributed six F-16s, five surface ships and a submarine.

The United Arab Emirates contributed six F-16s and six Mirage 2000 aircraft.

The U.K. contributed sixteen Tornado and ten Typhoon aircraft. Initially based in the U.K., these were later flown from southern Italy. Other British contributions were Nimrod and Sentinel surveillance aircraft, Sentry AEW/AWACS aircraft, VC-10 refueling tankers and four Apache helicopters aboard H.M.S. Ocean. The British naval contribution was significant; the frigates Westminster and Cumberland, the submarines Triumph and Turbulent, the destroyer Liverpool and the mine countermeasures vessel Brocklesby.

The U.S.A. contributed A-10 Ground Attack aircraft, four B-2 stealth bombers, AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, F-15E and F-16 fighters, at least one 1960s-era Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, AC-130 gunships of Vietnam War-era fame, additional tanker aircraft and several Predator drones firing Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. The American naval contribution consisted of the amphibious assault ship Kearsage, the amphibious transport dock Ponce, the guided missile destroyers Barry and Stout, the attack submarines Providence and Scranton, the cruise missile ship Florida and the command ship Mount Whitney.

The French were responsible for a third of the airstrikes, the British 21% and the Americans 19%. Aircraft from Belgium, Canada, France, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Qatar, the U.A.E., the U.S.A. and the U.K. dropped ordnance on Libya.

Aircraft were based in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.A. and some used the facilities at Akrotiri, one of the British Sovereign Bases on Cyprus. This was not to the liking of the Cypriot government, which publicly wailed its impotent disapproval.

There were 9,700 strike sorties against 5,900 carefully-selected targets. Targets included 600 tanks and other armoured vehicles, and 400 artillery pieces and rocket launchers. In Naples, intelligence analysts and targeting specialists vetted proposed targets, compiled lists of these, which were then relayed to an operations centre near Bologna, where targets were matched to specific aircraft and weaponry.

For command bunkers, long periods of surveillance by circling drones were usual. There was careful assessment of the angle of attack and time of day thought to pose least risk to civilians. Ordnance with delayed-action fuses was used to delay detonation of a bomb's explosive charge in order to minimise risk to people and structures near the selected target. The main targets were in or near Zuwara, Tripoli, Misrata, Sirte, Ajdabiya, Benghazi and Sebha, but no place in Libya was safe from sudden and precise attack from the air, a fact which did much to undermine the morale of those fighting to defend the Gaddafi regime from its enemies.

As in earlier wars, such as the aerial bombardment of Japan in 1944-45, millions of leaflets were dropped warning Libyan civilians to stay well away from likely military targets.

No cluster munitions or depleted uranium ordnance were employed in Libya and, in sharp contrast to the Allied onslaught on Iraq in 2003, there was no systematic targeting of electricity grids. However, Allied warplanes did hit strike targets a second time some minutes after a first strike, a tactic intended to kill and maim rescuers which had been used with success in the 1999 bombing of Serbia.

Just as most Egyptians have been taught that Egypt 'won' the 1973 war against Israel, many Libyans have come to accept the absurd myth that the Libyan people, unaided, achieved the overthrow of the grotesque and capricious despotism which governed Libya from 1969 until 2011. The reality is that Allied air power paralysed Gaddafi's air force and smashed much of the regime's armour and heavy artillery to smithereens. Whether Libyans are willing to acknowledge the fact or not, the employment of overwhelming air power enabled the victory of the National Transitional Council forces and their tribal and militia allies.

[Subsequent events have shown how fragile a coalition of interests this actually proved to be.]

On 23rd March, an R.A.F. spokesman claimed that the Libyan People's Air Force no longer existed as a fighting force and that Allied aircraft could operate in Libyan airspace with unchallenged impunity. A day later, a French Rafale destroyed a G-2 Galeb ('Seagull') on the ground. On 26th March a MiG-23 Flogger and two MiG-35 Fulcrums were destroyed on the ground at Misrata and a day later a Su-22 Fitter was destroyed on the ground by a Belgian F-16.

Despite its critical losses, the regime's air arm still had a few remaining teeth. On 7th May a detachment of SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 Warrior light training aircraft struck fuel tanks at rebel-held Misrata, setting them ablaze.

As is well-known, air power is frequently a clumsy and inaccurate weapon; on 27th April a NATO airstrike killed twelve fighters on the National Transitional Council side and wounded five others after a 'friendly' force was misidentified as hostile.

The Libyan civil war was an untidy mess with no coherent front. Some places of strategic importance changed hands several times. In early March, the forces of the regime rallied and pushed eastwards towards Benghazi. Swift deployment of Allied air power made their victory an impossibility and in August the armed enemies of the regime surged westwards towards Tripoli.

Probably the most memorable single incident featuring the participation of Allied air power in the Civil War involved the death of Muammar Gaddafi himself. On 20th October 2011, an R.A.F. reconnaissance aircraft reported a convoy of 75 vehicles three kilometres west of Sirte, possibly as the result of the interception of a satellite telephone call made by Gadaffi.

It has been claimed that precise details of Gadaffi's telephone communications had been traded to French Intelligence by Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, desperately eager to gain some credit with France.

Subsequently the convoy was attacked and scattered by NATO aircraft, probably French, and at least one missile fired by a Predator drone commanded from a base close to Las Vegas in distant Nevada inflicted destruction of many vehicles and numerous fatalities. Within minutes, Libyan rebel forces closed in and the megalomaniac despot and his son Mutassim met sanguinary deaths echoing those of Gaius Caligula and his family.

The damnatio memoriae of the iconography of the former regime is a process as yet incomplete; diminishing numbers of increasingly tattered banknotes bearing a portrait of the tyrant in ebulliently cheery mood remained in everyday circulation in Libya for some years. [The process is now, in 2016, almost certainly complete.)

The claimed financial costs of what Muammar Gaddafi called a "colonial crusade" have been published; the British incurred costs of $1.5 billion, the Americans $1.1 billion, the Italians $700 million, the French $450 million, the Turks $300 million, the Danes $120 million, the Belgians $58 million, the Spanish $50 million, the Swedes $50 million and the Canadians $26 million.

It has been said of the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein that "the Americans won the war, the Iranians won the peace and the Turks won the contracts." Prewar Libya, a stable despotism, was producing 1.6 million barrels of oil per day. As of May 2014 the figure was less than half of that, a result of prolonged postwar political instability and chaos.

As for engendering lasting affection and esteem, nothing of the kind happened; on 11th September 2012, the American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was murdered in Benghazi with two other Americans in atrocious circumstances and both Italian and British war cemeteries in eastern Libya have been gleefully desecrated by Muslim fundamentalists, occurrences which would have been unthinkable during the regime of the slain tyrant and his minions.

* Many Swedes fought for Finland against the Soviet Union in the Winter War. Additionally, many Swedes fought alongside other Scandinavian, French and Spanish volunteers on the Eastern Front in World War 2.