Arab League condemns broad bombing campaign in Libya

This is exactly why we can't count on these dumbasses. It's kind of stupid to attempt to impose a no-fly zone without taking down the air defense systems. Without that all you have is an airwar. And while there is no way a libyan pilot can compete with a Marine Corps pilot, why chance getting our aircraft damaged or our pilots injured.

I do kind of wonder though, if anyone bothered to tell the arab league that we would begin this with a bomning campaign? I find it hard to believe that this caught them totally by surprise. If nothing else, they have seen us kick the shit out of some of their neighbors before. The arab league should know how it's done...

By Edward Cody - The Washington Post

CAIRO—The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, deplored the broad scope of the U.S.-European bombing campaign in Libya and said Sunday that he would call a league meeting to reconsider Arab approval of the Western military intervention.

Moussa said the Arab League’s approval of a no-fly zone on March 12 was based on a desire to prevent Moammar Gaddafi’s air force from attacking civilians and was not designed to endorse the intense bombing and missile attacks — including on Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces — whose images have filled Arab television screens for two days.

“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone,” he said in a statement on the official Middle East News Agency. “And what we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.”

Moussa’s declaration suggested that some of the 22 Arab League members were taken aback by what they have seen and wanted to modify their approval lest they be perceived as accepting outright Western military intervention in Libya. Although the eccentric Gaddafi is widely looked down on in the Arab world, the leaders and people of the Middle East traditionally have risen up in emotional protest at the first sign of Western intervention.

A shift away from the Arab League endorsement, even partial, would be an important setback to the U.S.-European campaign. Western leaders brandished the Arab League decision as a justification for their decision to move militarily and as a weapon in the debate to win approval for a U.N. Security Council resolution two days before the bombing began.

Read the rest at the link above...