3 Dutch marines held in Libya after failed rescue

3 Dutch marines held in Libya after failed rescue

news.yahoo.com

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Three Dutch marines were captured by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi during a rescue attempt of two European workers and are being held by Libyan authorities for five days, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

The two Europeans, one Dutch and one whose nationality was not released, were handed over unharmed to the Dutch embassy in Tripoli Thursday and have left Libya, the ministry said.

The three were surrounded by armed men on Sunday after landing near Sirte in a Lynx helicopter from the navy ship HMS Tromp, which was anchored off the Libyan coast to he

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Will they be executed for being illegally entering the country? Or would Gadaffi hold them as hostages to deter possible attacks by western forces or enforce no fly zones to prevents rebels from succeeding against Gadaffi because he was handicapped without air power. I suspect that he will not release them until the civil war is over, or the rebels win and they release them. Gadaffi may execute them to send a message about having foreign troops on its soil.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The two Europeans, one Dutch and one whose nationality was not released, were handed over unharmed to the Dutch embassy in Tripoli Thursday and have left Libya, the ministry said

Did I miss something?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it says they left Libya.


Edit: My bad! Misread the article.

Gaddaffi would not dare to hold these marines, or kill them.

If he did, he would have the entire European Army (EuroCorps) flying up his ass.

It would be an act of war to execute prisoners.

reply to post by deltaboy


I am all for these forces being held, what were Dutch soldiers doing in a civil war?
It seems best to hold them until it can be figured out what they were doing.
After all, if you caught someone in your house in the middle of the night, how would you react?

reply to post by Haydn_17


There is no effective Euro-Army, because they never agree, countries benefits (Read: Money and Influence) are placed above the live of three soldiers I'm afraid.


But I'm sure they will speak strong WORDS...

reply to post by g146541


The official story is that they were rescuing "Embassy" personnel.

But there is also this "unknown" foreigner.
But we al know the embassy personnel is most of the times a duo function..

I personally think they were employees or related to Shell, as Shell does business in Libya. So it would be no surprise if they have geological or other employees in the middle of Libya. And Shell has enough money to "rent" a warship with a chopper ;-)

But i'm in favor of countries tries all they can to rescue a citizen from a dangerous situation in a foreign nation :Y
I pay taxes for a reason!

Just don't get caught !

In Dutch media, it is suggested that this is a result of lack of intelligence. Experts are afraid Gadaffi will show them on TV as evidence for foreign intervention in their internal affairs. I nowhere read the two nationals were embassy employees. It makes sense that these two people worked in the oil industry, considering the location they were supposed to be rescued from.

More news from Holland - the war tribunal in The Hague is to start an investigation on Gadaffi in relation to possible war crimes.

I reckon this situation is soon to get out of control. Various nations, including the Dutch, have warships at bay and the US military has indicated that a no-fly zone can only be established when air defense installations are bombed. Moreover, the French are now on board as well for a no-fly zone, after days of objection.

Originally posted by EarthOccupant
There is no effective Euro-Army, because they never agree, countries benefits (Read: Money and Influence) are placed above the live of three soldiers I'm afraid.

Well, Gadaffi is kinda notorious for exploiting hostage situations, there have been numerous cases that took years of negotiations. However, the reason there's no effective EU force is because the French and Brits are so d*mn chauvinistic. I can perfectly see the Germans subordinating their sense of nationalism for a more effective and powerful EU force, but at the very same time I can imagine the French and British generals fighting over what's left and what's right. Putting a Brit in control of the navy, a German of the army and a Frenchman of the air force would probably work best - perhaps even a rotating system.

I am not sure whether that's what we need. Every empire that had an united military eventually collapsed as they tend to abuse the military option to satisfy their greed.

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by deltaboy

 

I am all for these forces being held, what were Dutch soldiers doing in a civil war?
It seems best to hold them until it can be figured out what they were doing.
After all, if you caught someone in your house in the middle of the night, how would you react?

The Dutch have every right to rescue their people, wake up and smell the roses. Its not like they were trying to interfere.

How is it that Quadaffi duck is so brave now or is he really that stupid. I mean his Air-Force cant even figure out how to bomb their own stationary ammo dump for god sakes lol. Thats with no one shooting back at them

I see another job for the SAS in the near future. I also see the need for a decapitation strike on Omar.

reply to post by Sky watcher


Bet your rear end! NATO come on in!!! For a serial killer, Gaddumbfrak's actions would be called "decompensation"