British Apache helicopters strike Gaddafi's forces for first time

British Apache helicopters strike Gaddafi's forces for first time

www.guardian.co.uk

British Apache attack helicopters have launched their first strikes on Muammar Gaddafi's troops in Libya, including near the key coastal oil city of Brega, Nato has confirmed.

The RAF Apaches and French attack craft struck troops loyal to Gaddafi who were hiding in populated areas, giving a major boost to Libyan rebels on the ground and coming one day after government troops were forced from three western towns.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It's there, the intensity of force is increased with the deployment of attack helicopters. As their deployment was announced before, I am curious to see if this is the last push that the rebels need to break the resistance of troops loyal to Gadaffi. Since it is clear that Gadaffi is not going to leave voluntarily, it is going to be a long lasting conflict unless the spirit of the loyalists can be broken and Gadaffi can be captured.



www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Hopfeully some of those pilots are from Scotland, and maybe, just maybe, Lockerbie. Theres nothing that says it better than a hellfire missile sometimes.

I just find it interesting the England is being so In The Lead on this deal.

It can only be one thing. Oil

And you can be assured British Petro (BP) is in the mess up to their elbows.

Well, with the US House bucking Obama on this and now are aiming to stop the US involvement, I see Obama breaking a couple of more laws (or rather renaiming things to suit his desires as he knows the Press will not do a dam thing in their reporting (if any at all).

What a terrible time we are living in. God help us come 2012 and get Obama out of there.

reply to post by anon72


I saw a documentary the other week, in which evidence was shown by British investigative journalists indicating that BP pressured Tony Blair, back in the days, to make Gadaffi award them a contract for the development of oil fields and that's no rare case. Jeroen van der Veer (former Shell CEO) said in the same documentary that politics and oil interests are intertwined. It was a slip of the tongue and he quickly rephrased himself saying that oil and politics are related. Either way, the message is clear: corporate interests dictate foreign policy.

I don't think that the Libya operation was instigated deliberately by Western intelligence, instead I think that the West took advantage of the window of opportunity coming forth from the domino effect of the Arab Spring that did not spare Libya. As soon as the revolts started there, the West was quick to come in and change the grip China had on the Libyan oil industry. Soon, Western oil companies can develop and profit from Libya's oil reserves without having to dance to the whims of Ghadaffi.

The bottom line: this is a vulgar fight by the West for the largest chunk of the oil pie.

This coupled with SAS troops on the ground directing air assults towards targets and I assume training up the rebels.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Former SAS soldiers and other western employees of private security companies are helping Nato identify targets in the Libyan port city of Misrata, the scene of heavy fighting between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and rebels, well-placed sources have told the Guardian.

Don't believe that the leaders of the Libyan opposition are whiter than white.

The Libyan opposition is a motley crew of disaffected tribes, the well-meaning youth movement, civilian and military defectors from the Gaddafi regime, Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored assets (such as sinister former justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil), Muslim Brotherhood-related (and unrelated) Islamists, and monarchist Senussi tribesmen. The Senussi is the top tribe in the Benghazi area; most of the keffiah-and-Kalashnikov "rebels" are Senussi, as was King Idris, overthrown by Gaddafi in 1969.

atimes.com...

It requires major suspension of belief to cast former Gaddafi interior minister Abdel Fatah Younis and CIA asset Khalifah Hifle - the new "rebel" military commander - as Ulysses and Diomede. But still Palladium is in the building.

atimes.com...

The Libyan council have already assured/been told by the West that they will be operating a neo-liberal policy when they are installed in power, and the whole country will be ripe ofr picking from the oil, military, banking corporations.

This revolt by the people has been sickenly hijacked by Libyan leaders in exile and by the west, in particular the US, France and the U.K.

Yet another small step towards, yet more conflict.. *sad sigh*

It is worth noting the ships these helicopters are operating from, both HMS Ocean and the French ship Tonnerre are amphibious assault ships.. and as such I would guess both ships have full compliments of assault troops.

French ship Tonnerre (L9014)
en.wikipedia.org...

HMS Ocean (L12)
en.wikipedia.org...

May the karma reflect back what they deserve, these terrorists waging an illegal war.

We should not be there. What we are doing is creating another situation exactly like Iraq and Afghanistan. Give money and weapons to rebels we don't understand (or understand fully, wink wink), so that we can fully invade them later and kill many more innocents than Gaddafi is suppose to have.

I can only apologise on behalf of my country for what we will do to yours in the future, Libya. Under the guise of the UN we will do whatever we like, any action can be justified. We're not enforcing a no fly zone, we're actually partaking in regime change and I don't think any UN resolution should allow that, as we all know it's the major powers still in the big chairs.

Originally posted by Mdv2

British Apache helicopters strike Gaddafi's forces for first time

www.guardian.co.uk

The RAF Apaches

(visit the link for the full news article)

Urgh, a lot of news sources are saying this. They're Army Air Corps.