starting this thread, which i hope will be short-lived, to keep the board up to date with latest reports gleaned from the net

did i ever suggest such a thing?

I think that I shall make you head of the armed forces in my government reshuffle....

Monday at the earliest as the RAF don't work weekends!

Do not want to pay Sat/Sun overtime rates.

Maybe the RAF are using their two planes to ferry Royals about.

Tanker,

"fred . weak people make the world what it has become . it is the same at school .bullies rule "

Stalin, MAO, Sadam, Mubarak, Hitler, Gaddafi, Blair, Bush, Bush, "cameron" were or are strong leaders. Look where it has got the world.

I prefer Obama considered approach, but wonder what the outcome will be.

Still think that Gaddafi will be gone sooner than I originally thought, but what will replace him.

Noticed Petrol price today of 145p.

Was one of the strong men "Bush senior" a friend of the Saudi elite.

Or was he just getting a back hander for selling them weapons or buying oil?

never let facts get in the way of a good story!
it was BAE that got the Yamana(?) arms deal, as a result of which, Boeing et al were rather more than miffed and did their best to get a corruption charge to stick to BAE

Cynic.

Perhaps, Bush (Snr) was more successful in earlier periods.

From Wicked Period

(Could be wrong)

The Royal Saudi Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية الملكية السعودية‎, al-quwwāt al-ğawwiyyah al-malakiyyah as-suʿūdiyyah), is the air force branch of Saudi Arabian armed forces. The RSAF has developed from a largely defensive military force into one with an advanced offensive capability. The RSAF maintains the third largest fleet of F-15s after the JASDF and the USAF.

The backbone of the RSAF is currently the Panavia Tornado, with the Boeing F-15 Eagle also forming a major component. The Tornado and many other aircraft were delivered under the Al Yamamah contracts with British Aerospace (now BAE Systems). The RSAF ordered various weapons in the 1990s, including Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles, laser-guided bombs and gravity bombs. Al-Salam, a successor to the Al Yamamah agreement will see 72 Eurofighter Typhoons delivered by BAE.

Whats new...?

Whats new...?

.

MN .... your point about zimbabwe (there are others too of course) has some validity, but you are well wide of the mark with pretty much the balance of your criticism .,... you choose to ignore (doesn't suit your argument) that there were no moves at all until such a time as AL had given their full approval and more .... without that, and it is good to hear that AL is giving physical support too, then there would have been only tenuous legality .....

would you rather that the libyan "rebels" had been left to gaddafi's tender mercies, for certainly that is what you imply?

arguing that we (nothing like uk acting alone here of course) should not pick and choose to whom we give military and/or economic support, but rather treat all equally might be wonderful in your imagined idealistic utopia, but totally preposterous in the imperfect world in which we actually live

.

quink word sas and sbs already there - gad be careull oour boys are there targetting them - have a good day all

Why do the American's spell Guaddaffi with a Q ?

sorry about the spelling bit of a rush

lol ald
i am stuck in libya right now my mess small oil co starting up what a cock up i made
but army friends ie sas say i will be ok last time i saw this was falklands how unlucky am i! and dont buy desire pet - rkh best bet - i know go for the one with most options lost of ex pats there make of that what you will

Good luck Gibby

thanks mate

NM.

I have sympathy for your positioning.

Pragmatism is often an excuse to excuse the actions you are carrying out.

However, sometimes it is reasonable to appreciate one's own limitations and act accordingly.

What is irritates me is the Gun Ho attitude to intervening in a situation like Libya, without realising the preparation necessary to interfere "effectively" and consider the reconstruction of the "state" organisation necessary for a functioning society in the aftermath.

Shooting off one's mouth and threatening somebody, such as a Psychopath like Gaddafi, before knowing one has, or getting international agreement is "grand standing", which is likely to increase the "bloodshed". Especially, when one cannot match the rhetoric with ones own resources.

I hope the present intervention will be successful, and eventually gainful to the inhabitants of Libya. How long Britain will be involve I dont know. But there is now a legal responsibility to the Libyan people for restoration of the country.

But, it does show the current weaknesses of the United Nations and that a faster mechanism for making decisions in problems like this, the removal of the "vetoes" mechanism and the introduction of a Military Force and also force suitable for intervening in other Humanitarian Catastrophes.

The coalition is now an occupation force, whatever the political rhetoric of some politicians.