A call for help: Libyan doctors joined demonstrations in Benghazi yesterday demanding a no-fly zone to curtail Khadafy’s bombings. (AFP/Getty Images)
A Week ago, the Obama administration let it be known that, under “certain conditions,” it would support the Franco-British call for a no-fly zone over Libya.
The administration admits that “something must be done” to prevent Col. Moammar Khadafy from using mass murder to cling to power. There’s a consensus on the imposition of a no-fly zone, so that Khadafy, who has little support on the ground, doesn’t use warplanes to bomb Libyans into submission.
The first of Washington’s “certain conditions” is that the Libyan people must demand a no-fly zone.
Over the last few days, demonstrations in most rebel-controlled cities, including Al-Burayqa and Benghazi, have called for such a zone. The Libyan National Transition Council has issued a formal call on the international community to take “all necessary measures to stop genocide” in the country.
And the council’s president — Mostafa Abdul-Jalil, who just escaped assassination by a Khadafy-hired killer — made a more specific declaration: “The council supports a no-fly zone for as long as Khadafy’s mercenaries have not put down their weapons.”
Second, Washington wants NATO to support the measure. Here, we have a chicken-or-egg conundrum. The NATO allies say they are ready to take “all necessary measures” — provided America is on board.
The European Union, which includes all but two of NATO’s members, just announced that it no longer recognizes Khadafy as Libya’s legitimate ruler, extending what amounts to de facto recognition to the Abdul-Jalil-headed council. France has gone further, by handing control of Libya’s Paris embassy to the council.
If America showed leadership, the NATO allies would fall in line.
The Obama administration’s next condition is demonstrated “support in the region” for a no-fly zone. That condition has also been met. Over the weekend, the Arab League, which hasn’t been unanimous on any issue since 1945, unanimously approved an Iraqi resolution calling for such a zone. Even Syria, one of the remaining Arab dictatorships, withdrew its opposition and voted for the resolution.
For its part, Iran, which has built its foreign policy on negativism, isn’t out of sync on the issue. Turkey, too, has indicated support for a no-fly zone, in line with European NATO allies. Support for Libyan freedom fighters is also building in Africa, starting with Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Djibouti and Sudan.
Unnamed Obama administration “sources” have been quoted as adding a last condition: an assurance that Russia and China won’t veto a UN Security Council resolution on the issue. Well, the only way to find out is to ask the Russians and the Chinese. If they take Khadafy’s side against the Libyan people, the world would rediscover their true colors.
Seeing that Khadafy may be a dying horse, however, they may not want to put money on him.
Anyway, prior UN approval isn’t necessary. No such approval existed when no-fly zones were imposed on Iraq, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina; it came later.
Some of the same circles that beat their chests when America and its allies moved to end Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime are redoing their old numbers in defense of Khadafy and his killer brigades, frightening the public with talk of “war” and “invasion.”
The issue, however, is ending the war that Khadafy is waging against the Libyan people. As for “invasion,” the proposed no-fly zone is hardly that.
What’s needed is the deactivation of Khadafy’s communication-and-control systems through cyber-attacks, thus preventing him from using warplanes to bomb freed cities.
Beyond that, a few pinprick air raids could knock out the four airbases and three naval bases still under his control and used for attacks against civilians. There is no need for American or other NATO “boots on the ground” intervention, and no one is asking for it.
Right now, anti-Khadafy forces have enough fighters on the ground but are forced into tactical retreat to prevent the colonel from mass bombing the cities.
Khadafy, on the other hand, can’t trust his remaining ground forces. He is increasingly dependent on mercenaries recruited in Black Africa, especially from neighboring Chad.
By declaring a no-fly zone, the democracies led by America would send a strong signal to Khadafy and his mercenary army that they can’t bomb their way to victory from the air. That signal might be enough to stop the carnage and end the war, thus preventing another African tragedy.