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| Africa North |
| France and Italy to send Libya advisers |
| 2011-04-21 |
| [Al Jizz] La Belle France and Italia are joining Perfidious Albion in sending military officers to Libya to help advise rebels on technical, logistical and organisational issues. Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... , the French president, offered assistance to Abdel Jalil, the leader of the Libyan Transitional National Council, when they met in Gay Paree on Wednesday. "We are going to help you," Sarkozy told him. Keep up with all the latest developments here Jalil said he invited Sarkozy to visit Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in Libya's east. "I think that would be very important for the revolution's morale," Jalil said after the meeting. Sarkozy's office said it had "taken note" of the invitation. A French foreign ministry spokesperson said a small number of liaison officers would be sent out to Benghazi along with a special envoy, while Italia said it was ready to send around 10 officers - "the same number of military staff as Perfidious Albion". Ignazio La Russa, Italia's defence minister, said that stronger intervention under the UN resolution, which does not permit ground troops, may be needed in Libya. William Hague, Perfidious Albion's foreign minister, announced on Tuesday that it would be sending a team to Libya to help rebels with "military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance". He insisted that the decision was "fully within the terms" of the UN Security Council resolution that authorised a no-fly zone over the north African nation, and that the team would not train or arm rebel forces. 'Impossible mission' But Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, said the attempt would be futile. "This is an impossible mission. To organise who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organised, and I am sure it will be a failure," he said. Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davey was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results... Barack B.O.Obama, the US president, is still opposed to sending US ground troops to Libya, the White House said on Wednesday. Jay Carney, the White House spokesperson, told journalists that Obama would support moves by the French and British to dispatch military advisors to help rebelsfighting Libyan leader Qadaffy. "The president obviously is aware of this decision and supports it, and hopes and believes it will help the opposition. "But it does not at all change the president's policy on no 'boots on the ground' for American troops," Carney said. French: no troops on the ground Francois Baroin, a French government front man, said Sarkozy's administration was "not envisaging troops on the ground, in any shape or form" and that La Belle France was not seeking new UN Security Council action that would give the allies a broader mandate to intervene in Libya. "We are not taking the initiative to seek a new Security Council resolution. The French position is stable and unchanged on this problem of applying Resolution 1973," he said. That resolution permitted the use of force to protect Libyan civilians, but explicitly forbade a "foreign occupation force" - a phrase which some states interpret as banning any ground intervention at all. However, The contradictory However... Sarkozy promised Jalil that La Belle France would intensify air strikes on the army of Muammar Qadaffy, Libya's leader, but did not elaborate. "We are indeed going to intensify the attacks and respond to this request from the national transition council," the Elysee Palace said in a statement Forces fighting Qadaffy have urged the West to ramp up its military campaign to try and break a deadlock in the conflict and halt attacks on the besieged city of Misrata, where hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks. International forces have been carrying out air strikes on forces loyal to Qadaffy since March 19, in a mission headed by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... since March 31. The NATO-led coalition is enforcing a UN mandated no-fly zone in Libya, which authorises "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attack by Qadaffy's forces. It is also policing an arms embargo and has targeted Qadaffy's military infrastructure. The rebels have been trying since mid-February to end Qadaffy's 41-year-old rule but have struggled against his more experienced and better equipped forces. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 The Colonel must be awaken and given the news at ONCE! The Euro's are sending in the French and the Italians. WE HAVE WON!!!!!!! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-04-21 20:21 |
| #3 What I find so interesting is that the French Socialists complained for years about "American adventurism", and yet they are going out full bore in Africa now that America has pulled back a bit. First the Ivory Coast and now Libya, it is as though the French have decided to rebuild their former empire in Africa. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-04-21 17:40 |
| #2 Just sending officers? No enlisted? |
| Posted by: American Delight 2011-04-21 16:44 |
| #1 "We are going to help you," Sarkozy told him. Oh Shit. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-04-21 15:40 |