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Africa North
Italian Minister: Purging Libya Ex-officials Would be Mistake
2011-09-05
[Tripoli Post] Italia's foreign minister Franco Frattini said on Sunday, that the West must not repeat the same mistake in Libya as it did in Iraq, and warned against a full-scale purging of military officials and bureaucrats from Muammar Al Qadaffy's
...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation...
authoritarian regime.

"Why destroy all the structure, all the apparatus in Libya like we have done in Iraq, making a big mistake," AP reported the Italian minister telling journalists at an economics forum in the Lake Como resort town of Cernobbio. "We shouldn't multiply, we shouldn't double this mistake,"
he said.
"Besides, we bought these guys and we want what we paid for," he added softly.
Referring to the wide-scale purging of Iraqi soldiers and bureaucrats Frattini suggested that lessons be learned from the period in Iraq after the US-led war drove Saddam Hussein from power. He said that thug Orcs and similar vermin quickly capitalised on the resulting discontent and power vacuum.
Perhaps disbanding the Iraqi army in 2003 was a mistake, though their Saddam-selected officer corps was pretty vile. I'm guessing the Qaddhafi-selected officer corps for the former Libyan army is just as bad, and it would be a big mistake to keep them around in any official capacity. Start over, and when the Italians, French and Spanish squeal, remind them who has the oil.
Posted by:Fred

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