Gadhafi Spokesman: Govt Arming Civilians in Anticipation of NATO Invasion

Vows War Will Be '10 Times as Bad as Iraq'

In comments made on Thursday, Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim revealed that the Gadhafi regime has been arming civilians around their controlled areas in preparations for resisting a NATO ground invasion.

“Many cities have organized themselves into squads to fight any possible NATO invasion,” Ibrahim revealed, adding that if NATO invaded “we will make it 10 times as bad as Iraq.”

While NATO members have been pushing for the escalation of the war, it does not appear a ground invasion is impending. The UN resolution which NATO used as a pretext for the war explicitly forbids ground troops from occupying Libyan territory.

At the same time, a separate UN effort to provide humanitarian relief is underway. The European Union is said to be considering 1,000 ground troops for Libya as part of this UN plan.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.