In comments to the House of Common Defense Committee Wednesday, Defense Secretary Liam Fox said it was possible that Britain might send troops to Tunisia’s border with Libya. He said the move would require approval from the Attorney General.
The UN resolution authorizing the no-fly zone over Libya, used as a pretext for the NATO bombing campaign, explicitly forbids ground troops from entering Libya. Deploying troops just across the border to Tunisia appears to be a way to circumvent the letter, if not the spirit, of the resolution.
Fox presented the plan as a way to set up “safe havens” for the refugees who fled to Tunisia during the course of the war, and protect them from Gadhafi attacks. The justification seems flawed, however, as there has been no indication of such attacks into Tunisian territory in the first place.
Tunisia was the first nation to see an uprising in the “Arab Spring,” and ousted long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January. His ouster was initially opposed by a number of NATO nations, notably France, making it odd that post-revolution Tunisia might play host to a NATO attack force hoping to eventually march forward into Libya.
What the British government is trying to do is keep the border safe for terrorist groups to enter Libya via Tunisian border.., it is agonizing situation for the US/NATO war machinery not being able to topple Libyan leader Muhammad Kaddafi. We said that from the beginning that US/NATO militarism regimes are after a long war in Libya compensating what they have lost in Middle East.., at the same time an opening to enter Africa where is closer and logistically easier for them to continue their war from Europe. If Tunisian are going to allow this then their country as well is going to be occupied where such scenario will create a new situation for Tunisian government.., there is going to be some resistance and Libyan war will start burning the entire region. That is what the US/NATO is after, to occupy the entire region (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and later Sahara) compensate for their lost in Middle East. These countries once upon a time was the Europeans colony, Tunis and Libya was the Italians and Algeria was the French.., they are doing the same in 2011.., this is the modernized version of democracy falsified and controlled by its militarism regime. Wait for the British atrocities’ when they arrive and wait for the French when they have a similar demand from Algerian government.
"making it odd that post-revolution Tunisia might play host to a NATO attack force hoping to eventually march forward into Libya."
Or indeed, backward into Tunisia.
I have wondered for some time now how rapidly antiwar.com has become a prowar.com where Lybia and the British interests are concerned.
[moderator’s note: If you “wonder” any such thing, you obviously haven’t bothered actually, um, READING any of the articles]