David Cameron did make a mess of Libya – that's why Obama's comments must really hurt

US President Barack Obama may have broken diplomatic protocol with his extraordinary attack on David Cameron over his handling of the Libya crisis, but there can be doubt as to the veracity of his accusations.

"Mr Cameron was not prepared to make the political commitment to Libya to help stabilise the country"

I remember quite clearly the deep reservations senior American officers and officials had at the time about the enthusiasm displayed by Mr Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for overthrowing Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

While the Americans had no great affection for Gaddafi, they just could not see why, after all the controversy surrounding the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the European leaders wanted to start another conflict. “We just don’t get it,” a senior US general told me at the time. “Gaddafi just does not pose a threat to us.”

It was a view shared by senior British officers, too, and General Sir David Richards, the then head of our Armed Forces, voiced his opposition to the anti-Gaddafi campaign regularly at National Security Council meetings.
But Mr Cameron, desperate to claim his own battle honours to set himself apart from Blair’s unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressed ahead, eventually succeeding in his ambition of overthrowing the dictator, who was brutally murdered by the opposition shortly after his capture (has anyone thought of bringing war crimes charges against those responsible?).

Mr Cameron is perfectly entitled to pursue whichever policies he thinks appropriate for the British people. But if you decide to intervene militarily in a country and overthrow its government, then you have a moral obligation to help set it back on its feet again, as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan.


"Libya has now descended into chaos. And for this disastrous outcome, Mr Cameron has no one but himself to blame"

But wary of becoming involved in a long drawn-out conflict, Mr Cameron was not prepared to make the political commitment to Libya to help stabilise the country post-Gaddafi. The result, as Mr Obama says in his interview for Atlantic Monthly, is that Libya has now descended into chaos. And for this disastrous outcome, Mr Cameron has no one but himself to blame.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/12190740/David-Cameron-did-make-a-mess-of-Libya-thats-why-Obamas-comments-must-really-hurt.html