Libya: brutal dictator who has lost the plot must go says Liam Fox

Britain's Defence Secretary has bluntly told Colonel Muammar Gaddafi that he must go and that military action will not stop until he does.

The Telegraph, By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent 6:19PM GMT 26 Mar 2011

The relentless pressure on Gaddafi and his allies is beginning
to take its toll Photo: REUTERS

Liam Fox launched a personal attack on the Libyan leader, describing him as a "brutal" dictator who had "lost the plot a long time ago".

In his first newspaper interview since the start of the Libyan crisis, Dr Fox said that the bombing campaign would only end when "people could sleep safely in their beds and know they will not be targeted by a vicious regime".

Dr Fox was speaking as the international military campaign against Libya, which has seen more than 300 sorties by multi-national air forces and in excess of 170 cruise missiles strikes, entered its second week.

In a major development yesterday Gaddafi suffered one of his worst setbacks after rebels seized the strategically important town of Ajdabiya, which lies to the south of Benghazi after RAF Tornados GR4s destroyed six Libyan tanks in the area.

RAF Tornado GR4’s were in action again on Friday, destroying three armoured vehicles in the town of Misurata and another two in Ajdabiya. All the vehicles were destroyed by the aircraft’s Brimstone guided missile.

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The capture of the town is the first real sign that air-strikes are having a decisive effect coming after two-weeks of disappointing rebel reverses.

Water from the Ajdabiya reservoir flows directly into Benghazi, the main rebel stronghold in Libya, which was understood to be within days of running out.

The bombing campaign is expected to continue unabated after the defence secretary warned that attacks would not end while Gaddafi shells the civilian population in their "schools, homes and mosques".

But he added that there was a simple solution to ending the conflict.

"The end for us is when we have fulfilled the UN resolution, which is "are the people of Libya safe?"," he said.

"If it turns out that the regime stops targeting civilians, recognises that there is no militarily successful end for them in this, then it could end relatively quickly."

The defence secretary said that the international community was determined to occupy the moral high ground during the conflict which meant that targets would only be attacked if there was zero risk to civilians.

He said: "Here is the dilemma. We want to keep the moral high ground. It is much easier to fight this form of urban warfare if you don't care how many men, women and children are slaughtered, that's the difference between us and them.

"We have to make sure in winning this conflict, we don't become them."

He also said that there was growing signs of mutiny and rebellion with the Libyan armed forces and intelligence suggested that some of Gaddafi senior commanders may turn against him.

He went on: "The more that Gaddafi and the people around him understand that the region has deserted them... the better.

"There are others around him who will see the situation in a more rational way.

"We hope that the combination of their own sense of what is rational combined with the threat of the International Criminal Court will bring about the change we want to see."

Dr Fox was also categorically stated that Britain would not send in ground troops stating that the UNSR1973 - the security council resolution which allowed for a no-fly zone to be enforced - "specifically excludes" an occupying force.

The defence secretary would not be drawn on how long Operation Ellamy - known to the Americans as Operation Odyssey Dawn - could take but senior US commanders said it could take up to three months while the French added that the conflict would not end soon.

The defence secretary warned the British public not to become side-tracked on who commanded the operation or what the organisation was called, adding that there was nothing unusual for British troops to be commanded by foreign troops.

He said: "It used to make me laugh when we signed the Anglo-French Treaty when people used to say " you mean we could have British Forces commanded by the French". You've forgotten Afghanistan where we were commanded by the Turks, Canadians, the Italians, as well as the US. This is what happens with international organisations. I don't think we should be hung up on what things are called, I think we should be hung up on whether it works. Stop worrying about the label; worry about what comes out of the tin."

The air campaign was continuing yesterday with ground attack aircraft and cruise missiles targeting tanks, armoured personnel carriers and missile sites in numerous locations across Libya.

But despite the attacks, Gaddfi's battered military was still resisting and was reported to have attacked the rebel city of Misurata with artillery fire and her four children on Friday evening.

US officials, however, said the relentless pressure on Gaddafi and his allies was beginning to take its toll, and that the veteran Libyan leader was arming volunteers.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," said US Vice Admiral William Gortney.

Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground", said Adml Gortney following the UN-mandated air strikes launched on March 19 by the United States, Britain, and France.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunition stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Adml Gortney said.

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