Saturday, March 26, 2011

Arab League Chief Back-Tracks Somewhat On Criticism Of Western Powers' Action Against Libya

From Jihad Watch:

Arab League chief backtracks somewhat on criticism of Western powers' action against Libya


He is still choosing his words carefully, and still essentially saying he approves of the no-fly zone, but not so much the enforcement of it. Only now, he is limiting his remarks only to his approval of the no-fly-zone.



It may indeed be the case that he is altering his remarks based on the intended audience. Yesterday, the British Foreign Office "said Moussa claimed he had been misquoted, or had put his criticism more strongly in Arabic than in English." Apparently, in English at least, all is well for now. "Arab League chief: We respect UN resolution on Libya military action," from Reuters, March 21 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):



Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Monday that he respected a UN resolution that authorized military action on Libya, after earlier comments suggested he was concerned by actions taken by Western powers.

"The Arab League position on Libya was decisive and from the first moment we froze membership of Libya ... Then we asked the United Nations to implement a no-fly zone," he told a news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"We respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it, especially as it indicated there would be no invasion but that it would protect civilians from what they are subject to in Benghazi," he said.

The UN-mandated intervention to protect civilians caught up in a one-month-old revolt against Muammar Gadhafi had drawn comments from Moussa on Sunday suggesting he questioned the need for a heavy bombardment that he said had killed many civilians.

"It is for protecting civilians and that is what we care about," Moussa said, speaking at Arab League headquarters in Cairo.

Western powers launched a second wave of air strikes on Libya early on Monday after halting the advance of Gaddafi's forces on Benghazi and targeting air defenses to let their planes patrol the skies over the North African state.

"We will continue to work on the protection of civilians. We urge everybody to take this into consideration in any military action," Moussa said.... Posted by Marisol on March 21, 2011 5:46 PM

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