The former prime minister David Cameron blamed for rise of Isis
Posted on September 15th, 2016

  • Damning inquiry into Libya points finger at former PM ● Failed intervention helped terror group grow in Africa

An opportunistic” David Cameron led a botched intervention in Libya that caused the rise of Islamic State in north Africa, a parliamentary inquiry has concluded.

The former prime minister was ultimately responsible” for the failure of the 2011 bombing campaign, according to the foreign affairs committee.

He relied on poor intelligence as he allowed an operation designed to protect civilians to drift” into a campaign to remove Colonel Gaddafi, the report said. Its publication comes two days after Mr Cameron surprised Westminster by standing down as an MP.

Britain and France led airstrikes on Libya after an uprising triggered by the Arab Spring. The threat of further violence by Gaddafi spurred western powers to take action but since then thousands of people have been killed and unrest continues to this day.

The report into the conflict said that the chief of the defence staff at the time, General Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, disassociated himself” from the government’s claim that the operation was in the national interest. It accuses Mr Cameron of backing regime change without a coherent strategy for the country after the removal of Gaddafi. By the summer of 2011, the limited intervention to protect civilians had drifted into an opportunist policy of regime change. That policy was not underpinned by a strategy to support and shape post-Gaddafi Libya,” it said.

The result was political and economic collapse, inter-militia and inter-tribal warfare, humanitarian and migrant crises, widespread human rights violations, the spread of Gaddafi regime weapons across the region and the growth of [Isis] in north Africa.” The MPs added: Through his decision-making . . . David Cameron was ultimately responsible for the failure to develop a coherent Libya strategy.”

The criticism echoes remarks by President Obama this year that Britain and France had not done enough to follow up” after the conflict. Mr Cameron became distracted by a range of other things”, Mr Obama claimed.

The MPs’ 49-page report on Libya also found that Britain:

• Failed to identify that Islamist extremists were among rebels supported by RAF warplanes and special forces.

• Failed to see that the threat to civilians posed by Gaddafi was overstated”.

• Failed to encourage France to heed a military plan to pause airstrikes and attempt diplomacy once Benghazi, Libya’s second city, had been saved.

• Missed an opportunity to exploit relations between Tony Blair and Gaddafi, which could have resulted in the dictator handing over power.

• Drew up post-conflict plans to stabilise Libya that were not based on reality, with one minister describing them as fanciful rot”.

• Failed to secure weapons and ammunition worth billions of pounds after the collapse of the regime that increased terrorism” across the region.

When Mr Cameron responded to the publication of the Chilcot inquiry in July he insisted he had learnt the lessons of Iraq. The Libya report, however, calls for an independent review of the National Security Council, which he set up to ensure that the flawed decision to go to war in 2003 was not repeated.

The foreign affairs committee, made up of six Tory MPs, four from Labour and one from the SNP, accused the government of failing to carry out a proper analysis of the people behind the Libyan uprising. It may be that the UK government was unable to analyse the nature of the rebellion in Libya due to incomplete intelligence and insufficient institutional insight and that it was caught up in events as they developed,” the report said.

It could not verify the actual threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime; it selectively took elements of Muammar Gaddafi’s rhetoric at face value; and it failed to identify the militant Islamist extremist element in the rebellion. UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence.”

In March 2011 Mr Cameron, who had been elected as prime minister the previous year, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the more experienced president of France, convinced the UN security council to authorise airstrikes against Gaddafi’s forces as they closed in on Benghazi. The US also played a key role.

Seven months later Gaddafi was captured hiding in a drainpipe west of the city of Sirte. He was killed by a mob.

The report criticised Britain’s failure to plan properly for the aftermath. Little was done to secure £30 billion of weapons and ammunition in warehouses, despite Liam Fox, as defence minister, telling MPs that securing anti-aircraft weaponry was a key objective.

The international community’s inability to secure weapons abandoned by the Gaddafi regime fuelled instability in Libya and enabled and increased terrorism across north and west Africa and the Middle East,” the report said.

The Foreign Office said that the decision to intervene was an international one, called for by the Arab League and authorised by the UN security council.

5 Responses to “The former prime minister David Cameron blamed for rise of Isis”

  1. Ananda-USA Says:

    Cameron’s and the British government’s responsibility for this criminal bungling and interference in sovereign Libya is only half the story.

    The other half is the criminal bungling of the US Govt led by Hillary Clinton, who joined in dusmantling Libya and reducing it to a chaotic state.

    The killing of Muhammad Gaddafi, a man who delivered stable governance and prosperity to Libya that other developing nations envied, was demonized and murdered in cold blood in the name of “human” rights and “democracy” that Gaddafi had already delivered to Libyans just so they could reduce Li ya to an economic colony that they could exploit at will.

    Hillary Clinton who orchestrated that murder, stating in Benghazi that the US Govt policy is that Gaddafi should be killed, and then when he was captured, held awhile, and killed by Western mercenaries on orders from the powers that be the next day, Hillary hopped over to Tripoli and imperial intoned “I came, I spoke, he died!” mimicking the famous “veni, vidi, vici!” by Julies Caesar of old!

    If that is not murder most foul of a sitting head of state of a foreign nation, an act prohibited not only by the US Co situation but also by International law, I don’t know what is!

    And what did that impeccable guardian of International Law and human rights, Ban Ki Moon the Western puppet Secretary General of the United Nations say? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Yet this Moon lectures incessantly to Sri Lanka about Human Rights! Bah …. bloody HYPOCRITE!

    This first phase of this same scenario has unfolded in Sri Lanka as the serial bunglers of the West begin to carve up Sri Lanka into a collection of ethnic Bantustans!

    Sinhalayeni, Awadiwanna! Ekamuthuwanna!

    Batahira pambayangey Yamapalanaya parajayakara, deshapremi rajayak apey maubimey bihikaranna!

  2. Kumari Says:

    Ananda, you are spot on. Hilarious Clinton is a butcher. Clinton, Cameron and Sarkozy committed war crimes in Libya. They must be taken to the ICC in the Hague. However, the real reason for invading Libya was the 143 tons of gold Gaddafi was keeping to float the African dinar and the high quality oil from Libyan oil wells. No one talks of what happened to the gold and other valuables, Gaddafi saved for the Libyan population.

  3. Cerberus Says:

    With all his Oxford accent high minded talk he was just a cheap politician who took money from LTTE terrorists. Finally the British people saw through the front and threw him out. Let us hope Sri Lankans also see through our local version of Cameron, Ranil Wickremasinghe and throw him out. Please see the two links below.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/the-french-connection?utm_term=.ukyMgJbeBx#.pckV1NlBJG

    https://ltteagents.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/david-cameron-and-team-meets-with-the-tamil-tiger-diaspora/

  4. Ananda-USA Says:

    Today it was reported that Billary Clinton and Donald Trump have tied in the voter sentiment polls, driving the Billary camp into a panic.

    This is just the beginning; come election day on Nov 9 it will turn into a rout and Trump will romp home!

    Americans have two terrible candidates, but like in Brexit, Americans are yearning for someone to govern the nation in the national interest, without bleeding heart political correctness with common sense!

    Billary’s lies, bungling and anti-national policies are coming home to roost!

    You can fool all the people some of the time, and
    You can fool some of the people all the time, but
    You cannot fool all the people all of the time!

    Yamapalanaya will be the NEXT TO FALL!

  5. Cerberus Says:

    David Cameron along with the French Prime Minister Boucher tried hard to stop the GoSL from finishing off Prabhakaran. During the last stages of the war just as the GoSL was about to finish off Prabhakaran Cameron sent David Miliband from Britain and Boucher to negotiate with MR to allow them to take Prabhakaran off Sri Lanka by boat. If MR was a spineless, gutless, jellyfish permanently peeing in their trousers like the current Yahapalanaya leaders, then the country will still be what it was under CBK and Ranil.

    Luckily MR risked his whole family and took a bold decision to finish off the war once and for all. These two countries never forgave MR for not doing their bidding. They wanted to prolong the war, sell arms, and devastate the country like all the other countries which were destroyed by them as part of the Neo-con agenda to keep resources of the world for themselves. The Norwegians who came in the guise of peacekeepers had helped the LTTE to develop mini-subs which were sent around the country after the war by the Govt to tell the people what was going on. We must always remember that these powerful countries were NOT our friends in our hour of need. All the ambassadors of these countries when they come to Sri Lanka make a beeline to Jaffna. Why? Is it to eat crab curry or are the Tamils their unspoken partners in breaking up Sri Lanka as has been done Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavia etc., Then from Sri Lanka they can target India. Why is that none of this crab eating people go to the south to speak to the Sinhala people to ask what are their grievances? Why is that the UN is not interested in what the LTTE did during the 30-year terrorism in Sri Lanka? Now using the UN they are punishing MR and his family and the war heroes.

    As I said before:
    “There is a force in the universe — call it God or spirituality or whatever you like — that wants the victory of truth and justice. This force will help you if you are steady, humble, and patient. Never ever give up however bad things get.”
    Nelson Mandela (first South African black president)

    That is why David Cameron has to now face the public for all his shameful acts. That is why France is collapsing due to the flood of Muslims from all the countries they helped to destroy. That is why Britain’s economy is collapsing and The same thing will happen to the Yahapalanaya group too. The wheel of dharma always turns though it turns very slowly sometimes.

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