Libya: UK should prepare for the long haul - Number 10

The UK "must prepare for the long haul" in Libya, Downing Street has said.



Earlier Foreign Secretary William Hague briefed the cabinet about the situation in Libya.

Number 10 said progress was being made in putting greater pressure on Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and there were "grounds for optimism".

RAF fighter aircraft "successfully attacked" three armoured personnel carriers near the besieged city of Misrata over the weekend.

But a spokeswoman for the prime minister said: "We must prepare for the long haul."

She said this was not a new policy, simply a broad statement of fact, adding: "It is just sensible planning to enforce United Nations Resolution 1973."

Syria next?

A war we ought not be involved in, one we cannot win, one we cannot afford!

I frankly believe that we're on very thin ice. Libya was (is) a civil war, Gaddafi wasn't (to my knowledge) causing trouble outside his own borders; we ought to have kept well out of it. Of course, it's quite a nice little diversion from the troubles our government have at home isn't it?

Opinion polls have indicated that the longer the conflict continues, the less support there will be for British involvement from the electorate. Although after the previous examples of Aden, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan why anybody thought it was a good idea in the first place beats me?

Just kill Gadaffi. It'll all be over then.

What right do we have to do that?

Just kill Gadaffi. It'll all be over then.

What right do we have to do that?

What right did Gadaffi have to take over the country by force and install himself as leader? Dictators like that shoukd be wiped out.

But then doesn't that make us as bad? - I suspect we'll have to agree to disagree on this.