Posted on 07/10/2011 3:15:27 PM PDT by tobyhill
A French minister said on Sunday it was time for Libya's rebels to negotiate with Muammar Gaddafi's government, but Washington said it stood firm in its belief that the Libyan leader cannot stay in power.
The diverging messages from two leading members of the Western coalition opposing Gaddafi hinted at the strain the alliance is under after more than three months of air strikes that have cost billions of dollars and failed to produce the swift outcome its backers had expected.
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet signaled growing impatience with the progress of the conflict when he said the rebels should negotiate now with Gaddafi's government and not wait for his defeat.
The rebels have so far refused to hold talks as long as Gaddafi is still in power, a stance which before now none of NATO's major powers has publicly challenged.
"We have .... have asked them to speak to each other," Longuet, whose government has until now been among the most hawkish on Libya, said on French television station BFM TV.
"The position of the TNC (rebel Transitional National Council) is very far from other positions. Now, there will be a need to sit around a table," he said."
Asked if it was possible to hold talks if Gaddafi had not stepped down, Longuet said: "He will be in another room in his palace with another title."
Soon after, the State Department in Washington issued a message that gave no hint of compromise.
"The Libyan people will be the ones to decide how this transition takes place, but we stand firm in our belief that Gaddafi cannot remain in power," the department said in a written reply to a query.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
AH!.. the french are blowing their noses on the surrender flag.. or wiping “something”...
“Days, not weeks”
No one seems to ask Obama why.
Because Obama needs to bomb the daylights out of people who don’t care a bit about how moral he is on only fighting the “right wars”. He is very well involved in his own version of a “dumb war” against Libya anyways.
“Washington said it stood firm in its belief that the Libyan leader cannot stay in power.”
That would blemish the stealth jihad called the “Arab Spring”. How was it again that the Nobel Peace Prize went to lil’ hoodlum Xerxes?
Let’s see what losing a war does for Obama’s reelection prospects.
“Pitiful sod can’t do anything right.”
You must have missed the photos of him fellating a strawberry and deep throating a hot dog. He is also a poet.
Let’s see what losing a war does for Obama’s reelection prospects.
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If he succeeds in killing Qaddafi, his Nation of Islam credentials are going to take a serious hit. This is actually a lose/lose murder adventure he and Hillary have embarked on. Well, not for her.
Politics and foreign policy Do Not Matter.
Only oil matters and they are getting increasingly desperate with Brent at $118 / barrel (which we pay for imports, which is most of what we burn).
Oil is everything.
Politics and foreign policy Do Not Matter.
Only oil matters and they are getting increasingly desperate with Brent at $118 / barrel (which we pay for imports, which is most of what we burn).
Oil is everything.
I still haven't figured out our interests in it.
Let’s see what losing a war does for Obama’s reelection prospects.
His supporters couldn’t care less. They probably think the disaster going on in Libya has been going on since Bush. That’s how stupid and out of touch too many people are. It’s disgusting.
We don’t use Libyan oil, that goes to Europe exclusively.
Maybe he was hoping this little non war would drive the price of oil sky high
.. we have a interest as the largest muslim nation, to follow obama in his quest of consolidating the Mid East (under the MB guidance) to complete the North African Caliphate.
The excuse was democracy, however I tinks Ghadaffi did not want to fold into the caliphate.
That’s really funny apart for the dead and wounded
The world uses it. We pay Brent prices for our huge oil imports and they are higher because Libya’s oil is not on the market. Of course, every day that passes other fields elsewhere are dying so that when Libya finally comes back online, it may not generate more global oil flowing than in February.
Oil is everything.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking
The White House meeting with 18 lawmakers came as Obama delivered an ultimatum to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that he must immediately implement a ceasefire in all parts of Libya and allow international humanitarian assistance, or risk military....yatta...yatta
Obie choked!
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