Seven-month air and sea campaign helped topple regime of Gadhafi.

From news services | Posted: Saturday, October 29, 2011 12:00 am



FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 file photo, Moammar Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, top left, gestures to troops loyal to his father in Tripoli, Libya. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he is in indirect contact with Seif al-Islam Gadhafi about the possibility of surrendering for trial. The 39-year-old son of Moammar Gadhafi was indicted in June for inciting crowds to murder during the early stages of the Libyan revolution. (AP Photo/Imed Lamloum, Pool, File)


NATO said Friday that, as expected, it will end its controversial Libyan operations as of Monday. That will mark the close of a momentous seven-month air and sea campaign that played a central role in the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi after more than four decades in power.
NATO's decision to end its campaign comes a day after the U.N. Security Council voted to cut off the U.N. mandate that was the legal basis for foreign intervention in Libya. The country's new rulers asked for an extension of air patrols, citing potential attacks by die-hard Gadhafi loyalists, but the U.N. decision ruled that out.
The NATO mission featured a withering aerial bombing campaign that negated Gadhafi's advantages in armor and personnel and eroded the regime's ability to respond to an ill-trained and disorganized rebel threat.
Since March 31, when NATO assumed control of the operation, alliance warplanes have flown more than 26,000 sorties over the North African nation, bombing thousands of targets.
Besides the bombing strikes, NATO enforced an embargo on arms shipments to Gadhafi forces and secured a "no-fly" zone in Libyan airspace.
Leaders of the 28-nation alliance, which includes the United States, have labeled the Libya mission a resounding success. But critics have said that NATO exceeded its mandate to protect Libyan civilians and became the rebel air force in a war that eventually left more than 30,000 dead, including many noncombatants.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's secretary general, called the operation "probably one of the most successful missions in the history of NATO."
Rasmussen did not rule out a future role for NATO in Libya. "If requested, we can assist the new Libyan government in the transformation to democracy, for instance with defense and security sector reform," he said. "But I wouldn't expect new tasks beyond that."
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday that some of Libya's leaders had called for NATO to continue its mission "during this interim as they try to establish some new governance."
The Security Council of the United Nations authorized a no-fly zone and military action to protect Libyan civilians in a resolution that was passed March 17. At that time, Gadhafi's forces were threatening to annihilate the Libyans who were challenging his 42-year grip on power, inspired by the uprisings that had toppled Arab autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.
NATO used the resolution as justification for bombing attacks on Gadhafi's forces, which some Security Council members, notably Russia, considered beyond the scope of the measure's intent. The NATO attacks are widely credited with helping the coalition of Libyan rebels to oust Gadhafi.
William Hague, the foreign secretary of Britain, which along with France and the United States were the core participants in NATO's Libyan operation, said, "Ending the no-fly zone and the civilian protection provisions demonstrates that Libya has entered a new era."
NATO's 26,000 sorties, including 9,600 strike missions, destroyed about 5,900 military targets. These included Libya's air defenses and more than 1,000 tanks, vehicles and guns, as well as Moammar Gadhafi's command and control networks.
The daily airstrikes enabled the rebels' forces to take Tripoli two months ago. On Sunday, Libya's interim rulers declared the country liberated, launching the nation on what is meant to be a two-year transition to democracy.
Qatar, a leading Arab backer of the uprising to topple Gadhafi's regime, contributed warplanes to the NATO-led air campaign and helped arrange a critical oil sale to fund the former rebels.
The United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Sweden also joined in the NATO war effort.
Meanwhile, A group of mercenaries has offered to help Moammar Gadhafi's fugitive son and onetime heir apparent to evade arrest and trial, an international prosecutor said Friday.
The International Criminal Court warned that authorities might intercept any aircraft linked to the plot to shield Seif Islam Gadhafi from facing war crimes charges pending against him.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also said his office has had "informal contact" with the fugitive son, once regarded as the reformist face of his father's regime.
Mercenaries have offered to aid the son escape to an African nation that does not recognize the court's jurisdiction, Moreno-Ocampo said. The prosecutor did not identify the nation.
Prosecutors are "exploring the possibility" of intercepting any aircraft carrying Gadhafi's son in order to make an arrest, Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement issued in The Hague, Netherlands, where the court is based. He did not say how the ICC could intercept a plane, other than to note that such a move would have to be done in the airspace of a nation that accepted the court's jurisdiction.
Copyright 2011 STLtoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in National on Saturday, October 29, 2011 12:00 am Updated: 1:19 am.



Source: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_b014942c-508c-5955-bcc2-b085f090e12b.html#ixzz1cGYH1tJL