Inside story of the UK's secret mission to beat Gaddafi

[dipsydoodle]

British efforts to help topple Colonel Gaddafi were not limited to air strikes. On the ground - and on the quiet - special forces soldiers were blending in with rebel fighters. This is the previously untold account of the crucial part they played.

The British campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi's regime had its public face - with aircraft dropping bombs, or Royal Navy ships appearing in Libyan waters, but it also had a secret aspect.

My investigations into that covert effort reveal a story of practically minded people trying to get on with the job, while all the time facing political and legal constraints imposed from London.

In the end, though, British special forces were deployed on the ground in order to help the UK's allies - the Libyan revolutionaries often called the National Transitional Council or NTC. Those with a knowledge of the programme insist "they did a tremendous job" and contributed to the final collapse of the Gaddafi regime.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16573516

[MisterP]

1. so NATO did the ground fighting as well as the entirety of the air and missile theaters

[dipsydoodle]

2. I think it might be better expressed that they

managed the situation.

[jakeXT]

3. if you want a thing done, do it yourself.

just paying the LIFG didn't work out.

LIFG's next big operation, a failed attempt to assassinate Qadhafi in February 1996 that killed several of his bodyguards, was later said to have been financed by British intelligence to the tune of $160,000, according to ex-MI5 officer David Shayler. [4] While Shayler's allegations have not been independently confirmed, it is clear that Britain allowed LIFG to develop a base of logistical support and fundraising on its soil. At any rate, financing by bin Laden appears to have been much more important. According to one report, LIFG received up to $50,000 from the Saudi terrorist mastermind for each of its militants killed on the battlefield." [2005]11

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3504

[yurbud]

4. I'd like to read more on why he needed to be removed and whose interests it served