Libya : A no lie zone

[Magda Hassan]

Yep, and the Poles should pay Germany for 'liberating' them too.

Libya 'should repay UK military'

21 October 2011


The UK should ask Libya to repay the £300m cost of British intervention in the country following the death of Colonel Gaddafi, a leading Tory MP has said.

Daniel Kawczynski, chairman of the all-party group for Libya, said the UK's contribution to the removal of the Gaddafi regime was "immense", and was conducted despite difficult economic conditions at home.

In Parliament earlier this month it was revealed the cost of Operation Ellamy had risen to £300m, and independent analysis has said it could be as high as £1.75bn

Writing for sister site PublicService.co.uk, Kawczynski said that the concept of countries repaying outsiders for military intervention was "not without precedent".

"Following the liberation of Kuwait in the first Gulf War, the British government received over £2bn from other nations to cover operational costs with a significant contribution by Kuwait herself," he said.

"Furthermore, Libya is clearly not a country without means. We should not forget that in helping to free the people of Libya from oppression, we have also helped free an economy rich in natural resources that exported over $34bn worth of oil products in 2009 and had a GDP estimated at over $85bn.

"In the past, freedom has been paid for with blood and gold. The timely intervention by our government and the international community saved many innocent lives, but the action came at a cost, and this cost has been born by the hard pressed British taxpayer.

"In these difficult economic times, it should not be too much to ask a country with Libya's wealth and resources to pay their share of the gold."

Some 2,300 British military personnel were deployed at the peak of Operation Ellamy, along with 22 fast jets which conducted 3,000 sorties, including a fifth of all NATO airstrikes.

Eight warships attacked targets on shore as well as enforcing the UN arms embargo and securing the delivery of aid.

Kawczyinski's full comments appear on sister site PublicService.co.uk.
http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_st...p?id=17791