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French Official Urges Allies to Deploy Ground Troops to Libya
[Tolo News] Chairman of La Belle France's foreign affairs committee, Axel Poniatowski, has urged allies to put boots on the ground in Libya, reports say.

Poniatowski has also said that La Belle France should deploy commandos to Libya to guide the air strikes.
A good idea, actually; ground air controllers are worth their weight in gold. Problem is, they can't hang out there by themselves and they can't depend on the rag-tag rebels to protect them. So now you need a squad -- or more -- around each one. They have to be supplied, etc. You can do it on the fly and cheap as we did in Afghanistan in late 2001, but in the end such a move serves as the 'thin edge of the wedge' to a more robust ground force.

By the way, who has the ground air controllers? France? Britain? Italy?
La Belle France was the first country to intervene in Libya and carry out the first air strikes.

Force of occupation on Libyan soil is forbidden by the UN resolution to protect civilians, but some of the allies have stubbornly urged deployment of ground troops and possible arming of the Libya rebels.

French officials had recently criticised NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
 for not doing enough in Libya and pushed other allies to step up air strikes against Qadaffy.

Despite calls for more pressure on Col Qadaffy, the recent Berlin meeting also ended with no commitment on the issue.

NATO seems to be acting cautiously to avoid being seen the Libyan rebels' air force.
Too late...
Libyan government front man has previously argued that those who took up armed could not be referred to as civilians.

NATO took the lead in Libya after President Barack B.O. Obama came under pressure by US politicians accusing him of being unable to define the US Libya mission.

It comes as festivities are continuing and the rebels have claimed they have made some gains in Misrata which is under heavy threat from Qadaffy forces.

Misrata has remained under siege and the humanitarian situation has been reported worsening. Government forces have also been pressing the eastern town of Ajdabiya.

UK recently vowed to help stranded migrant workers flee the city.

Fighting has intensified after the recent efforts by the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
peace delegation headed by the South African President failed to reach any positive conclusion.
Posted by: Fred 2011-04-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=320794