As Saturday March 19t, 2011 Operation “Odyssey Dawn” commenced, it followed with the firing of more than 100 Tomahawk missiles along the coast of Libya—collectively between the U.S., Britain, and France. The operation was crafted by NATO to level the battlefield for Libyan rebels to overthrow the present military regime led by Libya’s president Muammar Gaddafi.
For the time being the UN said that there won’t be any deployment of soldiers onto Libyan soil but then again a senior U.S. official said a U.N. resolution endorsed by Arab states covered “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, “which we made very clear includes, but goes beyond, a no-fly zone.
Ironic enough British Companies such as British Petroleum (BP) have been operating in Libya’s backyard (Egypt) for more than the past 40 years, and there was never an urgency to aid civilians any time prior to now. BPrecently (2007) signed a 900 million dollar contract to open an oil refinery in Libya and they’re currently being queued until Libya’s civil war is resolved.
Sources:
Mark Townsend, Operation Odyssey Dawn commences to end Gaddafi onslaught on Benghazi guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 March 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/19/operation-odyssey-dawn-tomahawks-libya
Garry White, BP Contract Still Valid in Libya Despite Turmoil, The Telegraph, Thursday April 14 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8389397/BPs-contracts-in-Libya-still-valid-despite-turmoil.html
Paul Joseph Watson ,Bottom Line: Libya will Remain a transnational Oil Fiefdom, Prison Planet.com, Tuesday, March 22, 2011 http://www.prisonplanet.com/bottom-line-libya-will-remain-a-transnational-oil-fiefdom.html
Maria Golovnina & Michael Georgy, Western Powers Strike Libya, Reuters, March 21, 2011 http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/9045434/western-powers-strike-libya/
Student Researcher: Luis Chacon Perez
Facility Instructor: Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D., Indian River State College