US defence secretary Robert Gates slams 'loose talk' about no-fly zones

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

David Cameron appears to be flying solo as senior Washington man shoots down prime minister's Libya proposal

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent | Thursday March 03 2011 14.29 GMT

=snip=

In the committee appearance on Wednesday, Gates said: "There is a lot of, frankly, loose talk about some of these military options. Let's just call a spade a spade.

"A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defences. That's the way you do a no-fly zone.

"Then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. That is the way it starts."

=snip=

"It also requires more aeroplanes than you would find on a single aircraft carrier," he said. "It is a big operation by a big country."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/mar/03/robert-gates-dismisses-no-fly-zone

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Video of Gates saying this and details on how it relates to Cameron "flying solo" on this issue at the link.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Good. No point pretending it's benign peacekeeping

Running a no-fly zone is an act of war. It's an invasion. We ran one (or two) in Iraq for years, and it involved attacks on any new air defense installations. Not talked about much, but it almost certainly involved ground forces to locate and verify targets, and to guide air attacks.

We have two wars going right now. And a big deficit. I don't think we need any more "shock and awe".

:hi:

[bossy22]

2. my problem with this is that it would be footed almost entirely by the U.S.

Yeah, the UK may send a few planes- but how many? 4? 5?- they really can't spare any more than that- and thats not enough for a country the size of libya. So who will pick up the slack? well the US ofcourse.

[SpartanDem]

6. Bingo

I'd probably support a no fly zone if weren't going to be a mostly US operation.

[groundloop]

3. A refreshing bit of honesty

Maybe, just maybe, imposing a no-fly zone is warranted. But as Secretary Gates pointed out in no uncertain terms, we'd basically be going to war with Libya in order to enforce it.

[Baclava]

5. I've been arguing that same point for a week - that a 'no-fly' zone essentially means war

You don't just snap your fingers and declare a 'no-fly' zone, like some would believe, first step is taking out their ground-based air defenses.

Sounds like war to me.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. The Arab League has said that they could/would do this...let them

The use of western troops, especially the US, would be the wrong thing to do.