Libya: British could face terrrorist reprisals

The Prime Minister told MPs that Britain’s own national security "interests" will be at risk if the Gaddafi regime survives in Tripoli.
British officials said that the Government’s leading role in international efforts to topple Gaddafi could increase the threat of reprisals from the Libyan leader and his followers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Gaddafi regime was considered one of the most active state sponsors of terrorism in the world, supporting and funding groups including the IRA.
The Gaddafi regime also paid compensation to the families of the 270 people killed when a Pan-Am airliner was bombed over Lockerbie in 1988.
Following the September 11th attacks on the US in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Gaddafi sought a rapprochement with the West and is largely believed to have ended his support for terrorist activities.
However, Western intelligence officials fear that the current Libyan crisis could potentially see him return to state sponsorship of terror, in reprisal for Western support for his opponents.
In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister said that Britain does not have a formal policy of seeking regime change in Libya.
But warning MPs of the dangers of leaving the dictator in place, Mr Cameron clearly invoked the memory of the Lockerbie bombing.
“We should be clear about where our interests lie. In this country in particular we know what Colonel Gaddafi is capable of, and we should not forget his support for the biggest terrorist atrocity on British soil,” he said.
“We simply cannot have a situation where a failed pariah state festers on Europe’s southern border, and that is why we are backing today our words with action.”
Mr Cameron’s concerns are also shared by US officials
William Burns, the US Under-Secretary of State this week told a Senate committee that if Gaddafi survives the current challenge to his position, the West will face “considerable risks” including “the danger of him returning to terrorism”.
The Tripoli regime hinted at the same threat this week when it warned that it would respond to international miltiary action by attacking civilian and military aircraft and ships in the Mediterranean Sea.
Significantly, a statement from the Libyan defence ministry warned that the danger to Western targets would arise “not just in the short term, but also in the long-term.”
Charles Tannock MEP, the Conservative foreign affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, said that allowing Gaddafi to remain in power would raise the threat of terrorism against countries including Britain.
He said: “He cannot be left to revert to type, to support terrorism against the West, and to continue attacks against his own people. He and his sons must go now.”
Although some members of al-Qaeda and other extremist Islamic groups come from Libya, the Gaddafi regime has often been openly hostile to al-Qaeda, frequently accusing its leader, Osama bin Laden, of supporting rebels trying to oust him.
Yet this week, Gaddafi himself promised that if Libya is attacked by Western forces, “we will leave the international alliance against terrorism and ally ourselves with al-Qaeda and declare a holy war.”

NND,英国你好好管人家干什么，招事。。

今日遇到愤青雅思哥= =

原来雅思哥不在英国啊

。。。。。。。。。。。