Iraq Could Provide Blueprint for Libya (no-fly zones)

David Owen a member of UK House of Lords has indicated on Al-Jazeera that the United Nations Security Council should take decisive measures and implement a no fly zone over Libya to protect the population. This has come amid growing threats that Colonel Gaddafi is using the power of his air force to bomb protesters on the ground.

He also said that UN Security Council should take the case of Iraq no-fly zones that were put into place after the 1991 Gulf was as blueprint for the implementation of this in Libya.

He also went onto to say the UN Security Council should meet in emergency session tonight and declare the actions in Libya 'a threat to the peace' under the UN Charter. He also said that under article 7 take mandatory action and to declare a no-fly zone for military aircraft over the entirety of Libya. 

This could be enforced by the regional power organisation NATO, who could then ask for further assistance from Middle Eastern nations to give added legitimacy to this resolution.

Furthermore he said that if this is not implemented immediately then 'we could see a wholesale massacre' of Libyan civilians by the morning if Gaddafi makes good on his threat to use the might of his air force to squash the protesters.  Finally he added that there we be 'a serious day of reckoning' if the UN did not take action.


If a resolution is passed by the UN security and the resolution is broken by the leaders of Libya then this would allow the International Criminal Court to put them on trail for war crimes.