What were the reasons behind the intervention in Libya?

jetaketa: What were the reasons behind the intervention in Libya?
I wonder why did NATO and UN agreed on a military intervention in Libya but in other countries like Syria and Yemen, where the protesters are also being killed by the government, they haven’t done or discussed anything?
I’m not asking why did the US intervene in Libya, I’m referring to the “do anything to protect the Libyan citizens” part. Why aren’t they saying the same about those other countries?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Joe
Oil. It’s all about money.

Answer by mkendrickj
Libya was an outright civil war, unlike the other situations. Syria hadn’t even come close to getting to the point it is now when the Libyan situation got hot.

You could also argue that the Arab League made no such ‘request’ for assistance in any of the other nations.

Either way, we shouldn’t have gotten involved in any of them. It’s unclear who is leading, much less behind any of the movements in any of these nations.

If the Muslim world is so interested in the wellbeing of ‘fellow Muslims’, they should be the ones getting involved. Not the West (the US!).

On the topic of whether it is ‘all about oil’, if only it was so simple and clear cut. But while we’re on that topic, what the heck is wrong with the consistent flow of oil being why we sometimes must commit stick our noses into other regions business and even commit forces sometimes. It’s the one thing, besides food, that is more important to the basic functioning of ALL the worlds economies than any other commodity. Damn right oil is worth fighting to protect the access and consistent flow of.

Answer by WhatBrain?
Khadafi has been an international pariah since his coup and has irritated practically every government outside of the old Soviet Union with his pushiness for a mix of communism and pan-Arabism. He even alienated the other Arab countries. His reaction to the revolution just gave France and Great Britain a public-friendly reason to end his rule and the USA was dragged in by encumbering alliances and the weakness of the French and British militaries.

Answer by Timmeh!
There are two main reasons; one is that Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, and the other is that the leaders of Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi etc enjoy US backing.

Gaddafi was gearing up to nationalise Libya’s oil, so as far as the USA & Britain were concerned he had to go. I reckon the plan is to either get him ousted by backing anti-government protestors, or at least split Libya down the middle, at say, Surt. That way the newly ‘liberated’ East Libya (where all the oil is) gets a new government (which I absolutely guarantee will be pro-USA, though may also be headed by a worse dictator than Gaddafi), and Gaddafi will be left with western Libya, which is as dry and oil free as the desert which covers much of it.

If Gaddafi had announced he was going to fight al-Qaeda (as Saleh did in Yemen), he would have gotten US backing, not US bombs. As for the protests in Bahrain, the US 5th Fleet is based there, and guards the passage of around 40% of all the world’s oil shipments as they pass by. There is NO WAY the USA is going to let such a co-operative government be overthrown, same as in Saudi. So they get to kill protestors with impunity.

Answer by QuiteNewHere
Sad to agree that it was oil. Nothing else other than oil gains makes any sense.
WHY? because nobody intervened Iran, years ago after their election, not in Ivory Coast, Darfur. Somalia, Syria Yemen Tunisia, EGypt.
It makes me want to think about Iraq if it fell into that category too.
What was different with Libya?
there was something to be gained. thats what was different.
These “rebels” – who are they?

Answer by tfoley5000
Oil and power which qaddafi has both and seems not to let go so he wants a war that he will might actually get.

Answer by Nader
I am Libyan…and i can give you a very short answer. OIL