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SAS team safe, British Foreign Secretary Mocked
Good that SAS team is safe, No holds barred in British politics...
Quote:
William Hague branded a 'serial bungler' over SAS Libya shambles
Mar 8 2011
BUNGLING William Hague yesterday admitted he was responsible for a shambolic mission to Libya which saw SAS troops and two diplomats captured by rebels.
Opposition MPs hooted with derisory laughter as Hague said there had been a "serious misunderstanding".
The Foreign Secretary was branded a "serial bungler" over his handling of the entire Libyan crisis. And the fiasco intensifed when it emerged that the SAS team were carrying a letter addressed to the rebels from David Cameron. Lib Dem Menzies Campbell said the diplomatic mission had been "ill-conceived, poorly planned and embarrassingly executed".
The North-East Fife MP asked Hague: "What are you going to do to restore the reputation of the United Kingdom in relation to foreign policy in the Middle East?"
Hague's humiliation came after a team of six SAS soldiers and two Foreign Office officials were sent to Benghazi at the weekend to make contact with rebels opposed to Colonel Gaddafi.
The heavily armed group flew in by helicopter. But the opposition forces did not know who they were, so they were seized, put in handcuffs and detained at a military base for two days. The group were eventually released and left Libya on Sunday. It was revealed yesterday. that the team had intended to deliver a letter from the Prime Minister to the rebel leaders. Cameron sent the note in a bid to win over the fighters and help overthrow Gaddafi. The letter is believed to have offered assistance to a new Libyan administration and asked what aid and equipment the rebels needed. Hague admitted he had authorised the deployment and admitted there had been a "serious misunderstanding about their role". In the Commons, Labour 's Douglas Alexander said the Foreign Office had shown a "serious lack of grip" over their handling of the Libyan crisis.
Shadow foreign secretary Alexander said: "I believe I speak for many when I say that the news on Sunday that British diplomatic and military personnel were being held was seen as just the latest setback for the UK and raises further serious questions about ministers' response to the unfolding events in Libya."
Alexander mocked Hague's decision to fly the SAS team into the rebel area before dawn when the opposition headquarters were just two miles from where the Royal Navy's HMS Cumberland was berthed.
To guffaws from Labour backbenchers, Alexander asked if Hague would take the same cloak-and-dagger approach in his private life. He added: "The British public are entitled to wonder whether, if some new neighbours moved into the Foreign Secretary's street, he would introduce himself by ringing the doorbell, or instead choose to climb over the fence in the middle of the night."
The SAS shambles was the latest fiasco in the Government's handling of events in Libya.When the uprising began, Hague gave journalists a false steer that Gaddafi was fleeing to Venezuela. Then, the Foreign Office were last to organise the evacuation of British citizens from Tripoli and their chartered plane was left grounded at Gatwick with a technical fault. Later, Cameron was slapped down by the US defence secretary over his gung-ho call for a military no-fly zone over Libya. Alexander said: "Twice in as many weeks, ministerial decisions have generated an embarrassment that could all too easily have become a tragedy."
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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2011/03...6908-22974264/
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