Cameron: ‘This is not another Iraq’

David Cameron has vowed that his decision to intervene in Libya will not lead to British forces getting embroiled in another costly occupation like the Iraq War.

The Prime Minister addressed the Conservative Party Conference in Perth just hours after revealing that British fighter jets are on their way to airbases in range of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

He insisted that last night’s UN vote in favour of a no-fly zone over the north African country made this situation very different from the controversy that surrounded Tony Blair’s decision to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Mr Cameron said: “The next question people will ask is this: is this going to be another Iraq? And my answer is clear: no.

“The UN resolution which we with the Lebanese, the US and the French helped to draft makes it clear there will be no foreign occupation of Libya.

“The people of Libya don’t want that, neither do the UK and neither do our allies. It’s not going to happen.”

He added: “There are millions in the Arab world who want to know that the UN and the US and the UK care about their hardship and their suffering and their oppression.”

‘We’ll judge Gaddafi by his actions’

Britain is preparing to scramble Tornado and Typhoon fighter jets to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya after the UN backed international military action last night.

Libya responded to the move on Friday by declaring an immediate ceasefire and a halt to all military operations against rebels who have seized control of swathes of the country. British forces are now expected to join international efforts to police the ceasefire.

Speaking to Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon, Mr Cameron said: “We will judge him (Gaddafi) by his actions not his words.

“What is absolutely clear is the UN Security Council resolution says he must stop what he’s doing – brutalising his people. If not, all necessary measures can follow to make him stop.

“That’s what we agreed last night. That’s what we are preparing for and we will judge him by what he does.”

Mr Cameron had told the House of Commons: “Britain will deploy Tornados and Typhoons as well as air-to-air refuelling and surveillance aircraft. Preparations to deploy these aircraft have already started.

“In the coming hours they will move to airbases from where they can start to take the necessary action.”

All necessary measures

Mr Cameron addressed MPs after his call for a no-fly zone over Libya was approved by the United Nations, clearing the way for British forces to join international military intervention in Libya.

The UN Security Council authorised member states to employ “all necessary measures” short of a ground invasion to prevent a “brutal attack” by Gaddafi’s forces on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Mr Cameron’s call for a no-fly zone had initially met with a lukewarm response from the US.

But President Barack Obama finally backed Resolution 1973 and even supported a proposal to allow air strikes.

A dramatic late-night vote in favour of action – by ten to zero with five abstentions – came after days of stalling and intense telephone diplomacy by Mr Cameron with Arab, African and European leaders.

Speaking in Perth, the Prime Minister alluded to the UK’s central role in negotiations, saying: “There was a real danger that the world would look on the horror of all this and do nothing.

“That is why I felt so strongly that it was right to take a clear view, right to help marshal concerted international effort and right to bring forward the action to stop this.”

Read more: Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon gives his assessment of the Prime Minister's stance on regime change in Libya.

"In his interviews, David Cameron repeated the description of Libya under Col Gaddafi as a 'pariah state' that can't be allowed to fester on the Med.

But he doesn't have a UN resolution for regime change. He's got a resolution for humanitarian intervention to protect civilians.

One former Labour Cabinet minister thought that the humanitarian mission looked a bit like WMD was for Tony Blair over Iraq - a cover for regime change."

In the Commons, Mr Cameron said the passing of the resolution meant all of the UK’s criteria for a no-fly zone – a demonstrable need, a clear legal basis and broad regional support – have now been met.

Military action was necessary to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, Mr Cameron said.

“Colonel Gaddafi has responded by attacking his own people. He has brought the full might of armed forces to bear on them, backed up by mercenaries.

“The world has watched as he has brutally crushed his own people.

“Intervening in another country’s affairs should not be undertaken, save in quite exceptional circumstances.

“His forces have attacked peaceful protesters and are now preparing for a violent assault on a city, Benghazi, of a million people, that has a history of 2,500 years.

“They have begun airstrikes in anticipation of what we expect to be a brutal attack using air, land, and sea forces.”

Cross-party backing

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg – who opposed the invasion of Iraq, saying it was illegal – said he was fully behind the intervention.

The Liberal Democrat leaders said: “This is not Iraq, we are not going to war, we are not invading Libya. What we are doing is upholding the international rule of law following the vote at the UN.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: “We welcome last night’s UN Security Council resolution and support Britain playing its full part in the international action that is planned.

“I applaud the efforts which made this happen, including that of the Prime Minister and the British Government.

“We support feasible and practical action to help the Libyan people, so as befits the official opposition, we will both support the Government and ask the necessary questions we think the country will want asked.”

MPs are due to debate and vote on a motion on military intervention in Libya on Monday.

Arab League support

The move has been firmly backed by the Arab League, whose member states will now be expected to participate in enforcing it.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “I pay tribute to the work that Britain and other nations have undertaken to ensure that the Security Council have reached this important agreement.

“The responsibility for this crisis rests squarely with the Gaddafi regime, and by this resolution the United Nations has now placed a responsibility on its members to act to protect the Libyan people.”

The imposition of a no-fly zone was greeted with jubilation by rebels in Benghazi but critics have questioned its effectiveness.

Speaking in the Commons, Labour’s Willie Bain said the NATO-backed no-fly zone over Bosnia failed to prevent the massacre at Srebrenica, when 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serbs.