Qadhafi says no oil for US as he vows to turn Libya into a hell
By Kate Dourian in Dubai and Margaret McQuaile in London
March 21, 2011 - Moammar Qadhafi, fighting for survival in the face of an international military assault, vowed March 20 to arm his people for a long war and said the US and its allies would never lay their hands on Libya's oil.
"The Libyan land has turned into hell for you. We will fight you if you continue with this aggression against us and if you covet our land and our oil, you will fail," Qadhafi said in an audio broadcast after French warplanes launched the first strike against his air and ground defenses.
"We will not allow... our oil to be controlled by the US, or France or Britain or the enemy Christian nations that have formed an alliance against us to enjoy our oil and our wealth," he said.
Qadhafi's whereabouts were not known. Loud explosions were heard late March 20 at his headquarters in Tripoli's Bab al-Azziziya barracks, part of which was damaged in a missile strike against what coalition officials said was a command center.
Loyalists have been camped at Qadhafi's residence in a show of support for the man who has led Libya for more than 41 years.
Television reports said smoke rose from the compound as US, French, British and Canadian jets and warships led a first wave of air and missile strikes against Qadhafi's military installations.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on CBS television that the no-fly zone had been established in the first 24 hours of operation Odyssey Dawn, though he stressed the intention was to protect civilians rather than to oust Qadhafi.
"The military mission here is actually very clearly defined and it's limited in scale and scope. And it's to establish a no-fly zone, it's to protect... to not allow him to continue to kill Libyan civilians, and protect them, as well as support the humanitarian efforts that would follow given that he stops doing that. In that regard... it's narrow in scope."
Mullen said he could not say how long the operation would last, explaining that the coalition, to be joined by Gulf Arab states Qatar and the UAE, would soon establish a joint command, possibly led by France the UK.
"It's difficult to know exactly how it comes out, but in the immediate future... we're very focused on providing the environment in which the Libyan civilians cannot be massacred by him, and that there can be humanitarian relief, and particularly around Benghazi."
The coalition moved after Qadhafi was seen to be in violation of the March 17 ceasefire call by the UN Security Council.
The resolution authorized the use of "all necessary means" to protect civilians and enforce a ceasefire and no-fly zone against Qadhafi's heavily armed forces, which have been fighting an insurrection for more than a month.
With its oil output reduced to roughly a quarter of its pre-crisis level, Libya's top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, called Saturday on foreign oil companies to return, warning that exports would otherwise stop completely.
He also hinted that Tripoli was likely to favor countries that abstained from voting for UN Resolution 1973, inviting Chinese, Indian and Brazilian companies to help in the effort to restore Libya's oil output.
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