Should NATO stay longer in Libya?

The U.N. prepares to scrap NATO's no-fly zone, and Libya's interim leaders worry that their fragile peace might unravel

A man walks past buildings destroyed during the war in Sirte: The U.N. resolution is dissolved, but some say NATO should stay to support the interim government.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal)

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday passed a resolution dissolving NATO's mandate to intervene in Libya as of Oct. 31. The lifting of the no-fly zone implemented in March came despite pleas from Libya's interim leader, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, to keep a NATO presence through the end of the year to protect civilians and the new government from attacks by the late Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists. Is it a mistake for NATO to leave so soon?

It's about time NATO stopped meddling: Libya needs NATO out of its affairs, John Rees of the Stop the War Coalition tells RT.com. The fact that the country's new leaders still want foreign military help only shows that they're "wholly dependent militarily, economically, politically on the West." A government like that "won't be in the interests of most Libyan people" — they need leaders who answer to them, not NATO.

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