US ambassador denies rift with UK over Libya crisis
The US ambassador to the UK insists the 'special relationship' between Washington and London was still special, and praised the two countries' joint handling of a number of crises in recent years.
In an interview with ITV News published on Friday, Matthew Barzun said “we're working together, US and UK to make the world more peaceful, more prosperous, more just.”
He made the comments after Obama recently criticized Britain and France over their Libya policy in the aftermath of the 2011 overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In an interview with the Atlantic magazine, Obama said he was wrong to believe the allies would be "invested in the follow-up" to Gaddafi’s ouster.
“When I go back and I ask myself what went wrong, there’s room for criticism, because I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up,” Obama said.
In March 2011, a coalition of Western countries, including the United States, the UK and France, launched missile and airstrikes on Libya in a bid to help oust Gaddafi following a national uprising.
Barzun attempted to clarify these comments, arguing Obama had already taken "personal responsibility" for Libya.
“President Obama... actually stood up at the United Nations General Assembly last [autumn] and he took personal responsibility as he reflected on his time in office, and he said: 'Look there is more we could have done in the aftermath and more we should have done.”
Gaddafi was deposed later that year in the wake of the fall of capital Tripoli on August 20. Although pockets of resistance by pro-Gaddafi forces held out for another two months, especially in his hometown of Sirte, which he declared the new capital on September 1, his long-time rule and life came to an end after Sirte's capture by Libyan fighters on October 20, 2011.
But militant groups, seizing up the power vacuum in Gaddafi’s wake, have wreaked havoc in the country, leaving the country’s situation a “mess” as described by Obama.
The US president believes Libya’s chaos, which has now turned the North African state into a safe haven for Daesh (ISIL) terrorists, has less to do with American incompetence than with the passivity of Washington’s allies.
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