Winston Churchill famously said: “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job,” and, last week, Libya’s army commander, Khalifa Hiftar, made the same call to the West, promising to crush Isis if the world would just let him buy the weapons he needs.

America is leading the charge to smash Isis in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and, likely soon, in Tunisia too, so you would think it would support Libya’s call. And you would be wrong. Because when it comes to Libya, Isis gets a pass from the West.

This is despite the fact that Isis in Libya is the most dangerous of all to western interests because it controls two ports - Derna and Sirte - and is threatening attacks against oil tankers and cruise ships in the Mediterranean.

Seizure of a cruise ship would eclipse Tunisia’s horrific Bardo Museum massacre by several orders of magnitude.

Libya already has submitted the list of weapons it needs. All it wants is the green light from the United Nations to allow the purchase. But American and British pressure has seen that call refused.

So, as the Americans say, what gives? Simple. London and Washington want to first ensure that Libya’s elected government cuts a deal to share power with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last June, Libya held elections, as the West commanded it should. The UN even organised the elections. It recognised the new government that came out of those elections in which the Muslim Brotherhood and its ally, the Misurata militias, won 30 of the 200 seats.

Tunisia’s Brotherhood party, Ennahda, had the same fate last year and did what grown-up political parties do: take its seats on the Opposition benches.

Not in Libya. Here, the Brotherhood rebelled, its 30 MPs boycotted the Assembly and its Libya Dawn militias were unleashed to storm Tripoli, with the government evacuating to Tobruk.

But Parliament has something big and obvious on its side: the majority of Libyans. They long for democracy, for a regular Parliament, for what Tunisia has got - a Parliament that plays by the rules.

The war is already swinging Parliament’s way. Hiftar has already smashed Ansar al Sharia, cousins of Isis, in Benghazi. Ansar al Sharia is the militia that killed American Ambassador Chris Stevens two years ago.

Hiftar last week called for weapons to finish the job, warning that, unless he did, Isis would strike at Europe, as it has pledged. But the State Department, with Britain’s Foreign Office meekly dawdling along behind, has said no. It will block the weapons to fight Isis until the democratically-elected Parliament agrees to share power with the Brotherhood.

Parliament has something big and obvious on its side: the majority of Libyans

Why? The reason is simple and it dates back to 9/11.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, some bright spark suggested the best way of ‘draining the pond’ of jihadists was to encourage the angry young men of the Middle East into legitimate Islamic politics - in the shape of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Libya’s UN Ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, continues to plead for weapons and openly accuses Britain in particular, which, he said, “did not want the Libyan army to resolve its conflict with terrorist groups and militias in control of Tripoli”.

But London and Washington stick to their guns, promoting a former terrorist, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, despite the failure of his party to win a single seat in an election.

Whatever the reason, Libya is dying, Isis is growing stronger - The Wall Street Journal reported this week on how it is gobbling up oil fields in the Sirte Basin.

But back in London and Washington, cracks are starting to show. Sir Dominic Asquith, Britain’s former Libya ambassador, took to the pages of the Financial Times to question the West’s policy.

Meanwhile, UN Libya envoy, Bernadino Leon, following the lead of London and Washington, continues his pantomime of peace talks.

The Tobruk government refused to see him when he visited them on Monday. Previous talks were opened in Tripoli, in Geneva, in Ghademis, in Algiers and Marrakesh, each time collapsing and each time for the same reasons. As Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s first prime minister after the revolution, says, why should the Brotherhood with one sixth of voter support be given half the power in a unity government?

Back home, Hiftar has gained popularity for taking on the terrorists and militias. His offensive, named Dignity, has won support not just of Parliament but of the entire eastern side of Libya, along with all but one of the major tribes in the south.

Inside Tripoli, people are weary of the Taliban-style rule by Brotherhood militias, which has seen new laws forbidding women leaving the country without a close relative alongside and has made it illegal for boys to be taught by female teachers.

The next so called ‘peace talks’ meeting is said to be in Brussels this week. These talks, if they happen, will be non-existent.

Libya’s legitimate government are no fools and will not give in to pressure to throw away their democracy and accept Brotherhood militias, or any other militias.

Hiftar has announced he wants no political power, casting himself as Libya’s Patton, not its Eisenhower. But while Leon is happy to invite the Brotherhood’s ally, Belhaj, to the peace talks, he can find no place for Hiftar - because the Brotherhood objects.

Richard Galustian is a security analyst.