Clearly I’m out of my depths here, because every bone in my body is telling me that we’re losing our minds. How can we just sit back and hope that ‘the others’ will sort this one out?

I’m referring of course to the attacks on Libya, and our government’s decision not to have Malta used as a military base. Maybe it’s just my incorrigible suspicious character, but I have a nagging feeling that there’s something top secret we’re not being told.

Granted, we only have one airport, it’s an international airport and we don’t have a military one. And yesterday, in true bad taste, we used it to host the launch of the brand new A380 - the biggest passenger aircraft in the world. We saw it land, take off, and land again on our precious airstrip, purely for our entertainment, when 300km away planes were being shot down in the name of democracy.

I understand that there are other countries close enough to serve as military basis, and that for the time being Malta does not seem that indispensible, but for peace’s sake (pun intended), haven’t we already burnt our bridges with Gaddafi? What are we protecting? And what will the PM’s excuse be if we’re asked to open our ports and waters for military use? Surely we can’t say that we only have one of those, now can we?

From where I stand, we’re at a point of no return now. There cannot be any half measures anymore, and it is in our best interest that this tyrant is taken down sooner rather than later.

If God forbid Gaddafi returns to power, what he’ll remember is that we went on record saying that his end is near, that we refused to return his beloved mirages, that we agreed with the UN’s imposition of a no-fly zone, and that the allies attacks were inevitable. Whatever we do from now on, it is GAME OVER for the previous Gaddafi – Malta cosy relationship. So why are we holding back?

The Libyan protestors, those who are most likely to be leading Libya soon enough, said ‘We’ll remember those who helped us... but we will never forget those who put spokes in our wheels.”

But clearly, our Government is more scared of a severely crippled Gaddafi than millions of people who are seeing their loved ones killed in a fight for their fundamental human rights – people, who understandably, will forever have a bone to grind.

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