Masterly inactivity may save lives.

Syria is rapidly spiraling down towards civil war helped by outside interference. On the ground Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supplying arms and money to rebel fighters because they are Sunni while the Assad regime is controlled by Alawis who are Shia. As the only Shia country in the world, Iran has been advising Assad since the beginning and there have been suggestions of Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers directing assaults against protesters. Just as the Iranians used Basiji militias against people protesting against the stolen elections of 2009 so Shabiha militias have been blamed for recent gruesome massacres in Houla and elsewhere. This is natural territory for Al Qaeda and an unknown group, Al Nusra has claimed responsibility for various bombings. Things would not have deteriorated to this extent if the British and the US had kept shut. They seem not to have learnt anything from the disaster they have left behind in Libya. Having tricked the UN Security Council into passing a resolution to protect civilians they proceeded to bomb Gaddafi's regime into oblivion, killing 30,000 civilians in the process. Yet in March 2004 Tony Blair was in Tripoli embracing his good friend Gaddafi while Shell was announcing a deal to explore for gas off the Libyan coast. Just 2 weeks before Blair's visit Abdul Hakim Belhaj, member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and his wife, 30 year old Fatima Bouchar were kidnapped by MI6 officers in Bangkok and transferred to Tripoli in what was known as " extraordinary rendition ". Fatima was 4 months pregnant at the time, yet that did not prevent these unscrupulous monsters from taping her from head to toe to a stretcher for a 17 hour flight. It must have been absolute agony. Another LIFG member, Abu Munthir al-Saadi was kidnapped in Hong Kong, 3 days after Blair's visit, along with his wife and 4 children, the youngest girl being only 6 years old at that time. Although the women and children were released from prison after a few months Saadi and Belhaj were in prison for 6 years during which time they were tortured. These facts have emerged when a file containing hundreds of letters and faxes from the CIA and MI6 were found in the office of Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi's Foreign Minister and former security chief. Libya is now a divided country controlled by militias while the government is bottled up in Tripoli. However, even here they are powerless as was shown last week when an armed group took control of the airport at Tripoli demanding release of their leader who had gone missing. Because Gaddafi was using African mercenaries migrant workers from Niger and Chad have been forced to flee back home and are now in desperate poverty. Tuareg rebels have taken over the northern half of Mali and declared independence leading a junior officer of the army, Captain Amadou Sanogo to take power in a coup. He has since stepped down and an interim government, headed by the former Speaker, has taken charge to organise fresh elections. Thus Libya is now being run by warlords, much like Somalia used to be, and there is real fear of famine in the entire Sahel region. There is every chance of Al Qaeda in Africa taking control of this area. But, hey, the oil is flowing again and British and American companies stand to make huge profits. They make you sick, don't they?