Saif Qaddafi says the Libyan government was "surprised" by the airstrikes launched on his country to stop his father, Muammar Qaddafi, from brutally crushing rebels. "It was big surprise that finally President Obama--we thought he was a good man and friend of Arab world--is bombing Libya," the younger Qaddafi told ABC News' Christiane Amanpour Sunday.

Qaddafi claimed "terrorists" had taken control of Benghazi and were attacking civilians. "No country in the world will allow the second-largest city to be controlled by gangsters and armed militia." The U.N.-authorized airstrikes are just part of a "big misunderstanding" and likened it to "the fiasco of WMD" in Iraq. Qaddafi said his father would not be stepping down. He vowed America would regret helping the rebels.

 

View footage of the airstrikes in this Euronews clip:

Meanwhile, the Arab League, which endorsed the airstrikes, is having second thoughts: Reuters' Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy report the group is calling an emergency meeting because "what we want is protection and not the bombardment of more civilians." Reuters calls the statement a "serious diplomatic setback" for the intervention. (Condemnation of the strikes by the Taliban, however, will likely pose less of a problem.)

And Andrew Exum adds this fun fact: dropping ten Tomahawk missiles on Libya cost the U.S. about $81 million.

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Elspeth Reeve