The wrangling appears to have ended in a fudge, which General Sir Mike Jackson has aptly described as less than ideal. Nato is to command the no fly zone, but Britain, France and the U.S. have to go it alone with the attacks on military infrastructure and formations threatening civilians. In other words the three allies are left with the part that smacks of colonial aggression, whatever the arguments employed, whilst Nato takes the balancing part which is both neutral and humanitarian. The three allies are clearly partisan and favouring the rebels, whom one, France, has already recognised as the legitimate government of Libya.
This project is en route to becoming a muddle. Meanwhile the rebels’ military capability falls far short of the ability to make use of the opportunities allied strikes offer them. They may even be losing support among the population, who are growing tired of fighting and want life to return to normal, even if this means Gaddafi carries on. Of one thing there is no doubt. Gaddafi is now stronger politically than before the operation was launched.
To put it bluntly, even though his forces are being mauled, Gaddafi is winning. There are many in Washington who mutter that this is exactly what they feared. Britain and France need to come up with something fast which restores credibility and makes sense of this mission. Gaddafi himself perhaps? But then that is against the rules apparently.