Libya and Cameron’s lack of pulling power

David Cameron told the Commons this afternoon that time was “of the essence” and looking at the advances of Colonel Gaddafi‘s troops that seems like a monumental under-statement.

The UK is pushing for a resolution at the UN in New York giving authority for no-fly zones and calling for tougher sanctions including against foreign mercenaries helping Col Gaddafi (David Cameron singled out Mali and Chad as the sources for a possible troop surge).

It does not contain any reference to arming the opposition in Libya and nor, by the sound of it, is it ever likely to. (Although intriguingly I’m told that two Lib Dem Cabinet ministers have spoken privately in tentative support of that idea.)

No. 10 says that UK UN staff are working around the clock to try to secure the Security Council resolution but there is a giant questionmark beyond the normal suspects (Russia, China) and that is the US itself .

Military action in Libyan airspace can’t happen without them. President Obama has been listening to different voices in his ears on Libya and does not appear to have come down decisively on one side. David Cameron is clearly worried that the President is in grave danger of leaving it too late to do anything.

But David Cameron doesn’t have the pulling power with President Obama that Tony Blair had with President Clinton (Kosovo) or President George W Bush (taking the Iraq war to the UN twice, albeit unsuccessfully). By the way, it seems Lebanon is doing some of the hard work in New York pushing this resolution alongside the UK.

Wherever this ends, those close to David Cameron will be hoping that he has done enough to avoid the blame if there is more carnage in Libya. But as David Cameron told the Commons, carnage and a continuing Gaddafi regime risk leaving a “failed pariah state” in North Africa … not to mention many more dead in the Libyan conflict and a great big poke in the eye for the west.