Libya: mixed messages on targeting Gaddafi

The Americans seem to be doing a lot better than the British at agreeing a line and sticking to it. Here are some recent UK remarks on whether Colonel Gaddafi personally is a legitimate target in the bombing of Libya.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards said he is “absolutely not” a target for military action and “it’s not allowed under the UN resolution.”

Liam Fox yesterday said that Gaddafi “would potentially be a possibility”.

William Hague said “all the things that are allowed depend on how people behave” and the Government’s legal opinion.

By contrast the US seem to be a bit more disciplined at staying on-message, and a bit peeved at how we are not.

Labour’s Jim Murphy captures what the US is probably thinking in semi-private as he has just attacked Liam Fox’s words as “wrong but also counterproductive at a time when we are trying to maintain a broad coalition, including Arab opinion.”

Quite what we target after a week of targeting Libyan command centres is a moot point in Whitehall, I hear. The allies run out of what they all deem to be legitimate targets quite quickly. Then what?

On a different note, Libyan TV has just had a news strap claiming “mass manifestations in London against crusader war” but I went along to the end of Downing Street and counted only 100 demonstrators, as you can see here.