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Imprecise NATO

NATO will, perhaps, call it collateral damage. The death of innumerable civilians in a wayward sortie over the skies of the capital, Tripoli, is highly condemnable. The point is why can’t the world’s largest and hugest military muscle operate with precision, if it is ever obsessed to go ahead with a military solution of the politico-governance dispute in Libya?

Such acts of death and destruction, and that too civilian in nature, are not only against the spirit of the United Nations mandate that is limited in operation against the rogue regime, but also highly anti-human in nature. Irrespective of whether a solution is found for Libya, as and when, these berserk NATO acts are accountable and shouldn’t slip under the excuse of militaristic exigencies.

This foul play at the hands of NATO is momentarily building into a rebellion against the Western intervention. And, of course, this will inevitably prove to be a blessing in disguise for the barbaric regime.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who is callously secure in one of his hideouts, and has the audacity to play a game of chess with visiting international dignitaries’, has little to lose. He is already a spent force as far as his utility as a national leader and international recognition is concerned, but his staying put in power will come at the expense of poor Libyans who are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea phenomenon. The United Nations and the obsessive European powers, especially Britain and France, primary intention was to buoy the wave of freedom and democracy in Libya, and maneuver the exit of the dictator for the collective betterment of the mineral-and-oil rich North African country. But that agenda seems to have gone amiss. The literal bifurcation of Libya in to rebel and Gaddafi controlled zones, and the ineffective no-fly zone that has cost too dearly, is a saga to say the least.

This phase of indecision and confusion over Libya has to come to an end. The foremost thing that needs to be done is to highly coordinate military moves, in order to ensure that civilians and public-private installations are saved from mindboggling adventures from the skies. The NATO and the UN should desist from repeating the blunders it committed in the Balkans, as innocent necks were being put to axe. If the transatlantic body cannot ensure precision, there is no point in pressing the trigger for point scoring. Irrespective of the fact whether Gaddafi is accounted for his four decades of crimes or not, NATO will be in the same dock for maiming Libyans with impunity.