Operation Oil Theft: Day 3.5. Yellow Card.

There has been some serious confusion in the UK over whether or not resolution 1973(2011) gives foreign armed forces the lawful authority to kill Qaddafi. This morning the head of the defence staff, a soldier who has read and understood the military rules of engagement in UN peacekeeping operations, stated that it didn't. Then some politicians claimed that it did. This led to a long pause during which time I assume that at least one senior person at the heart of the British government uttered the phrase; "How can we not know what it means, we f*cking wrote it?!"

Eventually the answer came back that it would be lawful for foreign forces to kill Qaddafi but only under a very specific set of circumstance which are similar to the principles of self-defence as they operate in British law. That is to say that Qaddafi could only be killed if at time the shot was fired it could be demonstrated beyond doubt that he was engaged in or instructing another to engage in a serious physical assault, serious sexual assault or attempted murder of an unarmed civilian. I'm neither a pilot nor lawyer but I think that would be a very difficult decision to make from 10,000 feet away at speeds in excess of 1000kmph. Therefore if Qaddafi were to be killed in an air strike I suspect the whole complex legal argument would come down on the individual pilot like a tonne of bricks with a high probability that they would be sent to prison.

The second area of confusion today has come from whether or not the current ceasefire is being respected. It appears that in the west of the country it is being respected by conventional Libyan government forces if not by civilian militias. However in the east of the country the rebels appear to be viewing the air strikes as foreign air support for their advance on Tripoli and have taken the opportunity to advance from Benghazi into Ajdabiya using tanks, heavy artillery and heavy machine guns. Obviously news outlets operating in countries that are actively engaged in military action against Libya (BBC, SkyUK, France24, Al Jazeera, CNN etc) are not keen to report the number of civilians that have been killed. However from the nods and winks I gather that the number was significant enough for members of the UNSC, who do have access to a fairly accurate death toll, to seriously consider reconvening the Security Council to either re-write, suspend or revoke resolution 1973(2011).

So before British MP's vote on whether to authorise military action against Libya at around 22:30GMT I suggest they ask the Ministry of Defence for something known as The Yellow Card. Issued to all UK service personnel it explains in clear, easy to understand bullet points the personal consequences that an individual can expect to face if they engage in or authorise another to engage in an act that is later determined to be a war crime. These rules apply to soft-handed civilians too and the final decision is rarely made in a Crown Court.