See More Fail.

Following the passing of UN resolution 1973(2011) some national leaders gathered today (19/3/11) in Paris to draw up a military plan to attack Libya. This was not a NATO meeting and it wasn't a UN meeting so I'm at a bit of a loss of how to describe it.

Apart from providing the unedifying spectacle of soft handed civilians getting all excited at the prospect of playing war this meeting gave the first real indication of the depth of support amongst the international community for 1972(2011). Despite all the talk of international agreement and a global consensus it appears that only two nations actively support the resolution. These are France and Britain and because it lacks the military resources Britain will have to rely on it's Canadian colony to do most of any fighting for it. I assume though that the other NATO members will be picking up the slack in Afghanistan as British and Canadian forces are redeployed.

The meeting also revealed that French aircraft have already been flying reconnaissance missions over Libya. Once this intelligence has been collated and analysed French, British and Canadian aircraft are expected to begin combat operations either today (19/3/11) or tomorrow (20/3/11). For the purposes of the operation legitimate targets are being defined as anti-aircraft weapons, radar stations, airfields, aircraft, tanks, armoured vehicles, unarmoured vehicles and buildings. Basically the international forces will be able to engage pretty much anything in Libya either on the ground or in the air. Although the official justification for the operation is to protect civilians in eastern Libya the first waves of the attack will probably be against targets in civilian populated areas in the west of the country as the bombing campaign tries to effect regime change. In what could be a worrying indication of what's to come Libyan government forces appear to have already shot down a fast jet but it is believed to have belonged to rebel forces then French forces.

Meanwhile it is being reported that Libyan forces have been attacking Benghazi. Although war reporting is difficult and I believe four journalist have already been killed in this conflict that is sloppy reporting bordering on propaganda. In Libya there is a highway that runs across the entire northern coast all the way from the Egyptian border to the Tunisian border. As this road is really the only way of quickly moving men, equipment and supplies across Libya it is of vital strategic importance and essential to maintaining the territorial integrity of Libya. So what the Libyan government forces are attempting to do is re-take this road which unfortunately runs through the centre of towns like Benghazi and Tobruk. If the rebel commanders want to avoid civilian casualties and accusations that they're using human shields they should declare the area around this road a closed military zone and evacuate civilians.

Likewise although it is much more difficult to travel across the desert then it is to travel on tarmac the Libyan forces should give up on trying to re-take this road. Instead they should drive out east roughly along the line of the 33N parallel and set up a defensive line. As these will be defensive positions that are 100's of km's away from civilian population centres international forces will be breaking the terms of the already legally questionable UN resolution if they attack them. Also once the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) realise that the rebels don't have access to Libya's oil reserves they'll start beating down the security council's door in an effort to get 1973(2011) revoked.