Operation Oil Theft: Month 3, Week 2, Day 1.

While I've been overcome by laziness it has been an eventful week in Libya. On or around May 13th NATO aircraft again carried out sustained attacks against Libyan government buildings in Tripoli including the Qaddafi residential compound in a thinly veiled attempt to kill Muammar Qaddafi. During one of these attacks Muammar Qaddafi was either injured or forced so far into hiding that he had to be replaced as the de-facto head of the Libyan government by his son Saif al-Islam Qaddafi.

This was the natural and peaceful progression of Libyan politics that was being brought about by 8 years of diplomacy before the insurgency and the foreign intervention prevented it at the cost of almost 10,000 lives. The effect of the change in personalities was almost instant. On May 15th Libyan government forces stopped shelling the city of Misrata and withdrew to defensive positions on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately the rebels interpreted this change in tactics as a result of their military action and on May 17th used the opportunity to mount fresh attacks on government forces bringing to an end two days of relative peace in the city.

The resumption of fighting in Misrata pleased the British. Over the weekend Britain had been lobbying NATO for permission to intensify attacks against Libyan civilian infrastructure and operating on the edges of NATO command they proceeded to do just that with the first naval bombardment of the Libyan cost by HMS Liverpool. On May 18th this prompted Muammar Qaddafi's wife and his daughter, Aisha Qaddafi to seek refuge in Tunisia as it became apparent that there is nothing in its power the Libyan government can do bring about an end to NATO attacks that are driven by a desire to do as much damage as possible to Libya in order to seize control of it's oil reserves rather then any humanitarian concern.

Away from Libya on May 16th the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Chief Prosecutor asked judges to consider issuing arrest warrants against Muammar Qaddafi, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi and Abdullah Sanussi, the head of the Libyan intelligence service. At present the exact details of the alleged offences are being kept so secret that not even the accused have been informed of what they're accused of. However at his press conference on the matter the ICC's Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampa stated that the offences related to "the use of imprecise weaponry such as cluster munitions, multiple rocket launchers and mortars and other forms of heavy weaponry in crowded areas particularly Misrata." That would indicate that the allegations relate to events that occurred after the NATO intervention. This raises two important issues;

1.By focusing on events in the west of the country following the NATO intervention the ICC has neatly avoided asking why those who carried out atrocities in the east of the country that both helped fuel the insurgency and the calls for international intervention in the early part of the conflict now make up the bulk of the rebel forces?

2. As these events only occurred after the NATO intervention you have to ask if they are in fact a consequence of the NATO intervention?