Operation Oil Theft: Month 6, Week 3, Day 1.

Militarily very little has happened in Libya this past week. The rebels are still on the outskirts of both Sirte and Bani Walid but have been unable to advance any further.

Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) though have been very busy in the skies above both Sirte and Bani Walid. Although I don't have access to the exact mission details there are multiple, credible reports that the reduction in bombing missions over the last couple of days has been caused by the RAF's stocks of missiles dropping to single figures forcing them to wait until extra supplies can be brought in from the United States and more can be delivered from the factory. That means that all the rebel's talk of negotiations and rumours of this Qaddafi son being spotted here and that Qaddafi son being killed there are just that. Misdirection to divert attention away from the fact that the rebels are still a long way away from being able to overthrow the Libyan government and are being forced to rely on Britain for help by bombing everything and everyone in Sirte and Bani Walid.

On the diplomatic front the rebel's Transitional National Council (TNC) used last Thursday's (1/9/11) Paris conference to unveil sketchy plans to hold democratic elections 20 months after the end of the conflict. The problem is that at the Paris conference there were also much more detailed plans circulating to have foreign oil companies back up to pre-conflict production levels 18 months after the end of the the conflict. So it looks like the Libyan people are going to get the sort of democracy that will allow them to decide everything except who gets their money.

On Sunday (4/9/11) the charity Human Rights Watch (HRW) uncovered documents revealing close links between Britain's MI6 and the Libyan departments for external and internal security. In Britain everyone has leapt onto the documents that show Britain was complicit in the extraordinary rendition and torture of Libya terrorist suspects including Abedel Hakim Bel Haj currently the rebel's military commander for the Tripoli region. The TNC have demanded a full investigation and apology and Britain is resisting those calls. So once again we have a huge spectacle designed to convince everyone that Britain's MI6 and the TNC aren't the same thing.

Amid all the drama everyone seems to have overlooked the fact that the documents also show a close and longstanding relationship between MI6 and the Libyan department of internal security that continued up to, during and after the February uprising. This is important because the atrocities that were committed in the east of the country were committed by the department of internal security and the evidence linking those atrocities to the Libyan government come from agents who later defected. So I think it's very important we know exactly when MI6 turned those agents otherwise it looks like MI6 were the ones ordering those atrocities.