NATO’s fighting for civilians, not the rebels

NATO Secretary-General Andres Fogh Rasmussen has made clear that NATO sees the Libya mission in narrow terms: Some NATO sources acknowledged to CNN that they expect the scope of the rules of engagement to be more narrow than the coalition’s thus far, but they caution that as the situation on the ground changes, so too ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

NATO Secretary-General Andres Fogh Rasmussen has made clear that NATO sees the Libya mission in narrow terms:

NATO Secretary-General Andres Fogh Rasmussen has made clear that NATO sees the Libya mission in narrow terms:

Some NATO sources acknowledged to CNN that they expect the scope of the rules of engagement to be more narrow than the coalition’s thus far, but they caution that as the situation on the ground changes, so too will the character of the NATO mission.

"Our mandate is very clear: We are there to protect civilians against attacks, no more, no less and that will be our focus," said Rasmussen. He was unwilling to further characterize the nature of the rules of engagement.

If this is true, I hope the ad hoc coalition gets in some good last licks against Gaddafi’s military infrastructure before the mission narrows to refereeing the law of armed conflict from the skies.

More: This Guardian story includes unnamed British defense officials acknowledging that NATO control may mean a tighter leash:

British defence officials said they believed the rules of engagement may be made much more restrictive when Nato takes responsibility for the coalition’s military operations, probably by Thursday. The attacks have been criticised by Russia as "intervention in a civil war" on the side of the rebels.

Have the air strikes been handed over to a more cautious NATO just as the rebels were starting to make progress?

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: NATO

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