Advice from NATO: Stay away from Gaddafi forces

Advice to Libyan civilians from a NATO general: “Our planners and pilots go to very great lengths to ensure we do all we can to reduce the risk to civilians when we attack targets, but the risk cannot be reduced to zero,” said Lieutenant-General Bouchard .  “ Civilians can assist NATO by distancing themselves from ...

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

Advice to Libyan civilians from a NATO general:

Advice to Libyan civilians from a NATO general:

Our planners and pilots go to very great lengths to ensure we do all we can to reduce the risk to civilians when we attack targets, but the risk cannot be reduced to zero,” said Lieutenant-General Bouchard .  “ Civilians can assist NATO by distancing themselves from Qadhafi regime forces and equipment whenever possible. Doing this will allow NATO to strike those forces and equipment with greater success and with the minimum risk to civilians.”

In further remarks, the general asked Gaddafi forces to line up their trucks and weapons in the desert and, if possible, to identify them by firing colored flares.

A reader chimes in: "At last, the solution to the problem of civilian casualties–stop standing next to Gaddafi’s tanks and just get out of the way so we can bomb! Blame the victims–why didn’t someone think of this in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, WWI, WWII? The general is obviously a brilliant strategist."

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

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.