By Ray Fleming
IT has been obvious from the start that Libyan casualties from friendly fire by NATO aircraft would be only a matter of time. Yet when that time came yesterday senior NATO officers were apparently quite unprepared to respond to it sensibly. I'm not apologising said American Rear Admiral Russ Harding and that remained NATO's line for several hours until Secretary-General Rasmussen intervened to issue a statement that NATO strongly regrets the loss of life.
To say that NATO is between a rock and a hard place is to state the obvious that when weapons are fired there will always be a danger that they go astray or are only too accurately directed at the wrong target. It is a problem that has plagued the Western forces in Afghanistan where President Karsai stands in the wings and wails about the casualties among his people without accepting that some are inevitable. Now apparently some of the opposition Libyans want it both ways -- calling for more intervention by NATO against Gaddafi's forces but then complaining when the wrong target is identified and their own people are killed. The more that Gaddafi's troops infiltrate civilian areas the more this danger will exist. No UN resolution can prevent it especially when it authorises the use of all means necessary. Better cooperation and more accurate information between, Misrata, Benghazi and Brussels is the only solution.