The deaths of civilians in Tripoli, reported yesterday, are a deeply regrettable development. But whether they were avoidable is another question altogether. Nato is using aerial bombardment to enforce a UN resolution to defend Libyans from pro-Gaddafi forces. The surprise, perhaps, is that more civilians have not already been killed. Let us, at any rate, dispense with one illusion. Col Gaddafi and his entourage are not remotely interested in the welfare of innocent parties: any corpses of civilians that can be produced as evidence of Nato “brutality” are simply propaganda tools. This is, after all, a regime that thought nothing of blowing an airliner to pieces in pursuit of its terrorist agenda.
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