Libya Air War Has Lasted Longer Than Kosovo Campaign

Andrew Gilligan has pointed out that despite the sound and fury of NATO's spokesmen, the alliance's airstrikes against Muammar Qaddafi's military infrastructure in Libya are and always have been relatively light.

Andrew Gilligan's account of the floundering campaign against Qaddafi in the UK Spectator.

For all the ritual incantations about ‘intensified’ attacks and ‘heaviest bombing yet’, the bombing is and always has been relatively light. Across the whole operation, the number of Nato strike sorties — only a proportion of which actually result in airstrikes — has averaged 57 a day, less than half the number in the alliance’s very similar mission in Kosovo, and a mere fraction of what the US and Britain did in Iraq.

The number of strike sorties in the seven days to last Tuesday [ie May 31] was 366, the second lowest in any week since Nato took control of the operation, bringing the daily average down to 52. The claim of intensification is not a total lie — the attacks are becoming more focused — but nor is it true for the whole country. Nato’s military commander in Libya, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, admitted last week that for all the alliance’s work, ‘there remain a significant amount of forces’ available to the regime.