A high price for Nato action in Libya

Nato plans to officially end its operations in Libya today, Friday. Estimates put the number of victims at up to 50,000. But the ethical and legal aspects of the operation are being ignored, columnist Rob de Wijk complains in the Christian-socialist daily Trouw: "Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron wrote that tens of thousands of Libyans needed Nato protection against the atrocities of Gaddafi. This is no doubt true, but at the same time tens of thousands of Libyans lost their lives as a result of the involvement of the international community that wanted to protect them. How many more victims there will be will depend on the ability of the Transitional Council to control the chaos. The question running through my mind now is how many lives may be lost in the name of protecting the population. This is a vital question because Nato took sides in a civil war and considerably expanded the original UN mandate. Or was the humanitarian argument only a cover for political motives?"

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