Special from the UK: As Libyan intervention deepens, British opposition escalates

Special from the UK: As Libyan intervention deepens, British opposition escalates

London -- As NATO bombs continue to rain down on suspected pro-Qadhafi targets in Misrata and other flashpoints in Libya’s western provinces, Britain’s already lukewarm popular support for the conflict is now suffering growing unease.
Since the 19 March outset of UN-sanctioned military intervention -- now functioning under full NATO command -- in the embattled North African country, Britain has played a prominent role in operations. The UN mandate aimed to protect Libyan civilians by “all necessary measures.”

In recent weeks, however, rifts have developed within the international community and UN Security Council, with some members claiming the UK and other nations are stretching the mandate’s definition. Last week, Britain sent military advisers to aid the rag-tag Libyan rebels.

The House of Commons held a debate on 21 March that garnered 557 votes in favour of intervention, with only 13 against. But since then the growing scope of operations -- particularly in light of a joint-statement issued by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barak Obama on 15 April that said anything less than Muammar Qadhafi’s ouster would be “unconscionable betrayal” -- has fuelled concern among British parliamentarians across the political spectrum.

“There has been a clear defining of objectives on regime change and on taking one particular side in a civil war,” opposition Labour MP Graham Stringer, who voted for intervention, told Foreign Secretary William Hague during a debate on Tuesday.

During the same House of Commons session, Stringer’s colleague Labour MP John McDonnell, who opposed intervention, decried the operation as appearing “a blood-soaked political shambles.”

“We have moved from the protection of civilians to regime change,” he said. “Promises of no boots on the ground have been undermined by the presence of advisers' boots on the ground. Now a limited intervention has moved to being a long-haul engagement.”

Conservative MP John Baron, moreover, pointed to a “fundamental shift in policy,” while calling for a recall of parliament from its three-week Easter recess to debate the changing nature of the operation. Baron’s call was backed by five other MPs.