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CCD Chairman Robert Hunter Discusses NATO’s Role in Libya
April 19, 2011
By: Randi Zung | Printer Friendly

In an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Robert Hunter, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Council for a Community Democracies and former United States Ambassador to NATO, discusses the latter organization’s current campaign in Libya. Although Hunter acknowledges that NATO’s enforcement of airstrikes and the no-fly zone have prevented pro-Qaddafi forces from overtaking the country, he says that current decline in NATO’s operations will not lead to a successful outcome in Libya.

According to Hunter, current NATO operations to oust Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi are “unlikely to succeed” due to various factors that include the US government’s deliberate efforts to remove itself from a lead military role. Hunter states that the US is not utilizing its “most credible effective instruments against the Qaddafi forces,” thus allowing pro-Qaddafi forces to advance on Libyan rebel strongholds. Specifically, Hunter cites that the US’s withdrawal of the AC-130 gunship and the A-10 warthog ground attack war craft allowed for pro-Qaddafi forces to lay siege in the city of Misurata.

A second shortcoming that Hunter identifies is that Qaddafi’s removal, which has been called for by President Barack Obama and his British and French counterparts, is not specified in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. Since the campaign’s current framework does support the objective to oust Qaddafi, Hunter says that NATO operations should shift focus and concentrate on protecting civilians, a tenet that is stipulated. In conclusion, Hunter asserts that the US’s reluctance to apply military force damages the credibility of both the US and NATO.

Hunter serves as a Senior Advisor at the RAND Corporation, co-founded the Center for National Policy and served on the National Security Council as Director for West European Affairs (1977-79).

To read the full interview, please see:
Council on Foreign Relations – NATO’s Decline over Libya