Letters | 11 June 2011

Folly in Libya

Sir: Congratulations to Andrew Gilligan and Hugo Rifkind (‘Oh, what a silly war’, 4 June) . You’ve shown exactly what the allied effort in Libya is — an expensive exercise in futility and a farce. Almost nobody outside a narrow band within the political-media class can see the point of having singled out the regime of Gaddafi, hitherto a man with whom we could business, as the Middle East despotism that we had to tackle. Even those who profess support for the war are uncertain about what we are trying to achieve. Yet here we are, stuck in a conflict that we can’t afford and probably don’t even want to win. Gilligan suggests that ‘permanent stalemate’ might be the best outcome, as it would avoid ‘a messy fight for control of the country if the regime fell’. Sadly, such an outcome is almost impossible. There’ll be much more blood spilt before we’re finished.