Stunning: NATO Secretary General Admits There Is No Strategy For Libya

In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen had the following stunning exchange:

“Rasmussen: The honest answer is that there is no military solution to this conflict. We need a political solution, and it’s up to the Libyan people to come up with one. We can only call upon the leadership in Tripoli to put an end to its acts of violence, to grant the people their legitimate rights and to permit a peaceful transition to democracy.

SPIEGEL: What happens if Gadhafi doesn’t comply with these demands? Wouldn’t NATO at least have to provide for weapons parity and begin supplying tanks and missiles to the rebels?

Rasmussen: All I can say to that is this: We are responsible for the implementation of UN Resolution 1973. This resolution states that we are to participate in the implementation of the arms embargo against Libya. We will strictly adhere to the resolution. That’s our mission.”

Got that? There is no military solution, only a political solution. But we’re not coming up with the political solution. The “Libyan people” are. And who exactly is that? He doesn’t say. And if a political solution doesn’t emerge? We’re just here implementing an arms embargo. That’s it. To put it mildly, Clausewitz he’s not. Enormously troubling.