Our top general shot down by No.10: War of words erupts as Army chief says we have no legal right to kill Gaddafi

By Tim Shipman , James Chapman and Ian Drury
Last updated at 8:31 AM on 22nd March 2011

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• Chief of Defence Staff rejects ministers' suggestions Libyan leader was assassination target
• Downing Street claims that killing Gaddafi would preserve lives of Libyan civilians
• U.S. warns that taking leader dead would be 'unwise' and risked undermining cohesion
• Libyans claim civilians killed in third night of air strikes

Britain's top general was embroiled in an extraordinary clash with Downing Street last night over the legality of a strike to kill Colonel Gaddafi.
No 10 slapped down Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards after he flatly rejected ministers’ suggestions that the Libyan dictator was a legitimate target for assassination.
The public spat just days into the operation highlighted growing tensions about ‘mission creep’ in the assault on Gaddafi.

Mission muddle: General Richards and Defence Secretary Liam Fox arrive for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street yesterday amid a public disagreement over targeting Gadaffi

Last night, as coalition jets struck targets in Libya for the third night running, David Cameron and Barack Obama insisted again that the dictator must go – but that the aim of the assault was to protect civilians.
Number 10 sources insisted General Richards was ‘simply wrong’ to publicly  suggest a UN resolution would not allow Gaddafi to be targeted directly if he was harming his own people.

 

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The spat came as David Cameron battled to keep the support of the Arab League for the mission and ensure Turkey remained onside.
There is widespread unease at the air strikes - and the Libyans sought to widen the divide in the international ranks by claiming last night's attacks brought civilian fatalities and that hospitals were filling up with the wounded.
The Prime Minister also called  for Libyan commanders still loyal to Gaddafi to ‘put down your weapons and walk away from your tanks’.

Details also emerged of Britain’s Tomahawk cruise missile attack on Gaddafi’s presidential compound in Tripoli, destroying a military command and control centre, while Up to 800 Royal Marines were placed on standby to move to the Mediterranean.

Air attacks: An RAF Tornado GR4 leaves a trail of heat haze as it takes off from RAF Marham, in Norfolk yesterday

Intimidating: Missiles can be seen slung underneath an RAF Tornado GR4 as it takes off from Norfolk yesterday

There were also disputed claims that Gaddafi’s sixth son Khamis was killed when a Libyan pilot deliberately crashed his jet into a barracks on Saturday.

Pledge: David Cameron told Parliament what we 'can't stand by as a dictator kills his own people'

Meanwhle, Britain abandoned a further raid by Tornado bombers when SAS soldiers on the ground warned that civilians and journalists were being used as human shields.
And Russian premier Vladimir Putin provocatively likened the UN-backed mission to the medieval crusades.
However, it was General Richards who caused consternation in Whitehall when he appeared before TV cameras yesterday to insist Gaddafi was not a target.
‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘It is not allowed under the UN resolution and it is not something I want to discuss any further.’
Downing Street and Foreign Office officials were quick to dispute that – saying assassinating Gaddafi would be legal because it would preserve civilian lives in Libya.
Foreign Secretary William Hague had refused to rule out targeting Gaddafi, echoing comments made by Defence Secretary Liam Fox on Sunday.
The Government also came under fire from U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who described the calls for Gaddafi’s killing ‘unwise’. 
He warned that it could undermine the cohesion of the international coalition supporting the no-fly zone.
‘If we start adding additional objectives then I think we create a problem in that respect,’ he said.  ‘I also think it is unwise to set as specific goals things that you may or may not be able to achieve.’
One senior government source said: ‘There has not been some major falling out, but General Richards did say the wrong thing.
‘He is right that regime change would be illegal, but there are obviously circumstances where it would be legal to target Gaddafi if his actions are harming civilians.
‘It would be so if, for example, we were taking out a compound because we knew he was inside and directing a campaign against his people.’
The Tomahawk missile strike on Gaddafi’s compound was carried out by the submarine HMS Triumph.Continued