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France Says New Non-Nato Body To Lead Action
France has proposed that a new political steering committee outside Nato be responsible for overseeing military operations over Libya. The proposal comes just a day after Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons that Nato would be in charge of enforcing UN Security Council resolution 1973.

But on Tuesday Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that it would only "help enforce" the no-fly zone, not lead it.

French Foreign Minister Alain Jupe said the new body would bring together foreign ministers of participating states - as well as the Arab League. It is expected to meet in the coming days, either in Brussels, London or Paris.
It also keeps the Turks out, since Turkey is part of NATO and is opposed to the Libyan War.
Mr Jupe said "not all members of the military coalition are members of Nato and this is therefore not a Nato operation."

The French announcement came after Mr Cameron's spokesman hinted at a compromise over control, saying: "We the Government want to see the machinery of Nato used."

Sky News defence correspondent Niall Paterson said: "Nato will coordinate what goes on, tactically, on the ground while there will be a supervening body above that."

"They have devoted a lot of resources to getting the no-fly zone in place."
I say let the French lead it. Obama sure doesn't want to, and it would be good for a major Euro power to take on the headaches and problems of making a coalition work. Perhaps Sarkozy could call Dubya for pointers.

Posted by: Steve White 2011-03-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=318763