Report slams David Cameron for poor war planning in Libya

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron launched a bombing campaign in Libya based on “erroneous assumptions” and failed to adequately plan for the aftermath, according to a damning parliamentary report released on Wednesday.

The Foreign Affairs Committee analysed Britain’s decision-making in the run up to its intervention alongside France in 2011, which the government said at the time was aimed at protecting civilians under fire from dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

“It (the government) could not verify the actual threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime; it selectively took elements of Muammar Gaddafi’s rhetoric at face value; and it failed to identify the militant Islamist extremist element in the rebellion,” lawmakers said in their report.

“UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence,” the report added. Nearly five years after Kadhafi was ousted and killed, chaos continues to reign in Libya with two rival governments vying for power and fierce battles over the country’s valuable oil assets.

Crispin Blunt, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “Political engagement might have delivered civilian protection, regime change and reform at a lesser cost to the UK and Libya.”