Is that better than a regular admiral? Are there Front Admirals? All i can tell you is Rear Admirals apparently like to talk sense and use things like "logic" and "strategy". I know. Nutters. Link

Nato's military campaign in Libya "defies strategic logic" and needs to be completely rethought before the country descends into anarchy, a former Royal Navy admiral has warned.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry said the conflict was becoming all too reminiscent of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a "classic example of how to act in haste and repent at leisure".

Writing in the Guardian, Parry says Nato must accept that the UN resolution which allowed coalition forces to protect Libyan civilians will not bring an end to the fighting, and that diplomats should now consider seeking a new mandate.

"What might a decent strategy look like? The Libyan people should, with international assistance, establish and articulate the political ends they require for themselves and their country.

"The UK and its Nato allies could then conduct a campaign that is built around an explicit political purpose, expressed in a single, unambiguous aim (the 'master principle of war').

"That would focus and prioritise military activities. This would also enable a more sensible assessment of whether further authorisation from the UN might be required."

...
"As in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is easy, with overwhelming force and superior organisation, to gain control in a conventional conflict," he says. "The real skill is to achieve a successful, enduring peace and political settlement. In its concentration on getting rid of Gaddafi, as an end in itself, too little attention has been paid to what happens afterwards." He fears that the campaign is being run on the cheap and by committee.

"There is no clear statement of ends. The ill-defined outcomes and parsimony about resources limit the ways in which the campaign can be conducted."

Rear Admirals don't get caught between a fleet of Star Destroyers and a force-field generated by a fully operational Death Star.