§ 3.3 p.m.
§ Lord KennetMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the activities of the United States Navy in the Sirte area off the Libyan coast are being undertaken on behalf of NATO; and if not, as SACEUR is also commander-in-chief of United States Forces in the European theatre, how the governments of North Africa and the Middle East can be expected to know this.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Support (Lord Trefgarne)My Lords, the forces involved in the exercises referred to in the noble Lord's Question were under United States national command. We have no reason to believe that the governments in the region thought otherwise.
§ Lord KennetMy Lords, I shall watch my grammar. While it was clearly the case 10 or 20 years ago that the political and strategic perceptions and policies of NATO member countries were roughly unanimous, yet now that that is not the case should not NATO as a whole and its member governments pay more attention to distinguishing in the eyes of the world between military activities undertaken by one member government for its own purposes and military activities undertaken by the whole Alliance for its agreed purposes?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, I cannot see how any misunderstanding could have arisen on this occasion. This was clearly a national exercise, and there was no reason to doubt that.