But the Prime Minister cannot escape the fact that many people, including many of his own backbenchers, have strong reservations about the wisdom of committing British forces to yet another risky overseas adventure. At a time when the Government is desperately battling to restore sanity to our public finances, the last thing we need is a costly war. And are Britain's national interests best served by confronting another Muslim state? Gaddafi may be a ruthless oppressor of his own people but, now that he has stopped sponsoring terror groups and has renounced nuclear weapons, he hardly poses an immediate threat to national security.
And why should Britain, which has attracted such opprobrium ? particularly among the Muslim community ? over its high-profile involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, take a leading role in the confrontation with Libya? The Arab League has offered to provide the rebels with military support. Why not let Arab war planes enforce the no-fly zone? There is little evidence to suggest overwhelming public support for British involvement. Nor should we forget that no-fly zones have an unhappy habit of leading to the deployment of ground troops, as happened in Iraq and Kosovo.
It would also make sense to get a clearer understanding of the rebels' ultimate objectives. As David Frum pointed out in this newspaper earlier this week, Libyan jihadists played an active part in the anti-American insurgency in Iraq: it would not be in Britain's interest to replace Gaddafi's dictatorship with an Islamist theocracy. Democracy does not have an impressive track record among Arab states, where tribal rivalries usually take preference.
The Prime Minister takes a different view, as he made clear in his address to Scottish Conservatives in Perth yesterday afternoon. He believes that we cannot afford to have a failed state threatening the stability of North Africa. Mr Hague goes even further, arguing that Britain has a moral obligation to assist those who seek the democratic privileges that we enjoy in this country.
It is for this reason that the Government has now ordered the RAF to draw on its depleted reserves to send Tornado and Typhoon fighters to enforce the no-fly zone. Like the other Services, it has been badly hit by the savage defence cuts the Government implemented last year when it said it wanted to avoid foreign entanglements. The lesson should be obvious: if Mr Cameron now wants to adopt a higher profile in world affairs, then he should reopen the defence review and give the Armed Forces the resources to back up his ambitious agenda.
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