Mary Dejevsky: We need names behind 'debacle in the desert'

This was a debacle that would have been the stuff of high comedy, were the context not the rapidly accelerating civil war in Libya and the risk not to real and highly trained British lives. As it is, ’only’ the reputation of Britain, its special forces and its diplomacy are damaged - to the extent that they will be lampooned around the world - but that should be quite enough to warrant some searching questions. Let‘s start with the basics: Who on earth dreamt up this catastrophically misconceived mission and who signed off on it? And I don’t mean only which department, but names - real names.

A detachment of at least six British special forces - the best of the best - arrives by helicopter (from where, pray? We should know this, too) somewhere outside rebel-held Benghazi at 2am and drops off at least six people dressed in black, with bags. It is not clear whether the diplomat(s) referred to by the Foreign Office were with them, or whether they linked up with them on the ground. They all appear to have fetched up at an agricultural compound, where they denied possessing weapons, only to have all manner of weapons and explosives found in their bags, along with passports of at least four nationalities.

Having been shrouded in mystery and ‘no comments’ for 12 hours, this operation was last night described by the Foreign Office as part of a diplomatic effort, that was “part of wider work, including humanitarian support”. Oh yes? But the only faintly routine aspect seems to be the use of special forces to protect diplomats on a special assignment in a dangerous place. The rest simply defies belief.

Why, if this was a benevolent ‘outreach’ mission to the anti-Gaddafi people in Opposition-held areas, go about it in this cloak and dagger way? And if you want it to be secret, why draw attention to yourself by arriving by helicopter at dead of night? HMS Cumberland has made at least two entirely public trips to Benghazi when it could have discreetly landed a couple of diplomats and their guards. Or we could have sent planes with medical aid, like the French did. Who knows who else might have been on those planes? Instead, we risk a covert helicopter landing by night, and have the Cumberland return to pick them up - was this a special trip, by any chance, and at what cost to the taxpayer?

The humiliation was complete when Libyan state television broadcast what it said was a phone call from ‘our man in Tripoli’ - except he’s now in London, because we were one of the first countries to shut its embassy there - pleading for the men to be released. This is Richard Northern, whose appointment to Libya last spring stirred up some controversy because of his track record in promoting arms sales while at the embassy in Saudi Arabia.

The only way any of this makes sense - except as a monumental cock-up - is if the diplomats or intelligence officers had arrived earlier and either been captured or judged that the situation was too volatile for them to be of any use. The operation might then have been intended not to get them in but to get them out. But it did not succeed as a rescue mission either, at least not if it was designed to pluck them from the desert.