Gaddafi, Libya and the arms trade

As the UN Security Council give the go ahead to impose a "no fly" zone over Libya, it really is no surprise to learn that the UK has done much to help Gaddafi's forces fly and bomb in the first place.

In 2005, the UK licensed the sale of £29.5m worth of “military transport aircraft” to the colonel; and in 2009 and 2010 licensed the sale of “bombing computers” and “military aircraft ground equipment” too.

In addition, between 2005 and 2007, sales of armoured all-wheel drive vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, night vision goggles and water cannon got the go-ahead.

And some of the biggest shipments didn’t even help boost British manufacturing. In 2007 a job lot of “anti-riot shields, body armour, anti-riot guns, crowd control ammunition, smoke ammunition, tear gas/irritant ammunition, smoke hand grenades & CS hand grenades” were licensed for export to Libya by British businessmen. The materials, however, were made in Serbia.

In 2005, a £41m package of battlefield weapons, including heavy machine guns, armour for tanks, day and night sights for weapons and military image intensifier equipment, originally from the Ukraine, was also licensed.

The oddest export, however, was licensed between July and September last year when the Foreign Office approved the sale of what it describes as “spacecraft”....??