It is peculiar for someone like Amr Mousa, Secretary-General of the Arab League, to make the kinds of statements which he has made on Libya's no-fly zone decision. Not only is his opinion out of context, but also damaging as it comes after the decision was made.
"What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians," Mousa said. But the fact is that there was an obvious consensus between the main parties that have met in Paris on what the decision they are taking meant.
There was also a clear direction at the UN Security Council as to what a no-fly zone exactly entailed in terms of military action, which surely does not include bombing civilians. Hence, Mousa's comment is surprising given that he was also present at the Paris meeting.
In the case of Libya, the obvious conclusion was that Muammar Gaddafi's advancing forces had to be stopped from targeting civilians. In fact, Mousa's timing raises a question as to whether it has any direct relation to his presidential bid in Egypt. This would be disgraceful if found to be true.
