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From the beginning of the intervention in Libya the encouragement of defections has played an absolutely central role. nike running shoes online Indeed it has been the constant refrain of prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers as they sought to explain how they thought the coalition would achieve its aims in north Africa. Libyan civilians of course had to be protected from attack. But otherwise the military measures, the economic sanctions and even the threat of international legal proceedings were not ends in themselves.

They were instead means, as William Hague, Hillary Clinton, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama repeatedly made clear, to signal to Libyan soldiers, civil servants and high functionaries that the regime had no future – and nor would they, if they stuck with it. The important thing was to peel away from the Gaddafis the supporters without whom they could not maintain their rule. The defection of the Benghazi garrison in the early days of the protests brought about the swift collapse of the Gaddafi government's authority in the east, while the resignations and declarations of many Libyan diplomats undermined what little was left of the regime's legitimacy abroad. Defections were the way to go, and the prospect of more was relished.

When it was a matter of barely known military officers changing sides, or western-educated diplomats whose unease at representing the regime had long been noted, or even of Gaddafi ministers migrating to the Benghazi camp in Libya itself, all was grist to the mill. But there was a contradiction looming. When defection is vital to success,cheap nike mens acg sandals 2011  can amnesty be far away? This is the problem dramatised by the defection of Moussa Koussa to Britain this week. Koussa has both harmed and helped Britain in the past, with the emphasis in recent years more on the latter than the former. And, with his knowledge of the workings of the Gaddafi inner circle, he can still help us now by pinpointing its weaknesses and identifying other figures who might come over soon.

Some are demanding he be put on trial if evidence emerges of responsibility for attacks on western targets. But it would be amazing, whatever David Cameron says in public, if Koussa had not been given assurances about his own future. And it would be foolish not to listen to what other Gaddafi associates who come to Britain have to say.

One does not have to look far in regional history for examples of the practical taking precedence over the ideal. General Eisenhower confirmed the Vichy Admiral Darlan as chief in north Africa in order to secure the allegiance of Vichy army units. Later the second world war allies installed Field Marshal Badoglio, a general who had fought in Libya but abandoned Mussolini, as head of an interim Italian government.

The short history of the international criminal court, which has since earlier this month been investigating the possibility of charging members of the Gaddafi regime with war crimes, shows that an indictment can have the effect of isolating a head of state, as it did in the case of Slobodan Miloševic. The wider the criminal net is cast, however, the more it may stiffen rather than undermine a faltering regime. There is sometimes, in other words, a choice to be made between absolute justice and bringing a desperate and dangerous phase in a nation's affairs to an end.

Ultimately the decisions about who should be punished, who pardoned, and who allowed, in spite of past sins, to continue to play a part in Libya's political life, should be made by Libyans themselves.Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals But the coalition has for the moment the responsibility of measuring how high a price we should pay for the defections we encourage. The line should surely be drawn at the ruling family itself. How much wider it should go is a hard question. But there may be some unpalatable compromises ahead.