Who Are the Libyan Rebels?

It's the question of the day/week/month - especially if, as seems possible, the United States decides to arm them. One thing they ain't, evidently, is a military power. But check out Robert Worth's NY Times magazine article at the above link; some amazing stories out of Benghazi. Jon Lee Anderson also tackles that question in The New Yorker.

World War III Places at Once

Credit: Anja Niedringhaus, Associated Press, at URL above

I have to admit, I'm shocked, stunned, perplexed by the attacks on Libyan forces. Granted, Gadhafi is murderous scum - but whose interests are we serving here? Who are the "rebels" and what do they want? Do we have any reason to think they care about democracy or women's rights? Is there any reason to think that air strikes alone are going to force Gadhafi out? And if he is forced out, what then? Is there evidence I'm missing of massacres of civilians? The news coverage makes me strongly suspect that we're making a false distinction between "civilian" and "rebel," i.e., if Gadhafi kills someone, he's a civilian; if that someone shoots at Gadhafi forces, he's a rebel.

Our US forces and their allies will undoubtedly do a superb job - but are we going to be on the hook to reconstruct a third nation? We've done such a swell job in Iraq and Afghanistan --

Libya

On to Tripoli, I meant to say.

Who could have predicted that the gods love Gadhafi and hate the Japanese?