The atmosphere in the Libyan capital is frighteningly uncertain a week after the sudden collapse of Gaddafi’s forces. Nobody knows who is in charge. Violence and killings still persist. The incoming regime makes pious statements about taking no revenge on pro-Gaddafi forces, but this stops short of protecting those who can be labelled mercenaries. The crucial question for Libyans is whether the war will now truly end.
Read the whole analysis from Patrick Cockburn in Tripoli for The Independent!
"The crucial question for Libyans is whether the war will now truly end."
No no, the Libya fiasco is not a "war." Nope. It was a "humanitarian intervention" and ergo, there's no war to end. So, the slaughter will simply grind on and on until there is no one left to butcher. We'll have to wait and see how Juanito Cole spins murder. As long as the murder is pro-liberate Libya murderers, things are just fine. But, if the murder is being wrought by pro-Qadaffi loyalists well, that'd be truly icky and US/NATO will have to summarily bomb whatever is left to bomb in Libya and possibly, twice. War is hell and however, Libya's demise in not war. The blood flowing in the streets of Libya is, hmmm, guess we'll just have to wait for the professorial determinations of… Juan Cole…to spell the debacle out for we plebian dumb-asses.
"We who are about to die for (or because of) US/NATO, salute the history professor."
I think the rebels will fail once they have identified themselves as government and hence become targets that cannot hide behind NATO bombing campaigns.
The old adage of being careful of what you wish for will hold true again.
If the rebels are "virtually" in control of Tripoli, why is aid (food, water, etc.) not arriving through the port of Tripoli. Seems like a more effective route than the apparently tenuous land route from Tunisia. Or how about trucking it overland from Misrata, a port the rebels have supposedly been in control of for months? Could it be the land route from Misrata is equally tenuous, despite the rebels being in control of "virtually" all of Libya?
If the oil companies finally have their oil, and if the Libyan people are tired of their 40 year struggle to keep the profits for their oil for themselves and thus stop resisting the oil companies,then yeah,this could be the end of the Libyan War.
It all depends with whom the new regime is going to align itself with. The 'military 'assistance' from US / Nato is not for nothing. Lybians will have to pay a hefty price for it in OIL. It means that Lybia will become a client state of the western powers, same as Iraq and other ME nations.Same as Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine the Lybian people will not accept this and will continue fighting their new corrupt rulers. Consequently another protracted never ending war will be added to the many wars the US/Nato is waging against Muslim nations. On the other hand the west will never accept a genuinely sovereign Islamic state in the region and will continue its aggression against the Lybian people while manufacturing enough consent via the news media to get their sinister plans endorsed by a generally unsuspecting gullible public in the western world. This war won't be over for years to come .
Pepe Escobar, who writes for AsiaTimesOnline, has an extensively detailed series on Libya this last week. He describes the outcome as Afghanistan 2, where named tribal factions conflict over support of NATO/European business imperialism. He points to the water issue from Ghadaffi's man-made river, how French bottled-water businesses stoked the invasive enthusiasm of Sarkozy. He points out the complicity in the demonization requiring regime change the video foisted on the public by the BBC showing celebrating rebels in Green Square in which the flag of India was detected, suggesting the file footage was merely used as a further corporate media distortion aimed at advance of the narrative. The European visigoths, backed by high-techno-war and CIA assets on the ground is bringing about the destruction of another Carthage. Only this time it is no threat to the imperialists. Instead it is a source of extractive resources.