Every past and future inch of rebel gains depends on us

This morning’s New York Times reports:

TRIPOLI, Libya—As rebel forces backed by allied warplanes pushed toward one of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s most crucial bastions of support, the American military warned on Monday that the insurgents’ rapid advances could quickly be reversed without continued coalition air support.

“The regime still vastly overmatches opposition forces militarily,” Gen. Carter F. Ham, the ranking American in the coalition operation, warned in an email message on Monday. “The regime possesses the capability to roll them back very quickly. Coalition air power is the major reason that has not happened.”

So the coalition’s—America’s—mission is to bomb government units as the rebels advance toward them. That’s how we “protect civilians.” Clearly we have already stepped outside the bounds of the UN mission. The democracy promoters must be ecstatic.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 28, 2011 08:51 AM | Send