For vivid accounts of what is happening right now in Misurata, see
Andrew Malone, “The moment a Libyan sniper targeted two Mailmen, firing a bullet that tore into rebel guide’s side,” The Daily Mail, April 22, 2011.
Xan Rice, “Misrata rebels strike back against Gaddafi snipers: Libya rebels seize tallest buildings, favoured by pro-Gaddafi snipers,” The Guardian, April 22, 2011.
For an overview of the current situation, by the reporter providing perhaps the best day-to-day coverage of the war, see
Juan Miguel Muñoz, “La guerra de Libia se eterniza: Occidente descarta el desplome inmediato del régimen de Muamar el Gadafi — Los rebeldes resisten, pero no logran victorias para cambiar el curso bélico,” El País, April 22, 2011.
(The article can be translated by Google translate, at the bottom of this page.)
The U.S. has decided to send two drone aircraft to be used over Libya, but it is highly doubtful they they alone can turn the tide.
Security Council Resolution 1973 authorizes the use of “all necessary measures” to protect the civilian population of Libya. That includes the use of ground troops if necessary. It is the text of the Seurity Council resolution that has binding force. Consequently, any country is legally authorized to send ground troops into Libya to protect the civilian population, if it so decides.
Too little attention has been given by the nations of the world to the risks of failing to halt the attacks on civilians in Libya.
Coaltion governments agonize over the risk of inflicting civilian damage and hesitate to act, while hundreds of civilians die.
That is the collateral damage to the civilian population that the failure to act decisively has caused.
Senator McCain is in Libya urging stronger action, and also laying the foundation for a Republican campaign argument in 2012 that Obama is a weak leader on the international stage. In Libya, he stated,
“It is still incredibly puzzling to me that the two most accurate close air support weapons systems, the A-10 and the AC-130, have been taken out of the fight,” he said.
“I just came from a hospital where I saw the dead and dying, and it argues for us to help them and to get this thing over with and Gaddafi out.”
–Michael Brissenden, “McCain visits Libya to support rebels,” ABC News, April 22, 2011
So far, Obama’s debacle in Libia continues, unabated.
The Trenchant Observer
