In our last blog article on the Libyan civil war (March 10, 2011), we raised our concerns about the reluctance of the U.S. and NATO to get involved militarily to avoid Moammar Gadhafi from ruthlessly crushing the Libyan revolt. At the time, we had noted the change in fortunes of the Libyan revolt and the ramifications to Middle East foreign policy if Col. Gadhafi’s forces were to defeat the rebels. A week after our article, the rebellion was saved from extinction by preemptive air strikes by France to thwart the capture of the rebel capital of Benghazi. The aggressive leadership of France was subsequently joined by U.S. and NATO air strikes against Col. Gadhafi’s forces in eastern and western Libya in an effort to reduce the government’s capacity to defeat the rebels and give the rebels a chance to adequately repel offensive moves by the government. The combined air campaigns have succeeded in accomplishing those tasks although the inferior training and material ... Log in to view full article.