#1 Washington needs to do everything in its power to ensure that any future Libyan government is a partner in fighting terrorism.
Good luck with that! The US influence on the next Libyan goverment will be, in a word - LIMITED. First off, the mantra comming out of this R2P come Strategic-Leadership experiment is "It's up to the Libyan people to decide". Anything remotely seen as nation building will be rejected domesticly and viewed as colonialism in Mooslimb land. Second, any new Libyan goverment will have no choice but to embrace any Jihadi-type "Rebels" as Freedom fighters. (At least in the short term.) And as far as weaponry falling into the hands of the AQ types...well you might as well just leave that dog out on the porch. But the biggest factor is Libyan society itself. The only functioning institutions are the ones constructed under decades of a dictatorial Islamo-Socialist regime. And the majority of Libyan society operates through generations of Tribal Blood fueds run by Islamic fanatics or illiterate animists. Yeah a partner goverment sounds good but the best hope is that covert assests can keep track of the worst elements and eventually liquidate most of them. |