1. US and allies blamed for horrific civilian deaths. Gory pictures of children will be shown. I would not put it past COL Q to inflict these casualties himself if there are no 'real' ones he can exploit.
2. Anti-US fervor to be stoked any place where they need an excuse.
3. Given that Libya does not have a strong military class nor a middle class, there is a great deal of uncertainty as to how the country could be reconstituted under a new ruling government or how it might be partitioned into a new rebel led territory and the balance led by COL Q. Should this happen, the Western powers would have to remain in place until COL Q goes.
4. Any new government might be fundamentalist in nature and present a whole new set of issues.
Just my take off the top.
Media portrayal of events in Libya reminds me much of how events have been portrayed here in Bahrain. Videos that have gone viral are in fact...staged. Pictures shown of casualties are from other combat zones in different countries. This is not to say that atrocities are not taking place; only that groups who are smart enough to capture the media's attention with images or videos (whether real or otherwise) will bring the attention to their cause. Ever wonder why after a precision airstrike on a military target that the first thing reported to the media is that "many of the killed were children"???
ReplyDeleteJason