Where Will This End?

As Operation Avenge Knut continues, it's unclear how the forces bombarding Libya will measure success.

Obviously, the ideal would be for Gaddafi to be overthrown, and for a peaceloving government to be established that treats all the people of Libya with respect and that empowers the citizenry through various democratic institutions and the rule of law.

So now we've established that such an event won't happen, what will it take realistically for the bombardment to stop? Perhaps it will be enough to see Gaddafi toppled. Anything less seems unlikely. He's unstable at the best of times, and any ceasefire he promised to adhere to wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on.

Perhaps he'll just hold on defiantly in Tripoli, his defiance of the West making him a hero for many who used to despise him. It's a certainty that the "pinpoint" airstrikes we've been hearing about will kill civilians. We will hear more in days to come about US missiles killing Arab children.

It's easy to criticise the US and other major countries for their involvement in Libya. But had they done nothing to prevent Gaddafi's killing of his citizens we'd be equally lound in condemnation of them. Still, after all these failed Middle Eastern adventures it would be nice if there was a clear endgame.