Keep world pressure on Gadhafi
In an image from Libyan TV, Moammar Gadhafi talks Tuesday about progress in suppressing rebels. Credit: AP
Despite the promise of a democratic spring in the Middle East, the news from Libya isn't good. The nation's brutal dictator looks likely to crush the remains of the armed rebellion against him.
There's probably too little time for a proposed no-fly zone over the country to forestall this outcome, and the Libyan government is pounding the rebels effectively with artillery and ground troops anyway.
While the Arab League has finally called for shutting down Libyan airspace, it isn't offering to supply the necessary warplanes. That would leave the job to NATO, presumably led by overstretched American forces, which are already too deeply involved in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yet there is every reason to keep up international pressure on Libya's homicidal leader, Moammar Gadhafi, whom the world's nations must continue to treat as a pariah. The best we can do in this bad situation is use every nonmilitary means available to isolate and condemn him.
It should also be made clear that, should Gadhafi hang on to power, the world will be watching the conflict's aftermath. Gadhafi's track record makes brutal reprisals against the rebels predictable. That doesn't mean they should be accepted or forgiven.
