[August]

Originally Posted by joegrundman

the cynical side of me says this is all a show - i mean it's for real, but it came after giving the libyan government forces the time to gain enough superiority to be able to finish on the ground, and that this was intentional, but now we have to demonstrate our moral superiority so we have to do something "serious"

and the reason is,firstly, our good allies, the saudis are in bahrain, right now, helping the bahrainians (or whatever you call them) put down their rebels the hard way. And we also intend to let the saudis put down any rebellion in their own land, should it arise.

secondly, we have doubts as to what it would mean if the rebels succeed. in egypt it's ok, because the rebellion didn't really do anything, the army is still in control. tunisia doesn't matter anyway. But Libya? who knows? gadafi is weird, sure, but he wants to do business and hasn't done anything we find objectionable for 20 years or more.

my guess is then, that this is a negotiation, and if gadaffi grounds his planes now, and continues to squash the rebellion on foot - we'll let him.

but the truth will out

I think you're right on the mark Joe.