LONDON – A week into military strikes on Libya, foreign powers may be at the beginning of a long war with little agreement on whether they should be protecting civilians from Muammar Gaddafi or ousting the leader himself.
While British, French and US attacks have saved the opposition in Benghazi, Gaddafi remains in power in Tripoli and is still bombarding rebels in the western city of Misrata. Part of the issue, some analysts say, is that neither Libya’s rulers nor the opposition have followed the script that intervening powers had hoped for.
“Policymakers bought into two assumptions,” said Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the United States Naval War College in Rhode Island. “That a resolute show of force would cause the Gaddafi edifice … to collapse and embolden the rebel movement into resuming the march on Tripoli.
