The Devil We Know

The Western world, once again agape with disbelief at the suddenness of the implosion of dysfunctional, brutally autocratic regimes in the Arab and Muslim world, are quick to respond to appeals for assistance from the very populations who enjoy professing their contempt for the West and all its institutions, governments and societies.

We are so easily led, we of Judeo-Christian heritage leavened with Greek philosophical undertones, rising to the occasion with alacrity, despite residual doubts, prepared to sacrifice and to do all within our means to aid and assist the underdog. Even the underdog that snarls and snaps and occasionally makes the opportunity to viciously bite the hand so eager to come to its aid.

The same al-Qaeda that carefully planned and executed one bloody atrocity after another on the world of the West, enjoys great respect and admiration in the very world to whom we respond when the piteous cries for help ring out. And al-Qaeda is able to recruit from among those whom we shelter, give citizenship, education and lifestyle opportunities to.

NATO has now accepted the hot potato of negotiating the guidelines of the United Nations resolution that permitted entry of 16 Western coalition countries over the skies of Libya in a rebel-protective role to ensure that Libyan government troops not slaughter them, much as has been done in the past in Iraq, in Iran, in Syria, in Jordan, in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia.

The hope is that the Arab League, which views NATO and the West with great distaste as Crusaders and interfering infidels, will acquiesce to the expectation that they too will enter the fray, adding a kind of regional, political, religious, social legitimization to the no-fly coalition.

Paradoxically, the rebel commanders have allowed that they have among them members of al-Qaeda.

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".

The detested devil you know in the guise of brutal dictators so often turns out to be the lesser of two evils, the second of which eventually emerges when the dust of war settles and the original devil is ousted, permitting the successor devil to advantage himself while demonstrating his credentials far outstripping the original in evil intent.