Paralyzed With Inaction

"People are dying out there. Gaddafi's forces have rockets and tanks."

What looked convincingly like a rag-tab rebel army coming together to oust a vicious dictator whose time had finally arrived, is now beginning to resemble the death throes of an embattled resistance. The government of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi's forces have artillery, tanks and helicopters that the rebel forces cannot match for efficacy.

The rebel groups remain unorganized, and disputes have arisen between them. Their confidence is sagging as they realize the extent to which their lesser-favoured armaments are not quite equal to the task of meeting government troops head on. They have been strafed and bombed and bloodied and chastened by the experience. The euphoria they have been living with is fading.

They are undisciplined and wasteful of the ammunition they have. They have managed, in small towns that they have occupied, to alienate the residents who were eager to welcome them. Alienated them by the rough antics and dangerous and unwarranted abuse of their weapons, firing into the air at all hours, disrupting normal life.

The rebels, although not professional soldiers, come from warrior Bedouin stock. Whose tribal loyalties and and traditional battles against one another are still ingrained in their psyches although they are now shopkeepers, teachers, gas station attendants, doctors. They have long since identified with a genuine need to free themselves from the shackles of their dictator. And are now collectively dedicated to that mission.

They do not have enough arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and equipment modern enough to match those of the government troops. Resupplying their front lines has been difficult. And leadership has been fragmented. In any case, the instant conscripts do not follow orders and respond enthusiastically but without discipline. The brigades they have formed fly by the seat of their pants.

They do know, however, that they need help. "People cannot run away, it's cordoned off. they cannot flee. All those who can fight are fighting, including teen-agers. Children and women are being hidden", is the message from Zawiyah's desperate scenes of government troops inflicting carnage. "Many buildings are completely destroyed, including hospitals, mosques, electricity lines and generators."

Where, they ask bitterly, is the West. Which mounts international podiums to speak of the unacceptability of the situation. Which speaks of no-fly zones, but does nothing. The rebels do want assistance. "We will complete our victory when we are afforded a no-fly zone. If there was also action to stop him from recruiting mercenaries, his end would come within hours", claimed Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the National Libyan Council.

France and England await the United Nations' decisive determination to act. The Security Council will not budge, however, with Russia and China insisting that Libya must itself solve its internal problems. The Arab League is set to meet to discuss the plea by the Gulf States that NATO and the UN declare a no-fly zone.

And the European Union countries fret about the growing emergency that will inevitably result in their receiving more refugees than they can comfortably absorb.