Endangering Credibility

Moammar Gadhafi is still manipulating Arab opinion, still desperately attempting to influence the average man on the street in the Middle East and North Africa, asserting that Muslims should be reacting en masse to the violation of Libya's sovereignty by the Crusader invaders who are deliberately attacking his country, killing his civilians, and planning to take ownership of Libya's oil riches.

The Libyan Foreign Minister, Abdulati al-Obeidi has made a passionate appeal "for all Muslims to initiate a global jihad against the oppressive criminal West". As it happens, even the rebels appear to be having second thoughts about NATO involvement, even though they themselves urged on that involvement.

Still, their initial enthusiasm has dwindled somewhat, and perhaps incrementally, with each succeeding NATO attack of 'friendly fire' on the rebel ranks, mistaking them for government troops. Unfortunate miscommunication, leading to heartfelt apologies and assurances of good will and ongoing co-operation and grumbling from the other side.

The regime opponents said from the onset they wanted no foreign troops on the ground in their country, just the benefits of overflights, so NATO could bomb the hell out of the regime's warplanes and helicopter gunships to keep them from firing on the towns and villages held by the rebels. Of course they also appreciated bombs raining down on Col. Gadhafi's compounds.

The error of bombing a civilian enclave and bringing down a large home of an extended family, killing all within, some 17 family members, did not go down especially well in Libya. NATO, after having repeated ad nauseum that they do not target individuals, also conducted an airstrike a day later on the home of one of the regime's top officials.

Again, foreign reporters were taken to hospital and shown the bodies of two children from among the eight children claimed to have been killed, for a total of 19 people's lives destroyed this time around. What doesn't much help matters is that the man whom they were hunting, Khouildi Hamidi,one of the 12 Revolutionary Command council members was himself unhurt.

The Arab League, which had requested and recommended NATO intervention in Libya gravely condemned these occurrences: "When the Arab League agreed on the idea of having a no-fly zone over Libya, it was to protect civilians but when civilians get killed, this has to be condemned with the harshest of statements" said the League's deputy secretary-general.

Libyan officials have characterized the strike on Hamidi's house "a cowardly terrorist act". So then, the Libyan regime, preying on its people, maliciously bombing towns, raping women, using sharp-shooters to get their mark, terrorizing the population into fearful submission is merely a government doing what governments must to retain order.

And the West which instead of the Arab League, rode to the rescue of the people of Libya, as they did in Bosnia, and in Afghanistan and in Iraq, has once again fuelled the theory that will not die, that Western democracies are determined to slaughter Muslims and to take possession of their oil riches.