How Well Do We Know The Libyan Rebels?

In his latest piece in Slate, Christopher Hitchens makes a case for intervention in Libya, saying

The stand of the "realist" school, and its objections to further or faster involvement in the Libya crisis, can be fairly summarized as follows:

1) Libya contains too many unknowns for us to be sure whom we would be supporting. We thus run the risk of breaching the principle of primo non nocere, or "first do no harm."

2) The relative calm of Tripoli, when contrasted with the upheaval in Benghazi, points to a historic east-west divide between the former provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which predates the formation of the modern Libyan state and might itself be destabilizing. The West might inadvertently ignite a sectarian regionalism culminating in fragmentation or partition.

He says these points assume the "persistence of power of the Qaddafi clan" and counters them, pointing out that Quaddaffi has reached his Ceausescu moment; a one-way, full blown descent into "paranoia, megalomania, and delusion," and warns of the consequenseces of the regime falling with Quadaffi still in charge. Far be it from me to disagree with Hitchens, except perhaps to emphasize that Ceaușescu lived only 4 days after his "moment" before being executed, but in the interest of knowing exactly who we're supporting, lest we regret it later, here's an editorial from the Barutiwa Daily Times by Baruti M. Kamau

The murder and rape of Black African migrants in Benghazi (East Libya) reduces the value of anti-Qaddafi rebels' claim to justice. An old friend of mine commented that the revolution going on in North Africa and the Middle East is patterned on the Civil Rights movement of Black America in the 1950's and 60's. I vociferously disagree with my friend's comment. The contemporary protest of Arab civilians against their "oppressive" governments does not deserve such lofty comparison because they lack certain liberation virtues that Black Americans enjoyed and thus translated into a high success story. The struggle of the Black Americans during and after slavery received significant help from White Christians and Jews because there were liberation virtues, a spirit and principles in the Black American struggle. In contrast, the Arabs have allowed their peaceful protest to turn into bloody violence, sexual assault on black and white women and the taking up of arms against the state, ie. Libya and Yemen. Black Americans did not engage in revenge rape and murder of White Americans nor did "We" take up arms against the state because that would have destroyed "our" movement for freedom and democracy. The Arabs are trying to gain the sympathy of the Western world for assistance against their oppressive governments. The Western world is primarily made up of White Christians and Jews. They will not respect any move degrading into activities that counter the people's claim to freedom and democracy. The efforts of the Benghazi rebels, in our opinion, are unfounded due to the assaults carried out against Black African civilians in East Libya. Thus, we argue that the Obama administration is in error for supporting the Benghazi rebels against Muammar Qaddafi. The Benghazi rebels are like the Egyptians in Tahrir Square who brutally raped Lara Logan, a well-known International journalist.

Julie Burchill, referring to the Egyptian revolution in The Independent, wrote

It would be wonderful to think that what replaces Mubarak will be better. But here's the thing about Middle Eastern regimes: they're all vile. The ones that are "friendly" are vile and the ones that hate us are vile. Revolutions in the region have a habit of going horribly wrong, and this may well have something to do with the fact that Islam and democracy appear to find it difficult to co-exist for long.

Red State concludes

But meanwhile, the Libyan Rebels remind us of why war must be carefully planned and thoroughly researched prior to opening the latches that secure Hell’s gates. Barack Obama failed to plan. He had a (redacted) tee-time or something. Taking his adorable children to see Mayan Pyramids was far more important than getting American foreign policy right. Our finest jet aircraft and Tomahawk Missiles fly in support of bigots, rapists and reprobates hunting down Black Africans. It makes one fine legacy for America’s first African-American President.

I still support his decision to intervene, however belated, aimless, and irresolute it may be. However, in a presidency plagued by hasty and clumsy decisions, I hope that this "Kinetic military action" doesn't result in even more unintended consequences. Getting fooled by Andrew Breitbart is bad enough. If the coming weeks and months show him to have been fooled by rapists in Benghazi as well, can Chavez and Ahmadinejad be far behind?