Is Air Power Enough To End The Libyan War?

Can Air Power End Libya War? -- CNN

It was supposed to have been over in a few days. World powers would go in with fighter jets and the world's most sophisticated precision-guided weapons to render Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi powerless.

But that's not the way things happened.

As NATO's airstrikes crossed the 100-day mark, analysts blamed a host of faulty assumptions, including success based solely on surgical airstrikes, for a protracted war that some fear could drag on for more months.

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My Comment: When the Libyan civil war broke out and Western powers made the decision to support the rebellion, I said in March exactly the same thing that Moni Basu is saying in this CNN post ....

.... "In reality, Libya is divided along lines of clan and tribe, some of whom benefit greatly from Gadhafi, and therefore defend him fiercely," he said. "Any expert on ethnic conflict and intervention could have told the White House that ahead of time."

Libya is a country made up of numerous clans and tribes who do not get along with each other. Gaddafi's genius .... until now .... was that he was able to manipulate and convince these groups that they should support him, and he would then support them.

While Gaddafi has made numerous mistakes, the number one mistake that the Western powers have made stems from not being sensitive to the cultural and social makeup of Libya as well as not being aware that the dissident movement was not capable of overthrowing Gaddafi .... an ignorance that is unfortunately becoming very costly to everyone right now.

In the end .... and the Russians have been saying this since the Libya civil war first started .... Western ground troops will be necessary to not only end the war, but to also prevent the humanitarian disaster that is slowly evolving and becoming a reality in Libya.