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Whither Libya

It all seemed so straightforward. A no-fly zone over Libya. And what now, 2 months after the UN passed the resolution sanctioning the no-fly zone?

"I wonder what they are thinking now that a peaceful protest movement has morphed into a civil war. Thousands of civilians have been killed, about 300,000 displaced, and according to the UN, 750,000 have fled the county. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces have pounded the city of Misurata while NATO warplanes continue to strike targets in the capital city of Tripoli. But lost amidst this flame and fury is the simple concept that the Libyan population should be protected.

When governments are willing to use tanks, helicopters, artillery and automatic weapons to brutally silence peaceful dissent -- as is in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain -- the ability to deploy overwhelming ground forces could be the only means to actually protect civilians while driving repressive dictators to step down. Unfortunately, such a force does not exist."

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