The Son Apparently Will Be Punished For His Father's Sins

And this is the reason I waited so late for my last blog post. According to multiple reports (video!), NATO planes bombed a house belonging to Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, a son of leader Moammar Gaddafi. Saif al-Arab and at least three of Moammar Gaddafi's grandchildren are reported to have been killed. Oh by the way, Moammar Gaddafi was reported to have been in the house at the time of the bombing!

Lt. General Charles Bouchard, the commander of NATO military forces, said that all targets that are bombed, "are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the [Gaddafi] regime's systemic attacks on the Libyan population...We do not target individuals." Not to call foul on the good general, but apparently yes, we do target individuals. I think this touches on what we mentioned in class this week regarding the targeting of "command and control" elements of the Libyan government. This of course is a nice way of saying that we are going after the position, not the man. In other words, NATO isn't bombing Gaddafi because he's a bad man that we don't like; NATO is bombing Gaddafi because he is the leader a hostile regime.

This bombing, and the previous one of Moammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, show fairly clearly that the removal of Gaddafi by force is something that NATO forces have decided will be accomplished sooner or later. What remains to be seen is if this is a good idea, and if anyone is prepared for Libya without Gaddafi. Gene Cretz, US Ambassador to Libya, recently said, "I don't believe that any credible group or individual sees the solution to the Libyan problem without the removal of Moammar Gaddafi, one way or the other." To be clear, this is not Iraq; no one thinks that the removal of a dictator will automatically set up Libya as a flourishing democracy. However, I have yet to see a solid plan regarding what will actually happen if and when NATO forces are successful in killing Moammar Gaddafi, and I'm not sure that any of the NATO forces that are currently responsible for keeping the rebels afloat have any commitment to that cause once Gaddafi is dead. That is, until those French forces finally move in...