Dithering While Syria Burns?
When Libyan rebels ousted the late Muammar Khaddafy's dictatorial regime in the late fall of 2011, their difficult task was made easier by the international community's timely declaration of a "No Fly Zone" enforced not only by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) but also by various members of the Arab League. Carried out by military aircraft from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, and Norway, Operation Freedom Falcon and several supporting naval missions helped keep Khaddafy's forces from achieving air supremacy, prevented massive civilian losses from loyalist air strikes on rebel-held cities and degraded the regime's capacity to carry out successful ground counteroffensives against the Free Libyan forces. Back in 2011, the anti-Khaddafy coalition could count on the West, particularly the United States and her allies, to provide military assistance that would assist...