Tide Turns Again

Just when it seemed that coalition air power had enabled the anti-Qaddafi rebels to gain the upper hand, government forces altered their tactics and are pushing the freedom fighters back. Libyan troops have abandoned their heavy weapons which were easily identifiable from the air such as tanks and have simply piled into trucks and other civilian vehicles that resemble those the rebels themselves are using. The regular Qaddafi forces are still better trained and more professional than most of those who have taken up arms against the dictator. The United States will in all likelihood have to at the very least rapidly introduce military advisers on the ground to aid the overwhelmed rebels. This is the slippery slope to American forces being on the ground more generally where they will soon be regarded as occupiers even by many of the Libyans that they are there to help liberate. There is no way victory for those the West is backing will be cheap, easy, or soon.