By Sunny Hundal

 

I think it is safe to say, after the events of last night – that Col. Gaddafi is no longer in control of Libya. Three of his sons have been arrested and the International Criminal Court is preparing to indict one of them – Saif Al-Islam.

 

Originally published by Liberal Conspiracy

 

There’s little doubt that David Cameron will try and extract political capital out of this, though in fairness it is not undeserved: without France and the UK leading Nato into Libya, the liberation of Libya wouldn’t have come so quick.

 

One argument will almost certainly flare-up again.

 

As Matthew D’Ancona tweeted last night:

 

Shows that US has to be there, but not nec in lead – Anglo-French leadership the key. Isolationists of Left and Right need new arguments!

 

As someone who urged intervention in Libya from the start, I don’t think it is that easy.

 

For a start, the conflict had met with little success for months, and various people (including @Flying_Rodent) have documented how badly it was going.

 

This could easily have carried on for months longer, forcing Nato into a slow withdrawal as the money ran out.

 

Secondly – Nato poured weaponry into the country to strengthen and arm the rebels. I’m not sure the British people were told about that: we were simply sold a No Fly Zone. So there was an element of mission creep that cannot always be justified. After all – western govts armed the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and that eventually came back to bite us.

 

Third – and most importantly – this isn’t over yet by any stretch of the imagination. Cameron could declare ‘Mission Accomplished’ like Bush but Libya could descend into further instability and infighting as Iraq did.

 

It will be important for the Labour leader to ask William Hague what plans they’ve drawn up to promote democracy in Libya and prevent a collapse in law and order. If previous experience is anything to go by, the hard part has just begun.