As rebel forces backed by allied warplanes pushed toward one of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s most crucial bastions of support, the American military warned on Monday that the insurgents’ rapid advances could quickly be reversed without continued coalition air support.
“The regime still vastly overmatches opposition forces militarily,” Gen. Carter F. Ham, the ranking American in the coalition operation, warned in an email message on Monday. “The regime possesses the capability to roll them back very quickly. Coalition air power is the major reason that has not happened.”
In case it wasn’t already clear, the Western coalition is now providing close air support to one side in a civil war. I’m OK with that — though I’d be more OK if I knew more about the rebels we were supporting — but this is a very far cry from merely enforcing a no-fly zone. We’re fighting a war in Libya, and anyone who tries to pretend otherwise is just trying to distract you from the truth.