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Many powerful people are now heavily invested in this with their personal credibility.
The fighting in Tripoli isn't over yet, but once it is, and this doesn't mean that the war is over by the way, I expect massive attempts to downplay the death toll, civilian and otherwise. At the same time we will see major attempts at myth building with regards to how many lives were saved by this (you think Hiroshima saved a lot of lives? Just wait, this intervention probably saved more lives than both atomic bombs combined...).
I have thought about whether I should reconsider my initial stance on this whole matter (complete opposition to any involvement). I will concede that attempts to prevent a massacre in Benghazi, the immediate implementation of a no-fly-zone, may have been justified. But it should have ended there and the firm belief that it would not end there was one of the main reasons why I was opposed to this.
It remains to be seen whether there will be a new Libya now that can stand on its own, without foreign troops present and massive amounts of foreign cash flowing into it, in part to pay off possible counter-insurgents (Iraq style).
As far as I am concerned, the biggest measure of success is how the quality of life changes for black Africans, women and homosexuals, the three groups that traditionally get the shit end of the stick of everything, not in the immediate future but over the period of a few years. That of course has to be measured against the body count. If the only outcome is that one rule of males is replaced by another rule of males this revolution can stick it where the sun don't shine.
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