Under Militia Power, Libya Closer To Failed State

[Purveyor]

By MAGGIE MICHAEL and LEE KEATH
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) -- After three years of chaos since Moammar Gadhafi's fall, Libya is further crumbling into a failed state after Islamist-allied militias took over the capital Tripoli and other cities and set up their own government, driving out a parliament that was elected over the summer.

The militia takeover last month has raised alarm in the West. Among the militias are Islamic extremists, including Ansar al-Shariah, which now rules the country's second largest city, Benghazi. The group is blamed for the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in a 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in the city. France's defense minister in an interview published Tuesday warned that Libya is a "hub for terrorists" and called for international action, even talking of moving French troops to the borders.

Beyond fears of extremists, many Libyans worry their country is on the verge of complete fragmentation.

Fighting the past month as the militias took over Tripoli and Benghazi drove more than 100,000 Libyans from their homes and some 150,000 foreign workers out of the country. Tripoli's international airport was virtually demolished as rival militias battled to control it. During the fighting, both sides wildly bombarded residential neighborhoods and kidnapped civilians suspected of supporting their opponents, acts that Human Rights Watch this week said amount to crimes against humanity.

"Libya has entered the condition of a failed state. We are very similar to Lebanon in the 1980s or Somalia," said Libyan analyst Ezz Eddin Ukail, speaking from neighboring Tunisia. "We are at the doorstep of a civil war."

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_LIBYA_FAILED_STATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-09-14-18-51

[Igel]

1. This was a stupid thing.

Much stupidity is only apparent after hindsight.

This doesn't fall in that category.

Oddly, there's little "we broke it, we fix it" thinking in play. More of a "well, we got ours and Libya's not an obvious thr... Squirrel!"

[mazzarro]

2. Even Dick Cheney has no regret for Iraq and no fear of being called on it either.

Why will other leaders of western governments that facilitated Libya's descent into this mess regret anything. No one is going to call them out on what they did. So Libya, unfortunately, is going to have to suffer it alone until something nearly unbearable happens to draw the sympathy of the world, I am afraid.