Good my lord, she came from Libya.
— The Winter’s Tale, William Shakespeare.
The war on Libya must surely rank as one of the stupidest martial enterprises since Napoleon took it into his head to invade Russia in 1812.
Let’s start with the fierce hand-to-hand combat between members of the coalition (Britain, France and the US), arguing about the basic aims of the killing operation. How does “take all necessary measures” square with the ban on any “foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.” Could the coalition simply kill Qaddafi and recognize a provisional government in Benghazi? Who exactly are the revolutionaries and national liberators in eastern Libya?