By James A. Lyons
By arming the rebels, we're aiding al Qaeda
Security in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city where four Americans were killed Sept. 11 in a terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate, has decayed to the point where Westerners are fleeing, assassinations and kidnappings are rife and residents worry that U.S. drone strikes on jihadist targets are imminent.
A U.S. official was killed and others injured when an armed mob attacked the U.S. Consulate in Libya's eastern port city of Benghazi on Tuesday.
Col. Moammar Gadhafi's well-equipped but poorly trained security forces can wage a protracted battle against rebel fighters, allowing the beleaguered Libyan leader to cling to power for months, according to analysts and former Libyan officials.
"If things go the way they are, I think he could last for more than a month, a few months. That would be disastrous for the rest of Libya," said Mohamed Yousef Al-Megariaf, a critic of the regime who quit his post as Libya's ambassador to India in 1980.
"The reason he is hanging on is not because he is popular, but because of the number of troops who belong to his tribe, the volume of his weapons and his willingness to inflict an unimaginable degree of suffering on the Libyan people," he added.
