Libya Begins to Fall Apart‏

Barry Rubin

Dr. Waldman: "This creature of yours should be kept under guard. Mark my words. He will prove dangerous."
Dr. Henry Frankenstein: Dangerous! Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous?....
Dr. Waldman: You're young, my friend. Your success [and Nobel Peace Prize?--BR] has intoxicated you. Wake up and look facts in the face! Here we have a fiend whose brain...
Dr. Henry Frankenstein: "The brain must be given time to develop. It's a perfectly good brain, doctor. You ought to know. It came from your own laboratory."
Dr. Waldman (shocked): "You used the brain in my laboratory! But you've mistakenly implanted a criminal brain in this creature." --"Frankenstein" (1931)

By Barry Rubin

Sound familiar?

“I am afraid of the Islamic groups. On the front lines there are a lot of them, they are jihadists, dangerous, militant in their beliefs and they want to rule. The Islamists say they made this revolution. They didn't. We made it, these young men made it."

“Afraid of the Islamic groups?” Is that Isllamophobia? No it is Islamist-opobia, from a Muslim rebel fighter in Libya.
A reporter describes one unit of the rebels, typical of many or most: Most of the men were bearded - a regular if not infallible sign of Islamist tendencies - and many wore the more reliable indicator of being followers of [revolutionary Islamism], the beard worn with no moustache.”

That brought back a memory of how when, at my doctor’s recommendation, I grew a beard (albeit with moustache) and a high-ranking Egyptian diplomat teased me by saying that he was afraid of me because I looked like an Islamist. Now the Islamists will basically be choosing the diplomats for Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, and perhaps also Libya, Egypt, and Yemen.

And that reminds me of a young, moderate diplomat from a Middle East country screaming in frustration during a private conversation about the person’s own employer: “We warned you about these people. They’re radical Islamists! The West wouldn’t listen and now it’s too late!”

Back to Libya: Already rifts are opening between rebel fighters and rebel politicians. This is all going to unravel big-time. Will the Obama Administration be held accountable by the mass media for going into this war with no good intelligence and against the will of the U.S. military and Defense Department? The lack of losses of American lives will make Libya inevitably a less noisy domestic issue but in terms of strategic result it Is likely to be far more damaging than Iraq.

Meanwhile, pro-Qadhafi tribes are refusing to surrender. Will NATO bomb them into submission to the TNC?

And as a "former" al-Qaida guy takes command of the rebel military forces in Tripoli, in Benghazi the other main city, another Islamist military commander is calling on the Transitional National Council to resign. Ismail al-Salabi, commander of the February 17 Brigade with more than 3000 soldiers, attacked "secularist" forces and basically says the Islamists did all the fighting.

In Libya as in Egypt and elsewhere, the Obama Administration is playing with forces it doesn't understand. It's like a man petting a pit bull on the mistaken assumption that it's a cocker spaniel. (Political Correctness Note: dog references do not imply comparing Muslims to canines.)

Or, to return to Frankenstein, what happens to people who play with monsters created by the most brilliant of men?

Little girl: "I'm Maria. Will you play with me?" She throws a flower into the water "See how mine float?" The monster throws Maria into the water. She screams, quickly sinks and drowns.