Libya's Civil War

It looks like there is a full-blown civil war unfolding in Libya, which is cause for both despair and elation. Weekend headlines indicate that the rebels are having being setbacks from Qaddafi’s powerful arsenals. To date, the opposition-held city of Zawiya, where Libya’s largest oil refineries are located, suffered the fiercest attack. But it is also a hopeful moment when a people find their voice and demand for their rights and liberties.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that this civil war might turn out to be a long and protracted war, which is to be expected inasmuch as the security forces surrounding Qaddafi have remained loyal to him. But to put things in perspective, two weeks ago, Qaddafi was still deeply entrenched in power. Two weeks later, his regime has been put on notice and is merely surviving. As an opposition spokesman said after the fierce attack on the city of Zawiya, “We are still in the square . . . Zawiya has not fallen.”

The US and the rest of the international community must find a way to get to Libya’s freedom fighters the urgent support that will help put to an end the excesses of a tyrannical regime. Their cause is just, and they deserve the kind of freedom that we living in a free society enjoy.