Yea I, too, wondered why they didn’t just declare their region a seceeded region and move forward from there.
Bread and circuses. I’m sure most people in Western Libya are happy receiving a nice monetary hand-out from the regime rather than having the mercinaries wandering their streets.
Even at the height of the crisis, when the various Western “leaders” were thundering against Gaddafi mercenaries were being flown into the country on a daily basis, often under the very nose of the usually meddling and garrulous UN. Tribesmen, whose loyalties lay with whom can pay them the most, have been recruited wholesale. That’s why he has made a come back.
Truth to be told my first impression was Gaddafi would have weathered even this storm. The reason is very, very simple: the West, for all its clamoring, is still behind him. There were a million things European governments could have done to stop the butchery. Freezing his assets immediately would have deprived him of the funds to pay for his mercenaries. Pressuring all those French and US semi-client States like Chad and Uganda into not allowing Lybian recruiters on their soil would have reduced the flow of fresh troops. In the end they did nothing but put up a smoke and mirrors show for the public’s consumption. They still prefer having to lick Gaddafi’s boots a little harder than dealing with the unknown. And of course after he triumphs we’ll be made to make up for old Muammar’s losses by paying even more for natural gas and oil.
Also Lybia is useful to send a warning to the rest of Arab world: do not attempt anything funny. Any attempt at overthrowing “our” people will be dealt with extreme prejudice. As we speak Saudi and UAE troops (incidentally mostly made up of Bengali and Pakistani mercenaries) are arriving in Bahrain where the local ruler is under siege. It takes little immagination to think what will happen next.
Sadly all of this blood is on our hands. Blowback theory anyone?