Issandr El Amrani poses some questions about Libya:
Once empowered, the insurgents will naturally want to go all the way and topple Qadhafi. I totally support them in that endeavor. But we don't know much about them, or how they might behave towards non-combatants that back the Qadhafi regime. I'm sure any violence against civilians by insurgents will be ignored by the intervention force in the fog of war, but this is possible only to a certain extent before it becomes embarrassing, particularly as UNSC Resolution 1973 gives a mandate to protect civilians from everybody, not just the Qadhafi regime. Sometimes the good guys can be bad guys, as we saw in Darfur (both in terms of the stalled peace process and in terms of the actions of certain Darfuri groups).
This rebellion was not a universal, non-violent act of civil disobedience, as in Iran, Egypt and Tunisia. It was a violent uprising that begin with the rebels insisting on no foreign interference. And the brutality of the Qaddafi forces will doubtless prompt rage from their enemies, if they get the upper hand.
Why not get a UN Resolution in a few weeks' time that will prevent the people we are now supporting from subjecting Qaddafi loyalists to a campaign of murder and terror? Kinda like Afghanistan, sped up.