Gullible Westerners backed Libya's rebels.
As evidence begins to mount that Libya's rebels are a somewhat problematic bunch, Jackson Diehl gives us some insight into why there was such enthusiasm for supporting them in the first place:
'Whatâ??s striking about Libya â?? and about Syria and Egypt â?? is that thereâ??s little sign of those dark forces in the leadership of the revolutions. Egyptians and Syrians on Facebook instead speak a common language of secular, liberal democracy and human rights. A generation raised on the Internet wants, above all, to join the rest of the 21st-century world.Libyaâ??s transitional council is no different. Its first leaders published an eight-point manifesto March 29 declaring that â??there is no alternative to building a free and democratic society and ensuring the supremacy of international humanitarian law and human rights declarations. This can only be achieved through dialogue, tolerance, cooperation, national cohesiveness and the active participation of all citizens.â?Â
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Facebook pages and manifestos aimed explicitly at cultivating outside support - this is the basis on which Diehl and others would commit the United States to another country's civil war.