Reply #11: The rebels seem disappointed.

[Igel]

On the other hand, they think it's worth the price. It's rude to say, but still true: Artillery rounds weren't hitting Benghazi a couple of months ago. They are now. What's changed?

If I were sitting there as one of the rebels, I'd have to face the hard choice: Continue to uphold the rebellion and fight to dispose of Gaddafi, even if I knew that the reason the shells were falling was to stop me and my colleagues, or send up the white flag and stop the fight. These educated, wise folk can't bring themselves to even pose the question, it would seem. Their actions are only to have good consequences.

It's the same choice in every revolution, in every rebellion, in every conflict. These folk want the choice to be made cost-free and risk-free, however, so that the revolution is guaranteed no losses of its own but lots of dead enemies. And if somebody else can provide the dead enemies, so much the better. Then, in the name of self-determination, they can be granted the victory that others have gained them and take power: Rulers unable to count the cost of policies, unable to think through consequences to their actions, unable to face hard decisions.