The issue here, as even our charmingly naive friends who oppose Western involvement in Libya should know is how much power Gadhafi will continue to exercise over his own people.

Please name one vicious tyrant, preferably one who has been in power for about 40 years, considers himself to embody the state, and has had the delightful habit of sending assassination squads all over the world to deal with dissenters, who has been willing to give up a portion of his power over his own people.

Furthermore, the recent experiences of Tunesia and Egypt are object lessons to Gadhafi of what happens to a ruler when he is in fact willing to cede some of his power to independent voices.