Rebel Peace Offer

Some folks seem to think the rebel's latest peace offer is evidence they think they've lost. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, has the headline Libyan rebels offer cease-fire. Does Qaddafi have the upper hand?. These people are wrong.

Here's the rebel's offer: Qaddafi has to offer Libyans freedom, and his troops have to leave the cities. Since Gaddafi is in power giht now solely because of the troops in the cities, and nobody has tried to use freedom to do anything bit oust Gaddafi for 40 years, it's hard to believe he'd last a week after agreeing to these terms. Which means he's not going to agree to them.

The rebels military sucks, but the rebellion is chock-full of people who are former members of Gaddafi's cabinet. They know he can't say yes. That means the offer is political posturing, intended to show that they aren't mere western stooges out to get an anti-western leader.

If the rebels wanted to give up the smart thing to do would be take up Gaddafi's offer of partitioning the country. If it's still good saying yes would save them from his retribution. Since they aren't accepting the offer it's apparent they don't think Gaddafi is about to crush them. They think they've got a decent chance of winning the war, and are keen to try.