Gadhafi wins Lybian Civil War

[Bmao]

With Gadhafi dead and burning in hell where he belongs, I nonetheless want to start a thread speculating if Gadhafi's regime could have emerged victorious in the Lybian Civil War. Or how the rebels would still be sequested in Benghazi and Gadhafi having the West firmly under control with an indefinite stalemate developing. Alternately, was there a possibility that Lybia remains quiet, other than a few isolated protests, in the midst of the Arab Spring?

How would a surviving Gadhafi regime have affected the course of the Arab Spring (again, its still way too early to tell how the fall of his regime is affecting it right now)?

Could this have been possible, or was the demise Gadhafi and his regime just a matter of time no matter what the circumstance?

[strangeland]

massacre, followed by another uprising in 5-10 years

[Super_Cool]

Originally Posted by Bmao

With Gadhafi dead and burning in hell where he belongs, I nonetheless want to start a thread speculating if Gadhafi's regime could have emerged victorious in the Lybian Civil War. Or how the rebels would still be sequested in Benghazi and Gadhafi having the West firmly under control with an indefinite stalemate developing. Alternately, was there a possibility that Lybia remains quiet, other than a few isolated protests, in the midst of the Arab Spring?

How would a surviving Gadhafi regime have affected the course of the Arab Spring (again, its still way too early to tell how the fall of his regime is affecting it right now)?

Could this have been possible, or was the demise Gadhafi and his regime just a matter of time no matter what the circumstance?

The U.S. was necessary for an intervention to be possible and successful. The Obama Administration was divided on the subject (unlike Sarkozy and Cameron in their respective countries). A good POD for a surviving Gaddafi is having Obama take the advice of Robert Gates to not intervene. Hilary was also on the anti-intervention side but her switching positions also pushed Obama to action. That switch also can easily be avoided.

With no intervention, Gaddafi wins. No "ands," "ifs," or "buts." Things get bloody but Gaddafi will continue to hold power. Hostility towards Gaddafi becomes much more radical and Islamic in nature, as opposed to the somewhat liberal Islamic opposition we got in OTL.

With no Libya intervention, Syria would be much quieter and problems there would likely would be over by now. Assad would be inspired by a surviving Gaddafi and the Syrian people would not want to repeat the same mistakes as the Libyans.

Arab Spring takes a much more anti-American tone considering only pro-America dictators were toppled and the U.S. wouldn't have shown any signs of supporting Arab democracy. The intervention definitely helped U.S. standing in the region.

[tallwingedgoat]

Gadhafi's mistake was giving up his WMDs for detente with the West. He correctly understood that a rebellion is highly likely when he dies, so he thought he would disarm Western hostility towards him by disarming his WMD program. This was a miscalculation. While the West did warm up to him, they were not going to stay neutral as he tried to suppress a rebellion. The WMD program may have at least deterred intervention.

Interestingly, the Myanmar regime seems to be starting to do the same thing Gadhafi. They're making concessions to reform in the hopes that the West would be less likely to intervene if a rebellion breaks when their senior leaders die. OTOH North Korea has used the Libya example to say it doesn't pay to de-nuclearize.

If Gadhafi had kept his weapons, even as a bluff, and did everything else to warm up to the West, i.e cooperate against Al Qaida, it's quite possible there would have been no foreign intervention. However his regime probably couldn't survive his eventual death. It may not have ended in civil war however. Possibly his natural death would lead to the bargaining of a different power arrangement by the various tribes.

[Starkad]

Gadhafi pulls a fast deal with Berlusconi.
CHEAP oil, NO refugees, deals for Italian companies etc.
Italy pulls the bases from the operation.
Britain, France & others will scream and moan, but unless the US goes full in - as in several carriers parked off Libya - the game is over.

Though I don't think il cavalieri has the strength for that sort of game these days.

[Orville_third]

A few ideas.
1. Libya has a better air defense system. The air power was key, but if planes were shot down on a semi-regular basis... Pilots would tend to take less risks. (And, if US pilots were shot down after Obama stated US troops were no longer involved... Cue calls for impeachment.)
2. Libya has longer-ranged anti-ship missiles. If a naval vessel were to be hit by one, massive casualties would result.
3. Libya uses Scuds or longer-ranged missiles. They fired a few at Lampedusa in the 80's.
4. The AU comes in on Ghadafi's side. He made a lot of foreign aid to African nations, and they do have a higher opinion of him than elsewhere.
5. Al-Quaida takes a more active role. The US and UK might be a bit reluctant to aid Al-Quaida.

[HeavyWeaponsGuy]

Originally Posted by Orville_third

A few ideas.
1. Libya has a better air defense system. The air power was key, but if planes were shot down on a semi-regular basis... Pilots would tend to take less risks. (And, if US pilots were shot down after Obama stated US troops were no longer involved... Cue calls for impeachment.)
2. Libya has longer-ranged anti-ship missiles. If a naval vessel were to be hit by one, massive casualties would result.
3. Libya uses Scuds or longer-ranged missiles. They fired a few at Lampedusa in the 80's.
4. The AU comes in on Ghadafi's side. He made a lot of foreign aid to African nations, and they do have a higher opinion of him than elsewhere.
5. Al-Quaida takes a more active role. The US and UK might be a bit reluctant to aid Al-Quaida.

In order...

1. Yes and it will yield no fruit, the administration will wind up with some major egg on its face and it will deal with it.

2. Assuming our defenses fail...

3. For what purpose?

4. When the West is cooperating with them on so many different developmental and aid programs? Say goodbye to your biggest donors for the rest of your miserable existence AU...

5. That would prompt additional intervention on behalf of the anti-AQ factions not less.

[HeavyWeaponsGuy]

Originally Posted by tallwingedgoat

Gadhafi's mistake was giving up his WMDs for detente with the West. He correctly understood that a rebellion is highly likely when he dies, so he thought he would disarm Western hostility towards him by disarming his WMD program. This was a miscalculation. While the West did warm up to him, they were not going to stay neutral as he tried to suppress a rebellion. The WMD program may have at least deterred intervention.

Interestingly, the Myanmar regime seems to be starting to do the same thing Gadhafi. They're making concessions to reform in the hopes that the West would be less likely to intervene if a rebellion breaks when their senior leaders die. OTOH North Korea has used the Libya example to say it doesn't pay to de-nuclearize.

If Gadhafi had kept his weapons, even as a bluff, and did everything else to warm up to the West, i.e cooperate against Al Qaida, it's quite possible there would have been no foreign intervention. However his regime probably couldn't survive his eventual death. It may not have ended in civil war however. Possibly his natural death would lead to the bargaining of a different power arrangement by the various tribes.

Libya keeping a nuclear weapons program would result in the international isolation of the regime and the US working even harder to pull at the loose strings of the Libyan government's hold on power until the whole thing comes crashing down around them. Gaddafi realized that the CIA was going to keep trying to kill him if he kept on rolling with that and that was no small part of why he backed off because he was a clever man and realized he'd wind up with a nasty case of the dead sooner or later.

In short, it brings nothing but trouble.

[tallwingedgoat]

Originally Posted by HeavyWeaponsGuy

Libya keeping a nuclear weapons program would result in the international isolation of the regime and the US working even harder to pull at the loose strings of the Libyan government's hold on power until the whole thing comes crashing down around them. Gaddafi realized that the CIA was going to keep trying to kill him if he kept on rolling with that and that was no small part of why he backed off because he was a clever man and realized he'd wind up with a nasty case of the dead sooner or later.

In short, it brings nothing but trouble.

Kim Jong Il is still alive isn't he?

“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal”

--- Henry Kissinger

[HeavyWeaponsGuy]

Originally Posted by tallwingedgoat

Kim Jong Il is still alive isn't he?

“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal”

--- Henry Kissinger

He remains in power because the cost of destroying his regime would be paid entirely in blood.

Libya actually matters to the world, why throw everythin away to become an isolated pariah state mistrusted by all? Libya's actions would be fruitless, it would only encourage other states opposed to it to develop nuclear weapons themselves and the Americans would reap the full benefits in the end.

[Warsie]

Originally Posted by Bmao

With Gadhafi dead and burning in hell where he belongs,

I wouldn't say that, unless you're one of the people he shat on (eg his aid to black africans)

Or how the rebels would still be sequested in Benghazi and Gadhafi having the West firmly under control with an indefinite stalemate developing. Alternately, was there a possibility that Lybia remains quiet, other than a few isolated protests, in the midst of the Arab Spring?

In that scenario the east of libya identifies more as a separate country as it has historically has; but still as arabs

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by tallwingedgoat

Please, it's a myth that North Korea's 170mm pieces will lay waste to Seoul. They don't have a lot of these, and the main reason to fear them is the possibility of chemical shells. Without WMDs North Korea is paper tiger.

Originally Posted by whitecrow

Proof that it's a myth? Because that is the cornerstone of North’s deterrent and ROK government holds monthly (IIRC) civilian shelling drills at Soul.

Well, ALL of Seoul will not be laid to waste (the reaction would be pretty fast), but we would have substantial damages.


Back to the topic: I would say that supposing there was no UN resolution and that NATO as a whole did not participate, we would most likely see a slugging match where it would be that the country would be split.

Also, whether Gaddafi has complete victory or has the hold of the west, most likely Saif al-Islam would most likely become the "official" successor (as in he wouldn't be designated official as such, but would be de facto).