COMBAT IN LIBYA – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  The conflict in Libya is taking on a distinct international angle, as it becomes clear that intervention may be the only course that will prevent a massive bloodbath and the suppression of the revolt.  From WaPo:

BENGHAZI, LIBYA - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi moved to recapture control of a key oil port in eastern Libya early Wednesday, trying to reverse the tide of an uprising that has seen large swaths of the country fall into the hands of the opposition.

And...

Rebel leaders in Libya are calling for international military intervention to help topple Gaddafi, saying they believe that people power alone may not be enough to dislodge the dictator from his last remaining strongholds.

The leaders say they do not want ground forces, but are increasingly coming round to the view that help in the form of a no fly zone, as well as supplies of weaponry and air strikes will be necessary if Gaddafi is to fall.

U.S. military officials said the rebels have not yet asked them for help, and on Tuesday they played down the likelihood of the United States setting up a no-fly zone.

We are on the spot, whether we want to be or not.  If we act militarily, there are certainly risks.  But if we fail to act, and Gaddafi wins, it will have a devastating impact on our international influence, and may well mean the end for the freedom revolutions going on throughout the Middle East.

The Washington Post's Jackson Diehl reports on some congressional frustration over American inaction:

Diplomats say NATO won't act to stop Moammar Gaddafi from bombing his own citizens unless the U.N. Security Council passes an authorizing resolution -- and Russia and China will not allow that. Pentagon officials are meanwhile warning that any no-fly operation would require preemptive attacks on Libyan air defenses. At a Senate hearing Tuesday Gen. James Mattis, chief of U.S. Central Command, called the potential mission "challenging" and added, "it would be a military operation -- it wouldn't be just telling people not to fly airplanes."

Those comments exasperated Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a former Navy pilot who, along with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), just returned from a tour of the Middle East. "We spend $500 billion on defense, and we can't take down Libyan air defenses?" he asked incredulously in an interview he and Lieberman gave to me and The Post's Fred Hiatt. "You tell those Libyan pilots that there is a no-fly zone, and they are not going to fly."

"I think they [in the Obama administration] are making up reasons" not to act, McCain added. "You will always have people who will find out the reasons why you can't do it. But I don't recall Ronald Reagan asking anyone's permission to get Cuba out of Grenada, or responding to the killings of American soldiers." Reagan ordered a U.S. airstrike against Libya in 1986 after U.S. soldiers were killed in a Libyan-sponsored bombing in Berlin.

Whether you think we should intervene or not, it's great to hear someone with spine speak up.  Joe Lieberman said:

"Others in the Arab world are watching Gaddafi practice the most grotesque atrocities," he said. "Insofar as we get involved to stop him, the democratic revolutionaries will understand that we are taking their side." Regimes contemplating similar violence to put down protests will, of course, also take note of whether Gaddafi is allowed to succeed.

Absolutely correct.  This may well be a defining moment for the United States, as well as for the Middle East.  I see no great sense of urgency coming from the White House.

March 2, 2011