If we don’t help the Libyan rebels, then the extremists might

The West’s indifference towards Libya may create the very conditions for extremism that we normally seek to avoid. In today’s Times, the war correspondent Anthony Loyd writes (£) from Benghazi about the dangers of an extremist backlash as the pro-democracy forces become disillusioned with the West:

“The growing suspicion and anger towards the West offers an unsettling glimpse of the direction that the country’s revolution may take.”

This has several potential implications inside and outside Libya. Outside the country, it could provide an opportunity for Osama bin Laden — who has been otherwise marginalised, following the protests in Tunisia and Egypt — to argue that the West’s inaction, and even complicity with Gaddafi, resulted in Muslims being slaughtered. That is the argument he used over Bosnia and Kosovo to great effect — even though the facts of the West’s policy then, as now, were more nuanced.

Inside Libya, as the rebels may be forced to adopt insurgent-like tactics, al Qaeda is likely to be on hand to offer material support.