That Didn't Take Long...

 Run away!!!  Run away!!

And that's exactly what the Libyan "rebels" have done every single time they face even limited opposition from Qadhafi's forces.

Yet on the evening of March 28th, 2011 we had Mr. Obama stating:

"We targeted tanks and military assets that had been choking off towns and cities and we cut off much of their source of supply. And tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gaddafi's deadly advance."

Perhaps he should have checked the facts on the ground before opening his mouth as in less than a few hours (if not at the same exact time) from when he uttered these words, Qadhafi's forces were sweeping back any advances made by the "rebels". As the most basic military commander knows, air power can only do so much and it takes actual, physical forces on the ground to take and hold territory. The 18 year old kids "playing", for that is what they are doing, at war on behalf of the "rebels" have no desire to fight and die for their country, they want the heavy lifting to be done by someone else.

Meanwhile, Qadhafi's forces are now adapting to the facts on the ground, changing the look of their forces to more closely resemble those of the "rebels", trading tanks for pickup trucks and uniforms for everyday clothes--yet still maintaining the minor discipline and training they possess and able to conduct operations like the one that occurred today where the army baited the rebels into advancing far down a paved road to the West and then having the Army forces come sweeping out of the desert from the South and cutting off all retreat options, resulting in a predictable slaughter.

The "rebels" in Libya are not the battle hardened forces present in Afghanistan, nor the fervor whipped tribes in Iraq.  Without real ground forces of Western nations or at least some semblance of trained Arabic
armies on hand, the air war will continue to keep mass slaughter of civilians at bay but leave the conflict at a point of being a protracted and draining pinprick.

Pictures above and below of the "rebels" fleeing for their lives over the past two days and giving up any captured ground, since Obama's declaration that we had stopped Qadhafi's forces.