This is not Iraq

Unlike the Iraq war the imposition of a no fly zone on Libya carries the stamp of international legality. And this time round the pretext for intervention is not phony.
The intervention on Libya is based on very real threats of an imminent massacre made by Gaddafi himself yesterday when he promised that he would show no mercy on rebels in Benghazi as well as the brutal repression which led to the uprising.
The approval of yesterday's resolution by Security Council sets an important precedent that the international community will not governments to use brutal military force against their citizens. This is an important and most welcome limitation of national sovereignty which is not absolute when there are human rights violations of a certain scale.
Obviously this will raise questions on whether other situations require the same treatment as Libya. What makes the Libyan situation particular and different from say Bahrain and Yemen was the deployment of military force to quell a rebellion and the subsequent risk of a military attack on rebel held territory. But that is no excuse for the lame western response to the situation in two Arabian countries. And the decision by Saudi Arabia to send troops in Bahrain and today's massacre in Yemem warrants a more decisive response especially by the US which has leverage on both regimes.
The Libyan government's declaration of a ceasefire confirms the effectiveness of the resolution in putting Gaddafi on notice.
But one still has to be wary of the regime's survival instincts . One has to make sure that the spirit of the resolution, that of eliminating the threat to civilians is adhered to. One cannot accept a ceasefire aimed at disarming the rebels so that Gaddafi butchers them the next day. The resolution does not exist in a legal vacuum and should not pose as an obstacle to the popular revolution in Libya.