FOR those who back muscular humanitarian intervention, both the words and deeds of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi provided absolute moral clarity. "Come out of your homes, attack [the opposition] in their dens," he told his supporters on February 22nd. He called the protesters "cockroaches" and "rats" who did not deserve to live: language chillingly reminiscent of the broadcasts of Radio Mille Collines, which spurred on the perpetrators of Rwanda's genocide in 1994. As he spoke, his forces had set their sights on Benghazi, their adversaries' stronghold. According to Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, government forces had already killed 233 people in the preceding week. A bloodbath beckoned, in a city of 700,000 people. The United Nations Security Council invoked a fateful formula, urging the regime to meet its "responsibility to protect" its people. On March 17th the council, "expressing its determination to ensure the protection of civilians", ordered air strikes.
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