by Zack Beauchamp
According to some U.S. government sources:
New U.S. intelligence assessments conclude that government forces, already beset with morale problems and a steady stream of defections, are now hard-pressed to find fuel for military vehicles after rebel troops shut down a key pipeline. If current trends continue, loyalists troops will run out of fuel by summer’s end, and the Gaddafi government will face a worsening cash and credit shortage because of international sanctions, the reports say.
While the momentum has generally favored the rebels for weeks, Western analysts are seeing troubles escalate on the loyalist side, possibly explaining the surge of interest in finding a negotiated end to the fighting, according to two senior U.S. officials who have seen the assessments.
POMED has a good roundup of more pieces on Qaddafi's increasingly public willingness to depart Libya as part of a peace settlement. When we're evaluating the benefits of the intervention, we should keep in mind that Qaddafi was responsible for endemic poverty that put many Libyans in pretty miserable conditions. If – and that's a if, not a when – the next government begins to improve the situation, the intervention would have done more from a humanitarian perspective than stop a massacre – which in and of itself is a big deal.
The Dish 