Cameron attempted to make out, in his press conference in South Africa, that the only difference on Libya between Zuma and Cameron was over whether Gadaffi should leave at the beignning or end of a new political process. Zuma then flatly contradicted him by stating unequivocally that the NATO bpmbing should stop.
The US’ decision to recognise the Benghazi regime (which, remember, nobody has elected either) as the government of Libya is purely about removing legal obstacles to huge sums of cash being spread round ruling elites and arms industries. In fact, it is still the case that less than half the population of Libya are under rebel control. Gadaffi has been able in the last fortnight to mobilise much larger mass rallies of supporters than he could in the months before the start of the bombing campaign. There is strong empirical evidence that, exactly as I predicted it would, the effect of the NATO bombing campaign has been to shore up Gadaffi’s popularity and entrench him more firmly into power than when he faced a purely internal rebellion.
What a terrible mess, and terrible loss of life.