Risky though it may be, let's arm the Libyan rebels

The fate of Gen Younes should be a clear lesson that compromise will lead to Libya’s destruction as a unified nation and produce a situation that no one in the international community envisaged, and which no one who has fought and died within Libya would have wanted.

It highlights the fact that the rebels’ grip on their own territory, and their ability to withstand the kind of Islamist pressures that led to chaos and bloodshed in Iraq, are at best questionable — possibly worse…

As ever, there is a choice. The longer it takes for the campaign in Libya to be brought to its conclusion, the greater the risk of unforeseen and unwanted consequences, not least the growing threat from Islamist groups.

We can sit on our hands and watch a limited intervention create a limited and unsatisfactory future, or make a bold move that will deliver the outcome that most rational observers know is the right one.