Uncertain Consequences Feared

The military action taken by Western forces has proceeded for nearly one week. But the international community worries that it is likely just a beginning and airstrikes might keep going on for a long time. The consequences of the military intervention, its development and huge spending may turn Libya into another mire that drags the West, like Iraq.

The New York Times said Wednesday in an article on its website said that the intervention is quite likely to bring about two possibilities - coalition forces fail, or more spending and soldiers than expected are put into.

Many European and US military experts question whether the West could topple Gaddafi merely through airstrikes. Howard McKeon, chairman of the US House Armed Services Committee, said that it has been proved in history that air forces are not enough to drive the enemy out of the trench.

He described the Obama administration's policy on Libya as a "stalemate strategy."

Besides the political commitment, huge expenses on the military campaign against Libya also worried the participating countries. Analysts said that the operations on last Saturday alone, the first day of the military action, cost coalition forces over $100 million.

The worst-case scenario is civil war and division in the country, which will be a very bad consequence, said Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the current military intervention in Libya might be potentially counter- productive.

He harshly criticized the West-led airstrikes, saying such operations proved useless in the past but increased loss of lives.