I had hoped the one good thing that would have come from idiotic war against Iraq, is that it would have taught a generation that foreign wars are never quick, easily or cheap. Sadly, that is a prediction I did get spectacularly wrong.

Since I doubt NATO wants to send rebel forces in piecemeal to what is assured to be the meat grinder of Tripoli, they are going to want take enough time to train a large rebel army. Even assuming they can find enough volunteers, turning tens of thousands of regular people into an effective army takes months, if not years.

As was entirely predictable, the “airstrikes only” campaign in Libya failed to bring down the well-armed and well-financed regime of Moammar Gadhafi . So, what is John McCain’s solution? Even more airstrikes.

The situation in Misurata is bleak: hospital officials confirm 17 dead yesterday. As that continues, regardless of the UN effort you will hear the cries from residents of the need for more airstrikes or even ground troops. After all, the logic is exactly the same: the UN needed to prevent a massacre in Benghazi. Why not Misurata, the third-largest city in Libya, as well?

Hey, remember that Libyan war? Third simultaneous conflict? I know, spending on wars has nothing to do with the budget, so it’s been removed from the discussion lately. Anyway, NATO’s in charge now, and the US bugged out. They’re not even running bombing missions anymore! Except, as friend to FDL Spencer Ackerman points out, they are.

I don’t believe the Gadhafi regime is that concerned about the rebels themselves, who are just learning to use their guns and who have serious issues with dissension among their military leadership. But the military air campaign from the international coalition gives time and space for the rebels to work out their differences and figure out how to fight. And in the meantime it’s destroying most of their heavy-duty military assets. The regime probably rightly believes that some ground forces will eventually be introduced to the conflict. And anyway, with the chaos of war comes palace intrigue.

Turd sandwich, indeed.

The civil war in Libya has hit a snag, from the perspective of the rebels and the international coalition. As quickly has the rebels gained oil cities along the eastern coast, they are now losing them. After meeting fierce resistance on the road to Sirte, the rebels appear in disarray, still outmanned and outgunned by Gadhafi’s forces. Even with the close air support from the coalition, Gadhafi’s forces have the better of it on the ground, because they’re actually an army and they have actual firepower.

I just got off a call with Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, about the Libyan operation. Rhodes really tried to make the distinction between the allegedly limited military mission of the coalition and an operation with the clear objective of regime change. Rhodes said that the mission is “restricted to civilian protection,” and added that if you allow the military policy to creep into regime change, there is no UN authority for it.

US military officials made it clear that the gains Libyan rebels made in the past few days could be reversible. They were right.