The commander of Libya's rebel forces, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, was assassinated Thursday under murky and suspicious circumstances. Younes, Moammar Gadhafi's former security chief, had defected, but some opposition fighters suspected that he was still feeding intelligence to the regime. Leaders of the rebels' National Transitional Council suggested that Younes had been ambushed by pro-Gadhafi forces, but it appears likely that someone on the rebels' side, not Gadhafi's, was responsible. What does this chilling news mean for the war?
This puts the rebels' legitimacy in question: Younes' assassination is "an ominous and embarrassing development," says Anne Penketh at The Hill. The West rushed into "an ill-prepared NATO intervention," and bestowed the international stamp of legitimacy on the rebels without really knowing who they are. Younes' suspicious death — and alleged role as a double agent — calls into question whether the rebels are, or ever were, Libya's best hope for democracy.
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