Intelligence Experts See Gaddafi Rebuilding Power

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA Middle East expert who has advised the Obama administration, said an unresolved conflict may pose unacceptable risks to Washington and its allies.

“A stalemate with de facto partition means an open wound on the Mediterranean which will be exploited by extremism,” he said. “U.S. and European leaders should not let this happen.”

If this scenario were to unfold, Riedel said he saw few alternatives to a new U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of ground forces against Gaddafi. “Gaddafi’s forces are not that formidable.

A professional NATO composite force should prevail quickly, then transition to a U.N. stabilization force with Muslim contingents,” Riedel said, citing Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey as possible contributors of peacekeepers.

This was not likely to happen without U.S. support, he said, “but we don’t need to be the biggest part.”