make Libya look more frightening. Qaddafi, unfortunately, may still win, either by rallying his loyalists in the security forces and military or by importing enough mercenaries to overcome the disorganized opposition in a brutal city-by-city campaign of terror.

But if Qaddafi loses, Libya's future may still prove chaotic.

Qaddafi created one of the world's most bizarre governments, with "people's committees" playing important roles at the local level. Indeed, Qaddafi himself did not hold a government position in any formal sense, even though he was clearly recognized as "the leader." This personalized and politicized system is part of what Libyans hate; it should not survive its creator. But removing Qaddafi's regime demands more than just change at the top.

the rebels gather along Libya’s main coastal highway each day, ready to fight

With only weeks of fighting experience, they lack an understanding of the fundamentals of offensive and defensive combat, or how to organize fire support. They fire recklessly and sometimes accidentally. Most of them have yet to learn how to hold seized ground, or to protect themselves from their battlefield’s persistent rocket and mortar fire, which might be done by simply digging in

For the nations that have supported the uprising, the state of the rebels’ armed wing — known as the Forces of Free Libya

All of them had friends or relatives who had been tortured or murdered in his prisons.

Qaddafi lectured the men. He warned them not to encourage the kinds of protests that had overthrown one dictator in Tunisia and would soon topple another, Hosni Mubarak, in Egypt. “Take down your Facebook pages, your demands will be met,” Qaddafi said. At times, he muttered to himself at length, leaving the lawyers baffled and embarrassed.

Troops had opened fire on protesters because they were not trained to handle civil unrest, he argued.

Security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition in the Gourghi area of the city, according to witnesses, but there were no immediate reports of casualties