The Libyan War and Regional Opinion

Marc Lynch reviews a new survey of Arab public opinion, and mentions this in passing:

Only 35% now say that the intervention in Libya was the right thing to do — quite a decline from the enthusiasm in the spring.

46% of the respondents said that the intervention was a mistake. Let’s remember that one of the main arguments for intervening in Libya was to get on the “right side” of popular opinion in Arab countries to change the image of the U.S. in the region, and several months ago there was already reason to think that this wasn’t happening. Libyan war supporters put great emphasis on how intervening on the side of the rebels would earn the U.S. tremendous goodwill in the region, and this was why they insisted that it was so very unlike the war in Iraq. As it turned out, the enthusiasm for Western intervention was temporary and has not survived to the end of the year. Once again, Lynch deserves some credit for predicting this:

Despite the bracing scenes of Benghazi erupting into cheers at the news of the Resolution, Arab support for the intervention is not nearly as deep as it seems and will not likely survive an extended war.