Civil War

Gaddafi Gains Upper Hand in Libya

As world weighs arming rebels.

Without the help of coalition airstrikes, Libya’s opposition panicked into a full retreat on Tuesday, with Gaddafi’s forces pummeling them with superior weaponry. “Sarkozy, where are you?” some of them cried out, referencing the French president whose jets first came to their aid. The opposition’s sorry state is giving fresh urgency to Washington’s debate over whether the world should send the rebels weapons. At an international conference in London aimed at pushing Gaddafi out of power, Hillary Clinton said the move would be legal under the most recent U.N. resolution,, and President Obama refused to rule it out in an interview Tuesday Figuring into the plan, though, are suggestions from U.S. intelligence that al Qaeda may be active within Libya’s opposition.