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With allied jets and missiles pounding Libyan targets, the so-called Arab awakening across the Middle East and North Africa has been swiftly altered to something else. Is it an intervention? Foreign backing of a civil war? Few seem sure. Perhaps that is why those in charge simply gave it all a different name: Operation Odyssey Dawn.

For a string of days and nights, a coalition of the like-minded has worked to isolate Col. Moammar Gadhafi and prevent his forces from advancing. There are reports of fighting in the east near Benghazi, and in the city itself. It is unclear whether that means rebel forces are using the situation to shore up their positions. Journalists in Benghazi describe shelling and occasional sniper fire. In the west, there is a still a battle for Misurata as Gadhafi tries to consolidate his control of at least half the country.

The declaration is now being made that Gadhafi's air force is all but finished. Air power, for weeks, was Gadhafi's advantage over rebel forces but arguably was not his most destructive asset.

Tanks, rockets, and other munitions are far deadlier. The sketchy parameters of the UN resolution seem to grant permission for the coalition to take those out too. As far as Gadhafi's infrastructure goes -- air control centres, military installations, command posts -- they may soon run out of targets.

As a government official told me on the telephone this week, "Now is not a good time for a flight to Tripoli."

A no-fly zone, or whatever this campaign has become, is not a bloodless venture. It involves bombing people. There are competing claims of impact depending on which spokesman you choose to heed.

Already the coalition is showing cracks. The Arab League has waffled on its initial request for international involvement, as though a no-fly zone and its enforcement is supposed to entail something else. Russia and China are just as opposed while Egypt and Saudi Arabia have not taken sides.

During my weeks in eastern Libya the most vocal rebel supporters were adamant the uprising has "no foreign involvement." There were billboards and posters around Benghazi declaring exactly that, even as rebel defeats in Ras Lanuf, Brega, and Ajdabiya stirred disillusionment.

U.S. President Barack Obama has stated clearly and often that Gadhafi has lost his legitimacy to lead. Some commentators openly wonder if perhaps that did not happen years ago, even before Pan Am flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie.

Col. Gadhafi has rarely shown that he cares what the rest of the world thinks. In retaliation, he vows to make good on his threat to arm all Libyans to fight what his loyalists denounce as oil-inspired aggression.

Gadhafi has enjoyed a variety of labels -- eccentric, notorious, ruthless, defiant -- for decades before he opened fire on his own people. I met a former political prisoner on the road near Ras Lanuf and talked to him through his car window. He did not want to be filmed or named.

"If there is a word that is worse than criminal, then give it to Gadhafi," he said. For three years he says he rotted in detention on a trumped-up charge that was eventually dropped.

News consumers these past weeks have been jolted into learning about Libya. Wikipedia has no doubt seen a rush of traffic. Libya has been a famously closed place where suspicion thrives and dissenting voices are punished.

"No Gadhafi people here," said a man in Ajdabiya, "except maybe spies." That was before the city fell to regime control.

Press freedom is described as "virtually non-existent" by Reporters Without Borders. More than half of the country (of only 6.5 million people) is under the age of 18; generations have known no other leader but Moammar Gadhafi.

What is striking about Libya, at least in the east, is how rarely its vast oil wealth actually shows itself. There are industrial electricity towers and well-paved highways, but few signs that prosperity is rampant, especially with unemployment reportedly at around 30 per cent. Talk to Libyans in that part of the country and they will tell you the government is corrupt and unforgiving (they will say that in hushed voices).

The early days and even weeks of the uprising were shaped around an objective that was so clear. People weary of oppression do not want Gadhafi dead; they simply want him out. Less thought has been dedicated to crafting what happens after, or envisioning what kind of government replaces him. The challenge in a place like Libya is that tribal politics loom large. They cause friction and shift the balance of power.

The other issue that is uncomfortably obvious to those who have been to Libya in recent weeks: There are so many weapons that have been released to the general public in the arming of two sides that regard each other as evil. The AK-47 is ubiquitous. At a women's rally I saw them in the hands of boys who appeared to be barely teenagers.

"Everyone has a flag… or gun," said our driver one day, shaking his head.

The clearly stated objective of the campaign in which Canada is involved is to protect civilians from Gadhafi and his government. History has shown there is a need for it. Yet, the U.S. National Security Council claims, "The goal of this resolution is not regime change."

What is the strategy? Is there one? Even U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen described the campaign's goals as limited, adding, "How this ends from the political standpoint I just can't say."

If toppling Gadhafi is not the end game, what is?

Libyans propelling the opposition movement want him out and many believe the international community has come to their rescue. To them, there is no turning back or falling short. Between now and whenever or however it all ends, there likely will be a mess that lingers.