EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MAIL, UK

This time, do we know what we are doing?

As David Cameron rightly observes, we must judge Colonel Gaddafi by his actions, not his words.
But whether or not he's playing cat and mouse, it's welcome that this brutal dictator has been forced to declare a ceasefire in his suppression of the rebels.
For the moment at least, the British Prime Minister can take some satisfaction in the role he's played in securing international support for a no-fly zone.
True, the Coalition made a woefully uncertain start in its handling of the Middle East turmoil - from Nick Clegg's crass assertion that he found it 'incredibly exciting' to the delays over evacuating British citizens and the farce of the botched SAS mission.
But Mr Cameron himself appears to have played a crucial part in recruiting the Arab League, which in turn was surely decisive in persuading the Security Council to authorise action.
Despite this diplomatic success, however, the Mail finds it impossible not to feel queasy about Britain's ever-deeper involvement in the Libyan debacle.
The unanswered questions come thick and fast.
What, precisely, are the aims of our intervention - regime change, or merely a stand-off between the factions? And exactly how much force does the UN resolution allow?
How long will our overstretched forces be committed (and at what cost) and will we have to use troops on the ground?
Why did the world's five most booming nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and Germany - refuse to back the intervention, leaving us again to shoulder more than our share of the burden?
And as Andrew Green asks on Page 9, isn't there a danger Gaddafi will respond by attacking western targets or turning again to weapons of mass destruction?
Or that his henchmen, who risk savage reprisals if he goes, will fight to the last? It is not even clear who, among the rag-bag of rebels in this tribally-divided country, we are meant to be supporting.

Can we really be sure the Libya that emerges from this crisis will be more humane than Gaddafi's, and friendlier to the oil-dependent West?
We pray the UN's 11th-hour intervention will bring the peace and justice everyone yearns for.
But if Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything, our aims and our exit strategy must be crystal clear from the start.