Egypt's military is not much of a military force despite the shiny equipment. At least not much compared to the Israelis. But against the Libyans? Egypt could clean their clocks. And with the Libyan military broken apart in civil war? Mission possible, for sure.
So what if the Egyptians invade with a mechanized corps on the side of the rebels, with two prongs each based around a core of a mechanized division? One column could advance on the coastal road to reach Benghazi and then push south to Ajdabiya. Another column could push inland across the Tobruk-to-Ajdabiya road. Put such a force at that city and perhaps the rebels can declare independence from the rest of Libya. There is no way the Libyan army--even pre-revolt--could beat that size of a force.
The rebels could offer cut-rate oil to Egypt for a decade, which gives Egypt some economic breathing room to consolidate their new and evolving government. Plus, the Egyptians get a common enemy to fight that won't smash them up as Israel would if a new Egyptian government tore up the peace treaty and declared war. And Egypt could exact a price from us--support for the new government, whatever form it takes.
Just a thought.
UPDATE: Austin Bay hopes the Egyptians use their American-made air force to step in where the West won't and impose a no-fly zone:
Egypt also has an air force. Pray Cairo uses it in Cyrenaica before Gadhafi's mercenaries reach Tobruk. The Egyptian general who makes that decision will deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.
Nice thought, but it won't be enough. Two reinforced Egyptian mechanized divisions would save the rebels, however. Egyptian special forces have been inside Libya for some time now, so the Egyptian army wouldn't be blind going in.
Secretary of State Clinton did recently arrive in Egypt to discuss democracy. Dare I hope the topic of overtly helping the rebels came up?
UPDATE: Gwynne Dyer supports an Egyptian invasion of Libya to support the rebels:
Egypt has an open border with the rebel-controlled east of Libya, and just one brigade of the Egyptian Army would be enough to stop Gadhafi's ground forces in their tracks.
Well, one Egyptian brigade defending Ajdabiya alongside rebels could stop the loyalists in their tracks. At this point, I'd want two division in the initial assault. Two divisions could pose a threat to march on Tripoli or the Egyptians could then draw down most of their forces to hold the line at Ajdabiya.
I'm of two minds on Dyer. Many years ago he has a good series on war. But he wrote against the Iraq War and figured we were doomed then, which I found ridiculous.
I agree with him that a no-fly zone over Libya wouldn't help because it wouldn't impact armor and heavy artillery, but this statement is kind of silly: "Tanks and artillery beat courage and small arms every time." While that's the way to bet in conventional combat, depending on the terrain it isn't always true. And with the loyalist forces small and probably brittle in their morale, a major stand in a city could break the momentum of the loyalists. And I'll add that Dyer certainly never applied that statement to the Iraq War where he thought we were doomed despite our weaponry superiority and wrong to fight, too. Although I'll grant that Dyer almost certainly isn't making a general claim for all types of war, but just about a war of maneuver as the Libya fight is right now.
Anyway, I'm clearly not alone in wondering about whether the Egyptians can save the day. Funny enough, I doubt we'd be having this discussion if Mubarak still ran the show.
