Libya isn't a spectacular success story. But even with the Benghazi attack, Libya is muddling along without massive violence despite the difficulties with law and order; loose criminals, jihadis, and weapons; corruption; disrupted oil exports; private militias; upset ethnic minorities; and even Khadaffi loyalists still out there.
Yes, Libya is fractured as an artificial state (east, west, and south) but the central government is gradually building an army to reassert control:
There has still been a lot of street violence in the last month, mostly between militias fighting each other and the security forces. Public opinion is decidedly anti-militia and that translates into support for the security forces or local vigilantes who will violently eject militiamen from the neighborhood. The government is deploying more army units, as they become available, to help keep the peace in the cities. The militia leaders know that their time is coming to an end and many are willing to go down fighting.
Remember that we initially assumed the police would remain on the job in Iraq and that we had the luxury of spending years to rebuild the Iraqi military without the Baathist dominance of Saddam's armed forces. But we didn't get years of relative peace since Iran ignited its allies within Iraq under the banner of that breathing piece of garbage Moqtada al Sadr (and we likely haven't heard the last of that three-time insurrectionist) and as Syria hosted Baathist exiles and funneled al Qaeda suicide bombers into Iraq.
Even with the Baathists resisting, we gradually ground down the Sunni resistance, capturing Saddam in December 2003 and seeing our casualty toll drop to 20 dead in February 2004. But the next month it heated up and then exploded as al Qaeda and their Baathist allies staged a joint offensive with the Sadrist Iranian-supported Shia death squads.
What would Libya look like if Egypt and Tunisia were actively promoting violence in Libya? Even with jihadis coming into Libya to join local jihadis, without major foreign support they aren't a major threat to the regime or a daily threat to life and limb.
Libya isn't a stunning success. But it did rid itself of a dictator and the Libyans are muddling through making slow progress to restoring a state apparatus and state authority. It isn't pretty, but it could be worse.
