Caution ahead: Libyan leader's ouster still a concern as we navigate Middle East waters

Overall, it is good thing that Moammar Gadhafi is likely dead after an attack by rebels in his hometown this morning.

He, and his followers, were not only a threat to Libya's future, they were also just another spot of crazy in the morass that is Middle East politics.

But his death is not the end of what should be the U.S.'s concerns about the future of that region. And the main reason for that is that we do not know what is coming next.

The trouble with many regimes in the Middle East is that they are not stable, not easily understood and not exactly friends, but not always overt enemies of the United States.

In other words, we do not know what they are saying behind our backs -- or with whom they are aligned.

And that's why this Libyan news might be good -- and it might be bad.

Now, we have to deal with a new leader, a new unrest, and perhaps, violence. We do not know what we will get -- and if that new regime will represent the same position on the issues that we have.

And so, we proceed with caution, no question, as we watch and listen to what is being said and whose leadership rises to the top.

Middle East politics is scary. It is unpredictable and difficult to pinpoint. U.S. officials knew Gadhafi, and there was a safety in that.

Now that the tide has turned, the U.S. will have to start over -- very, very carefully.

Published in Editorials on October 20, 2011 10:50 AM