In a reply to critics who suggested that perhaps oil had something to do with Europe’s uncharacteristic muscularity in Libya, Bernard-Henri Lévy scoffs:

First of all, war aims. The “true” aims of this war. And what if the allies had a “secret agenda” and, in particular, “oil”. The imbeciles! The too-clever-for-their-own-good who, eternally seeking the hidden side of things, ultimately fail to see what is right there under their own eyes! Namely, that, oil for oil, there was one simple means to ensure control over Libyan oil, and that means was to touch nothing, to change nothing, and to go on dealing with Gaddafi, as they have for decades. Sarkozy, Cameron, Obama may be capable, like all politicians, of all the cynicism one likes. But concerning this affair, why not have the elementary honesty to recognize their share of sincerity?

Levi’s logic is puerile. France and Britain did not initiate or even encourage the rebellion against Qaddafi, with whom they had a lucrative and budding new relationship, but rather piggy-backed onto it — but only when it seemed to have a very good chance of success. Obama, for his part, carefully calibrated the pulse of the rebellion and apparently decided at the eleventh hour that the killer would simply snap to attention, obey, and then depart in the manner of a Mubarak or Ben Ali.

In other words, Levi’s pantheon of Sarkozy, Cameron, and Obama figured there was a good chance that the “rebels,” like their counterparts in Egypt and Tunisia, were going to win, and if they did win, they might not like it if the Europeans watched from the sidelines after profiting quite handsomely in the oil business with the mad dog of the Middle East. The new government of Libya might even dislike it to the extent of finding a long line of others to buy their oil. Such supposition is not conspiracy-mongering but common sense — especially given the role of oil in France’s long and quite lucrative relationship with Saddam Hussein, and Britain’s most recent negotiations over Lockerbie. Would Britain have released the architect of the bombing had he come from a country that exported walnuts? And does the London School of Economics sell off doctorates to Costa Ricans?

Time, not supposition, will tell. One hopes that the Europeans have long canceled all their oil contracts with Qaddafi and transferred them to the new government in waiting — and, if the latter loses or is stalemated, will in protest and sympathy never again conduct any oil business with a Qaddafi-led Libya.