Alan J. Kuperman of the University of Texas has an op-ed in the Boston Globe elaborating on his claim that the genocide the U.S. went to war in Libya to prevent was overblown:

EVIDENCE IS now in that President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya. The president claimed that intervention was necessary to prevent a “bloodbath” in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city and last rebel stronghold.

But Human Rights Watch has released data on Misurata, the next-biggest city in Libya and scene of protracted fighting, revealing that Moammar Khadafy is not deliberately massacring civilians but rather narrowly targeting the armed rebels who fight against his government.

Misurata’s population is roughly 400,000. In nearly two months of war, only 257 people – including combatants – have died there. Of the 949 wounded, only 22 – less than 3 percent – are women. If Khadafy were indiscriminately targeting civilians, women would comprise about half the casualties.

Kuperman argues that civilians may have suffered more as a result of the stalemate imposed by the U.S. intervention. John Tabin gave his reasons for being skeptical of Kuperman’s contentions.