What comes after Gaddafi's fall is much more important, and much more uncertain. Now it should be said that Obama's strategy means that one of the key factors in the emergence of suicide terrorism — a foreign occupying military, typically of a different religious background than the occupied — isn't present in Libya. But because Gaddafi essentially built Libyan society around himself, the rebels will have to start almost from scratch in constructing a new Libya. And it's far from a safe bet that the one that will emerge will be the kind of democratic, pluralistic state that would be ideal.
The rebels were united by a desire to oust Gaddafi, they're less united in their vision for what Libyan society should be. Whatever ultimately happens, it's far too early to declare the intervention in Libya “successful.” What we can say is that months after the president initiated a war without Congress' approval, one he said would last “weeks, not months,” the most straightforward part of the mission is almost complete.
This was in response to E.J. Dionne saying that Obama's policy in Libya was "successful." We really just don't know yet.
