The US/NATO/rebel forces didn't just stroll up and shoot Qaddafi. There was an entire f-ing civil war to get him out. "Civil wars not starting on your watch" is the lowest possible bar for good governance...and Qaddafi (and Assad) failed, miserably.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan Civil War (2011)
As Qaddafi and Assad told us, the forces against them were terrorists. We see now they were completely right. You can't argue that the fact that organized terrorists began attacking Qaddafi and Assad means that we should take the opportunity to help oust them so that ISIS could take over.
By your logic, "if a civil war starts, you are a lousy leader," England should have assassinated Lincoln. Plenty of countries have civil wars, allow them to sort them out themselves without interjecting.
We have seen that in Syria and Libya, us helping the "rebels", who we were forewarned were terrorists, has just allowed ISIS, Al Nursa, etc. to actually begin getting solid footholds in these countries and actually begin to establish governments.
I would have just let Assad and Qaddafi fight their own wars, with no assistance to either side. They each managed to keep control for decades, I think they would have had at least a fighting chance to defeat the enemies that were within their midsts. Instead the U.S. helped destroy two more stable countries and turn them over to Terrorists.
In 2002, when Saddam, Qaddafi, and Assad were all firmly in power, their countries were without a doubt better places to live, more stable, and free of terrorism. Each of these men were able to control their countries, and after we helped get rid of them, their countries have fallen into chaos and are stomping grouns for all our enemies.
Qaddafi especially was able to halt the flow of migrants from all of Africa to Europe.
I advise you go vacation in Libya or Syria one of these days and see how good a place they are. I actually know people who did just this, when Assad and Qaddafi were in power. You could criticize their leadership on many fronts, but they were places you could peacefully walk the streets. They were stable countries.
You can go here and check out some lovely photos of a globe-trotters trip to Aleppo, A city where he focused on taking pictures of beautiful architecture and delicious looking food at markets:
http://snapshots.travelvice.com/view/syria/aleppo/Snapshots of Assad's Aleppo:
Aleppo now:
Before/After conflict:
