Tripoli is the city of 2M, the majority of fighting age. If you calculate 3:1 ratio for the expeditionary forces, how many Marines do you need?
Instead of "to the shores of Tripoli" it could turn into the streets of Mogadishu.
There was a wrong intel from the get go. Read In Charge of the Light Brigade and reflect.
We need just enough Marines and soldiers (and NATO troops) to deny Libyan army transit in and out of Tripoli (and to capture any oilfields under his control).
Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” has no quantifier for today’s Marine Corps. Think about that. Give me a light squad, two radios, and I’ll secure Tripoli!