Kitch, Kinzer is making the same point I'm making in the Clinton/Egypt article about meddling. It's not blaming the US - it's saying our own ignorance about complex cultural/religious/political can have consequences for our interests that we fail to plan for or have the ability to control when we decide to intervene. Few are mourning Qaddafi, but getting rid of him on the cheap, with no resources available to deal with the consequences may now cause us more problems. The Tuareg-Al-Qaeda alliance is filling a vacuum of authority left by Qaddafi's overthrow just like the mullahs in Iran filled a vacuum when the Shah was overthrown. Neither were inevitable but ignorance of consequences and a failure to prepare for the resulting vacuums allowed bad actors to come in to create other problems.

It's not a simplification of any sort - and if the Tuareg-Al-Qaeda alliance becomes a long-term problem for US interests, it will be quite similar to the long-term problems caused by the Iranian regime. The simple thinking is yours: you want to believe that there are easy ways to deal with these problems - massive military invasions, bombing campaigns, etc. to destroy what you're so terrified of. You lack conviction in Western strength and values and feel the impulsive need to obliterate, which is the hallmark of the chicken hawk right wing.