So, if Gaddafi would have said he'd fight al-Qaeda,the USA & UK would have let him go on killing his people?

After all, Saleh in Yemen has killed dozens of protestors in recent weeks. I've not heard about any air strikes in Yemen though, not so much as a threat. Could this be because president Ali Abdullah Saleh is a key US ally in the region, and therefore has the green light to kill as many protestors as he sees fit? Kind of like Saddam Hussein massacring Iraqis & gassing Kurds in the 1980s with tacit US approval, really.