The issue of intervention in Libya is intimately related to our work here at Invisible Children. We are telling the stories and working directly with the victims of a murdering maniac in Central East Africa, a man destabilizing the region and committing the most heinous acts of injustice and violence on civilians in The Democratic Republic of Congo, C.A.R., and South Sudan. If there is a clear case of the need for humanitarian intervention, one that has a low cost margin in relation to the lives it would save… Joseph Kony and the LRA are it. But even getting a widely supported bill passed through congress wasn’t enough to mobilize real support to stop Kony.
All that to say, I’m including this article from Foreign Policy magazine, which is very critical of the Obama administration’s decisions surrounding Libya, to highlight the problems surrounding The United Nations, international relationships, and perhaps posit some alternatives. Very interesting. I love that part of my job is to honestly try to change the way the world works. It is mentally exhausting. – JJ
The war in Libya is a good war — or at least, it should and could be. But it is certainly not a smart war and may well turn into a debacle. Bringing down Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s tyranny would be a major strategic and humanitarian victory in the Middle East. That achievement would be even more stunning if a democratic government, brought to power by Libyans themselves, replaced Qaddafi. Although the Libyan rebels will undoubtedly need Western help — and are rightly receiving it — the credit will be theirs: The American Revolutionaries needed French arms to defeat the British, but French help did not tarnish their victory.
Yet the chances of such favorable outcomes have been diminished by America’s own president. Barack Obama, despite his forceful speech on Monday, March 28, is proving to be singularly ungifted in executive talent, let alone in the qualities that are needed in the leader of the Western alliance. Obama’s Libya policy has been marked by an erratic, improvisational, and amateurish character. Already the administration is quietly warning that the war may drag on through the rest of the year, if not beyond it. While Obama might claim success early on, given the vague mission of protecting civilians, we should not be fooled into thinking that an ongoing civil war represents a victory for American arms. Indeed, a prolonged stalemate would be a disaster. Wounded, vengeful, but undefeated, Qaddafi would pose a greater danger than ever. He could resume his practice of terrorist attacks on Western targets, working perhaps through jihadi elements such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, hundreds of whose members he has released from prison.
A protracted civil war in Libya could have effects beyond its borders. It could lead competing outside powers — France, Turkey, or even China — to back different Libyan factions. U.S. forces and resources would be tied down even as the United States seeks to wind down in Iraq and defeat a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. On the other hand, a premature exit would undermine American credibility in a region that already doubts Obama’s steadfastness. Just as the administration’s mishandling of last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico revealed its ineptitude in domestic matters, its mismanagement of the Libya intervention may become emblematic of its haplessness in foreign affairs.
The Obama administration’s most glaring mistake in its approach to Libya is the central weight it has given to the United Nations. Hanging America’s hat on U.N. approval has caused a mismatch between Obama’s stated policy goal — that Qaddafi must “go” — and the limited means provided by U.N. approval for economic sanctions and civilian protections. Even at this early stage of the conflict, Obama’s policy has created a large gap between U.S. strategic ends and U.N.-authorized means.
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