Update 3/19/2011 - Today Obama launched Operation Odyssey Dawn with international support and a U.N. Resolution -- this is excellent news and time will tell if the operation can be successful in shielding Libyan citizens and leading to the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi and his clan.Those who know their WWII history know that Neville Chamberlain's name is synonymous with the notions of cowardice and appeasement by a national leader. It saddens me to be thinking of Neville Chamberlain when I ponder the Obama Administration's inexplicable lack of a coherent, forceful response to Moammar Gadhafi's slaughter of unarmed protesters, but that has happened.
It is moments like these when the mettle of national leaders is truly tested, when the strength of their belief in core values like freedom and democracy are put to the test. When revolt in North Africa spread to Libya, it became clear that the Obama Administration was completely unprepared.
A pair of very coherent opinion pieces by Slate contributor Christopher Hitchens (here and here) led me to formulate my opinions. Rather than reiterate them here, I am going to cut-and-paste my comments below:
"If Ronald Reagan were still President he would have, at the very least, blocked enough of Gaddafi's offensive capabilities to enable the Libyan Rebels to secure their gains in the eastern half of the country, and would have provided them support so that they might organize and eventually capture the western half of Libya.
Any red-blooded, freedom-loving American understands that it is our moral obligation to undermine tyrants and to support democratic revolutions whenever possible.
All of this moral hand-wringing is shameful and we should be embarrassed by our failure to show leadership. We have squandered a beautiful opportunity to free a country from a tyranny and terror."
"The Libyans want the same thing their North African brothers want: freedom and democracy. Why doubt that? In any event, freedom from Moammar Gaddafi is enough to ask for."
[The following is in response to a poster who suggested that we have no right to get involved in Libya]
"The fact of the matter is that we (the U.S. Government) DO get involved in the internal affairs of sovereign nations routinely on the basis that it is perceived to be in our national interest to do so.
The dilemma that the Obama Administration is facing is that they are not convinced that the crisis in Libya passes muster when judged by that rubric.
My argument is that it DOES pass muster, and therefore justifies limited engagement.
The point that the Obama Administration is missing is that Islamist extremism finds fertile ground in countries with a desperate population. Libyans, after 40 years of tyranny under Gaddafi, are a desperate population. They are now seeking to overthrow Gaddafi and form a new government with greater individual freedoms, and are actively looking to the West for guidance and support. The Western response has been, effectively, to leave these brave men and women hanging out to dry, which is likely to have the effect of radicalizing them against the West faster than anything else I can imagine. And, don't think that the rest of the Arab Street isn't rooting for the Libyan Rebels and growing increasingly bitter over the U.S. inaction.
From their perspective, they see the U.S. as a nation that is more than happy to occupy a Muslim country if it believes there is extremism afoot, but can't lift a finger when a Muslim people tries to liberate itself from tyranny and subjugation because they aren't considered a threat to us.
If the Muslim world ever imagined that we are in Iraq or Afghanistan to help the Iraqis or the Afghans, I think their delusion is over. And it is U.S. interests abroad that are going to suffer as a result.
So, DO WE STILL WANT TO DO NOTHING??"
[The following is a response to a poster who wrung his hands over our failure to come up with a coherent response to the Libyan crisis]
"Glenn, great comment. I, too, feel ashamed and embarrassed at our Administration's apparent moral turpitude. Our oil dollars are enslaving Arabs by supporting the tyrants who are keeping the spigots open and their people in chains.
A few of those slaves momentarily broke free of their chains and we did NOTHING TO HELP THEM.
Shame on us, shame on Europe and shame on those who coddle tyrants.
CIVIL WAR MY A$$ - THE LIBYAN PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING TO BE FREE FROM DICTATORIAL OPPRESSION."
