High time for American intervention in Libya
By Ali Ezzatyar
The colonel's departure has come to pass. His defiant radio broadcasts are relics of a foregone dictator in denial. As the National
Transitional Council marches on Tripoli this week, the Arab Spring
turned Arab Summer will establish its third concrete instance of regime
change. But after a hard fought and messy victory, what comes next? Whatever the next chapter in this story, Libya through the
remainder of 2011 will influence U.S. policy makers on the Middle East for
the next quarter century.
Glancing at the opinion pieces in a dozen of America's most read
newspapers, there seems to be two ways Libya's Arab Spring foray is
being characterized. The first narrative is a rather
pessimistic one, and it is becoming more and more widespread. Using
Tunisia and Egpyt as comparative case studies, Libya's revolution and
the subsequent intervention appears to have backfired. Those other
regimes seemed more entrenched than Qaddafi's but had cleaner and more
favorable results. Libya is left without any order or institutions, only
a revolution-turned-civil war. Reports of mass executions by Qadaffi
forces are now dominating the headlines.
Surveying the damage in Libya lends to the idea for some that the
second set of dictators is learning from the first
by successfully ignoring American and other international calls to step
down. Overwhelming suppression of popular will can ultimately overcome
what once looked like inevitable change, it would seem. While not
overtly stated, there is an undercurrent in this pessimistic strain of
ideas that suggests the U.S. was immature in advocating change in Libya.
Furthermore, America probably had ulterior motives in all of this,
although what those motives were and what interests they actually
protected is never articulated.
The increasingly rare perspective is the one that sees events in
Libya, culminating with Qaddafi's messy disappearance, as an evolution
towards positive change. Proponents of this view maintain the energetic
optimism characteristic of the Arab Spring, lauding the rebels'
democratic initiative and consistent gains with, ultimately, little
direct aid from America. It sees NATO intervention as more humanitarian
than military, and assumes that once the person of Qaddafi is gone,
things are likely to improve.
What is most interesting about these two perspectives is who
espouses them. In the U.S., there is a rolling of the eyes, "I told you
so" brand of reaction from many conservatives, who never actually told
us so, at least not clearly. In addition, the liberal
non-interventionists are having a field-day with the monumental
confusion in Tripoli after Qaddafi's fall, with the rebels undoubtedly
inspiring little confidence.
To the contrary, though, the news and even Twitter reactions from
individuals in the region has been incredibly positive. Not only
Libyans, who overwhelmingly seem to support American and NATO
intervention, but the larger Muslim world as well are mostly praising
the rebel takeover and the end of the Qaddafi era. The view that NATO
intervention was responsible for the march on Tripoli and that it was
not an authentic product of Libyans is the minority view among this
group.
The pulse of Libya and the world is hard to read on this one, but
it does suggest a disconnect between those on the ground and those
watching abroad. That wasn't the case with Tunisia or Egypt, nor the
ostensibly failing projects in Bahrain and Yemen. The next four months
will be crucial in determining whether this experience will be viewed as
good for Libya and the region, or bad.
And when that view is solidified, the weight of its direction will
have crucial influence going forward. American policymakers have already
stated on condition of anonymity that the result in Libya will
influence how the Obama Administration will move forward on Syria and
Yemen. The unique project of intervening on behalf of Arab rebels and
revolutionaries has only one case study, and it is playing out before
us. Without international involvement in these domestic conflicts, they
are likely to fail. Do we want to stand by while the Middle East fights
for universal values without our help?
This all means that our own behavior over the next few months will
influence our behavior over the next few decades. It is high time for
President Obama to dedicate time and resources to Libya immediately to guarantee
its stability so that the U.S. can continue to promote the values he
espouses and America was built on.
Labels: Libya, Middle East, Muammar al-Gaddafi, U.S. foreign policy
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