Last month, during the first days of the Egyptian revolution, I suggested we were watching the liberalization of the Middle East. A professor of mine likened it to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
One by one, the dominoes were starting to fall. First, Tunisia. Then Egypt. Right now, Libya is ground zero, but the situation there is slightly more complicated and a whole lot more deadly.
As the people of Libya have risen up, Libyan Dictator Muammar Gadhafi has only clamped down. In Tunisia and Egypt, the climate was mostly peaceful and there was only occasional violence. In Libya, it’s an armed revolt.
Unfortunately for those on the side of freedom, the Libyan people are holding a knife in a gunfight. They don’t have the resources and the supplies needed to go head-to-head with Gadhafi and his remaining allies.
Gadahfi’s made it clear he does not intend to go quietly. So, if they intend to overthrow their dictator by force, it’s going to take a lifetime.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Libyan people alone can dismiss Gadhafi without the streets running red with blood, but I certainly hope I’m wrong about that.
If I’m not, we’re looking at one of two outcomes. Either Libya will find itself in a deadly civil war or the rest of the world is going to have to intervene.
Over the last two weeks, there’s been some discussion of a No Fly Zone, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates rightly insisted is a bigger commitment than just telling Gadhafi he can’t fly his planes.
Gates said a No Fly Zone starts with an attack on Libya, which immediately turned most people away from the idea. Another war in the Middle East was too much to handle.
Ironically, it appears we’re going to let Libya go it alone. The rest of the world has decided they don’t want to get involved, because getting involved means you have to get your hands dirty. It means you have to sacrifice.
For the last decade, the United States has served as the only policeman on the world stage. We’ve gone it alone and taken a considerable amount of grief from the rest of the world for it. President Barack Obama has decided the United States won’t play that role anymore, which means there’s no one left to do it.
There’s no one to reinforce the people of Libya. No one is coming to their aid because the United States is tired of doing the dirty work, only to hear the rest of the world call them imperialists.
We’re standing on the sidelines at this moment, because we’re already waist deep in two other conflicts. We’re supposedly trying to rebuild our image internationally, so adding a third war wouldn’t be the best move.
If the United States doesn’t intervene in Libya, make no mistake, no one will. The people of Libya will be left alone to take on Gadhafi, and that fight is going to be a deadly one. They may ultimately prevail, but at a very high cost.
So what’s the answer? Could the United States really afford to add another fight? Well, we probably could, but we shouldn’t have to and that’s the important point.
Instead, the rest of the world should wake up. The rest of the world should look at what’s happening in Libya and see it as a call to arms. France and Great Britain and China and a whole host of others ought to come together and tell Gadhafi it’s time to go.
The United Nations Security Council should call for a use of force. NATO should order an attack. Even AT&T should lend their support.
This is a no-brainer. Gadhafi is bombing his own people, and they don’t have the means to defend themselves. Someone has to step in. It shouldn’t have to always be the United States. The rest of the world should come to Libya’s defense and welcome support from the United States.
Those who look the other way are complicit in the deaths of the Libyan people. They might not be as responsible as Gadhafi, but they do have blood on their hands. It’s time to get off the sidelines and stand on the side of freedom. We’ve waited long enough.
No matter the cost, we ought to say atrocities like this cannot stand when we have the opportunity to do something.
We need to tell them the cavalry is coming. The international community needs to come together to expel Gadhafi by force. Either that, or they should step aside and be quiet when the United States steps in to do their dirty work.
