Published on FB 2/23/11
It's time to do something about Libya.
As I'm writing this, I'm really hoping that there will be some breaking news that will invalidate everything I'm about to propose- whether it's of his own voilition or whether it's because an angry mob hangs him from a lamppost, it's past time for Colonel Qaddafi to make an exit, stage right. I didn't actually listen to his speech yesterday- I was at work, where CNN is on mute on one of our many flatscreens, just in case World War III breaks out while we're trying to handle the usual morass of minutia and the crazy challenges that pop up on Campus in every given day and he looked, well, how do I put this? Oh I know: completely batshit crazy.
Twitter, Al-Jazeera and media outlets exploded with reaction as he really began to dig into the meat of his rant. Apparently, with military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and a President that's such a war monger and so ready to step up and take decisive action on any given issue (yes, that is sarcasm), those planes that had been shooting his people down in their very own streets? US warplanes. Of course! Because with 9% unemployment and the post-WWII social compact starting to fray at the edges, we don't have problems of our own. We're just going to go and play skeet shoot with innocent Libyan civilians.
But wait, it gets better: the protestors? All of them are on hallucinogenic drugs! Now, I've never done LSD or any other hallucinogen (no, really)- but I'm going to take a wild stab and say it might be pretty hard to take over half of a country if you're seeing a rainbow of colors and talking salamanders everywhere. However, lest we forget our own sporting history, MLB pitching great Dock Ellis managed to pitch a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD, so I suppose that Colonel Qaddafi might be on slightly firmer ground on this score, if such a thing is at all possible at this juncture.
This guy is heading straight over the falls with bombast, panache and healthy dollops of paranoia and well, generally lunacy along for the ride- and he's got the potential to take his entire country with him. I think at this point, we can safely assume that Libya is most definately not Egypt. There's no Tahrir Square, no young, shiny Google Executives to expound passionately on CNN- and I only think the insular and closed off nature of the country is preventing the world from learning the full scale and horror of Qaddafi's crimes against his people. For all that he sounded nutty yesterday, there's a frightening ruthlessness to a man who would reportedly offer as much as $2000 a day to mercenaries to come and shoot his own people. Egypt's army refused to open fire on it's own people- Qadaffi wouldn't take that chance with Libya's.
And although there's hopeful news that protestors appear to have taken control of the city of Misurata- which, if true would be the largest city they currently control in the western part of Libya and there were more defections overnight as the Interior Minister and more of Libya's diplomatic corps resigned or defected to back the protestors, the response of the West has been lukewarm at best and downright useless at worse.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not advocating we go in there, put boots on the ground (although we've done it before. At least the Marines have) and knock this loony off once and for all- we've got commitments of our own and right now figuring out Afghanistan needs to take priority over what would be another lengthy occupation as Libya wouldn't get back on its feet overnight, but we can do more than talk. Everybody can do more than talk. As much as I appreciate Secretary Clinton's condemnation of the bloodshed (I haven't yet seen the President weigh in- and he should!) and the UN Security Council managed, in a minor miracle to get together and agree that Qaddaffi's war against his own people was a fundamentally bad thing, at the end of the day, the lukewarm, noodly response of the Western powers has been talk. Talk, talk, useless talk.
It seems inevitable at this point that Qadaffi is going to fall. The people of Libya have had enough and every hour will probably bring more news of fresh defections and I'm hoping more cities will fall under their control. The West can and should let the people of Libya finish the job as much as possible- but it should also give them the basic protections to do so. A No-Fly Zone over Qadaffi controlled Libya combined with humanitarian assistance to the protestor controlled areas of the country would do just that. Believe it or not, I'm no neo-conservative who advocates the righting of wrongs in the name of truth, justice and the American way. We're not Superman, the Justice League or (to mix my metaphors a bit) Captain America- it's unfair to expect Americans to spend their blood and treasure kicking ass and taking names in the name of righting the wrongs of the world. But with every report of a massacre or of Chinooks in Tripoli firing on civilians in the streets, I'm convinced that it's the height of irresponsibility not to do something.
The French have an aircraft carrier. It's time to get that sucker out and use it. The British (if they haven't sold them on Ebay) have aircraft carriers. It's time for the Royal Navy to saddle up and head down to the Med to help these people out a bit. In fact, if the EU is so damn concerned about the flow of refugees into Malta and Italy, it's time for Europe to nut up or shut up and get some air cover for these people. America (because we're cool like that) should certainly offer to pitch in- perhaps with an aircraft carrier of our own- but the West needs to grow a backbone and do more than talk. If there's no political will to establish a no fly zone (a fluffy concept that's not as easy as it sounds on CNN) over Qadaffi controlled Libya, then at the very least humanitarian assistance to these protestors should be forthcoming. The next few days- and hopefully not weeks or months, will see Qadaffi flushed down the toilet bowl of history where he belongs- when a whole nation rises up the tidal forces of history behind them are inevitable and cannot be stopped, even in the face of brutality.
The courage and bravery of the Libyan people to seize their own destiny from the grasp of the Despot who is attempting to grind them under his bootheel deserves more than just our talk.
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