New Republic: Obama Must Face His Fears In Libya

[pinboy3niner]

New Republic: Obama Must Face His Fears In Libya

by Larry Diamond
March 15, 2011


Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University, where he directs the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.


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If Moammari Gadhafi succeeds in crushing the Libyan revolt, as he is well on his way to doing, the U.S. foreign policy establishment will heave a sad sigh of regret and say, in essence, "That's the nasty business of world politics." In other words: nasty, but not our business. And so: not their blood on our hands. But, when we have encouraged them to stand up for their freedom, and when they have asked for our very limited help, it becomes our business. On Feb. 23, President Obama said: "The United States ... strongly supports the universal rights of the Libyan people. That includes the rights of peaceful assembly, free speech, and the ability of the Libyan people to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. They are not negotiable. ... And they cannot be denied through violence or suppression." Yet denying them through murderous violence and merciless suppression — with a massacre of semi-genocidal proportions likely waiting as the end game in Benghazi — is exactly what Gadhafi is in the process of doing.

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There is much more that can be done beyond imposing a no-fly zone. No one in their right mind is calling for putting American boots on the ground in Libya. But we can jam Gadhafi's communications. We can, and urgently should, get humanitarian supplies and communications equipment, including satellite modems for connection to the Internet, to the rebels in Benghazi, where they can be supplied by sea. And we should find a way to get them arms as well. Benghazi is not a minor desert town. It is Libya's second largest city, a major industrial and commercial hub, and a significant port. Through it, a revolt can be supplied. If Benghazi falls to Gadhafi, it will fall hard and bloodily, and the thud will be heard throughout the world.


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Oh yes. There is also the danger that China will veto a U.N. Security Council Resolution calling for a no-fly zone. Part of us should hope they do. Let the rising superpower — more cynical than the reigning one ever was — feel the first hot flash of hatred by Arabs feeling betrayed. Go ahead, make our day.

Presidents do not get elected to make easy decisions, and they certainly never become great doing so. They do not get credit just because they go along with what the diplomatic and military establishments tell them are the "wise and prudent" thing to do. This is not Hungary in 1956. There is no one standing behind Gadhafi — not the Soviet Union then, not the Arab League now, not even the entirety of his own army. That is why he must recruit mercenaries to save him. Gadhafi is the kind of neighborhood bully that Slobodan Milosevic was. And he must be met by the same kind of principled power. For America to do less than that now — less than the minimum that the Libyan rebels and the Arab neighbors are requesting — would be to shrink into global vacillation and ultimately irrelevance. If Barack Obama cannot face down a modest thug who is hated by most of his own people and by every neighboring government, who can he confront anywhere?


http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134559666/new-republic-obama-must-face-his-fears-in-libya

[Keith Bee]

1. Hasn't the New Republic gone wingnutty in recent years?