Libya: Politics of humanitarian intervention

[L. Coyote]

Opinion
Libya: Politics of humanitarian intervention
The process of implementing the UN resolution on Libya was a poorly executed farce with no long-term foresight.
Mahmood Mamdani Last Modified: 31 Mar 2011 19:51
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201133111277476962.html


Iraq and Afghanistan teach us that humanitarian intervention does not end with the removal of the danger it purports to target.

It only begins with it. Having removed the target, the intervention grows and turns into the real problem. This is why to limit the discussion of the Libyan intervention to its stated rationale – saving civilian lives – is barely scratching the political surface.

The short life of the Libyan intervention suggests that we distinguish between justification and execution in writing its biography. Justification was a process internal to the United Nations Security Council, but execution is not.

In addition to authorising a "no-fly zone" and tightening sanctions against "the Gaddafi regime and its supporters", Resolution 1973 called for "all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi." At the same time, it expressly "excluded a foreign occupation force of any form" or in "any part of Libyan territory".

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