My Thoughts On Libya

In advance of the President's remarks on the intervention in Libya this evening, I thought it would be at least responsible to go on the record myself, lest I be accused of altering my views in light of what the President has to say.

First, I believe that intervention in the situation in Libya is the proper course of action for two main reasons: One, viewing the events in Libya through the prism of the events in the Middle East, the message must be sent to other leaders/dictators that the world community will not stand by and watch you resort to violence to retain a hold on power. If the United States, and the world, were to stand by and watch a massacre of Libyan civilians take place, other leaders in Gaddafi's position would chose his route, rather than stepping aside. Two, the fact that the Arab League sought such intervention requires those in the West to act. Failure to do so would undermine any hope of establishing and building a relationship of trust between the West and the Arab nations.

On a larger scale, I support the limited American involvement in this action because of the three reasons mentioned above, but also because I believe the limited American involvement demonstrates a paradigm shift in the role of the United States in the world. As a superpower with the world's greatest military, and armed with the world's greatest military advances, the United States can play a very complex and important role in operations such as the intervention in Libya. We can provide unique air support, unique mid-air refueling, and with the world's largest fleet of operational aircraft carriers, we can deploy air cover the world over quickly and more efficiently than any other nation. So we will always play a role in these situations. However, by acting in the manner in which we have, by waiting for UN support, and by handing over the control of this operation to global partners, the United States has indicated that we will not always act alone, and there are times and instances when other nations will be required to share the burden.

So in short, for a number of reasons I support this action.

Now that does not mean I agree with how the action has been handled by the President, whom I voted for and still support.

Many in the pundit world have tried to draw comparisons between this action and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I will start there as well. While many focus on whether the President should have taken this issue to Congress prior to acting (which I do not believe, given the War Powers Act and the imminent humanitarian crisis in Libya) I want to focus on just how little the President has shared with the American people to date.

In 2003, we were told by the Bush Administration that the justification for war was the fear that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction and was going to potentially use them against our interests in the Middle East. In the wake of 9/11, such justification was widely supported. However, it turns out that the true justification for the Iraq invasion was regime change. No one can say with a straight face that Iraq is better off without Saddam in power, but if regime change was the ultimate goal, make sure that is what the stated justification for acting is.

Today, it would seem that regime change in Libya is the ultimate goal for the United States. Again, a laudable justification. If that is the case, then make that case to the American people. Or perhaps the justification behind this action is to deter other leaders in the region from resorting to violence to suppress uprisings. Again, a laudable justification.

Just tell us....something. So far the President has been quiet, almost silent. Tonight I hope to hear exactly why this action was necessary. I want to see if the President can square the stated justification (i.e., preventing a massacre in Benghazi) with his statement that Gaddafi "must go."

Yet Another Return

Despite life getting in the way from time to time, I have still been kicking around.

With a short vacation coming to a close, I have decided to re-dedicate myself to this blog, and posting more often. I plan on kicking things off with a live blog of President Obama's remarks on Libya tomorrow night, and we will go from there.

See you all soon.