Pages

Search This Blog

Monday, July 13, 2015

Lessons from Obama's War in Libya

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/lessons-from-obamas-war-i_b_7784834.html

  Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institut

Lessons from Obama's War in Libya

Posted: 07/13/2015
In March 2011, President Barack Obama succumbed to French pressure and led the NATO alliance from behind in bombing the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. At the time, Obama was criticized for not letting the United States remain in the forefront of eliminating odious regimes through the use of military power. Given the results of post-Gaddafi chaos in Libya, however, perhaps having "led from behind" gives Obama some political cover for what has become yet another U.S. intervention fiasco. It shouldn't.
Although France was the political instigator of the idea to intervene in Libya, the United States actually did not lead from behind in the military campaign. The United States conducted the most dangerous initial air strikes before turning the battle over to its ever less-and-less militarily capable NATO allies and also provided critical command, control, communications, and logistics, which no other military on earth can contribute. In short, the overthrow of Gaddafi using NATO military power had U.S. fingerprints all over it.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/lessons-from-obamas-war-i_b_7784834.html

No comments: