I am hoping that, at some point, cooler heads will prevail and someone will ask the right question about Libya: How deep is the international community willing to dig itself into the civil war?
I should state up front that I believe the Qaddafi regime needs to be chased from power, but doing so with Western military power is likely to fail longterm, exacerbating mistrust of the west in the Muslim world.
The no-fly zone needs to be considered within this context. No matter what we say, it is a declaration of war on the part of the West. We have taken sides militarily, which means we are in this thing for the long haul.
Contrast this with our conscious decision not to take sides in Egypt or in Yemen until recently, a decision based solely on their autocratic leaders being our allies. Qaddafi, of course, is not and has not been — and only in the last few years has he even been considered a part of the international community.
I’ll be honest: I’m not sure what can be done to protect the rebels, but the no-fly zone has been a terrible idea and what is likely to follow as this thing drags on is likely to be worse.
We have to stop fooling ourselves. This is not a humanitarian action.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 