I’m not among those clapping their hands that the United States has taken the leading role in bombing Libya in an effort to keep neutralize Muammar Gaddafi in his battle against rebel forces.
Certainly Gaddafi is a nasty dictator. But what is the vital interest of Americans intervening in an African civil war? Leaders in the rest of the free world have enough sense to let the United States take the lead, both in military planning and in spending millions on the bombing effort.
President Obama has followed the pattern of George W. Bush before him in meddling in the affairs of a Middle Eastern nation. As we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, extricating ourselves after years of involvement isn’t easy.
Such wars are costly in many ways. There are the billions spent on military equipment and command posts. There are the thousands of lives lost. And we’re not winning any friends around the globe by intervening, for the third time in a decade, in the midst of a conflict between Muslim factions.
The United States cannot spread its military so thin as to police the world. There are plenty of dictators worthy of being deposed. But how about someone else doing it?
No comments:
Post a Comment