(Originally published in The Peak on April 04, 2011)
During the Democratic primary elections in 2008, Barack Obama made withdrawal from Iraq a large part of his platform. “I’m not opposed to all wars,” he famously stated, “I’m opposed to dumb wars.”
Now, of course, he’s got American troops dropping bombs on Libya — so does this war fall under the category of “not dumb”? It’s too early to see what the fallout will be, but Arab countries have a pretty poor track record when it comes to accommodating dictators, even democratically elected ones. Hoping against hope that the terrorist-affiliated rebels in Libya will restore some semblance of order seems like a long-shot at best, regardless of their motives. That’s the pessimist in me talking, though.
Here’s what the optimist says will happen in Libya: the rebels, aided by U.S.-led UN forces, will blast into town with shouts of democracy. Gadhafi’s forces will see the overwhelming resistance and take up the cause, ousting the Evil Dictator and restoring order. Of course, there will be an uphill battle to get the country back on its feet, but anything is possible now that they have democracy! And the terrorist-affiliated rebels? Well, let’s hope they aren’t totally on board with the terrorist rhetoric. Maybe they’re more like freedom fighters with slightly unsettling ideals, or perhaps the American aid they received will make them a little friendlier to the West.
The Obama administration has certainly taken the optimist’s side on this one. (Hope! Change!) They yearn for the aforementioned situation so strongly that they’ve backed a rebel movement that they know almost nothing about, except that it has questionable ties to Al Qaeda. This may not quite be a dumb war, but it certainly isn’t a smart one.
Given how few assurances they’ve had while deciding to attack the current Libyan government, I have a hard time believing that if Obama had been in Bush’s shoes after 9/11, he wouldn’t have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, as well.
The reason he was so critical of the Iraq invasion during the primaries was to differentiate himself from Hillary, who had voted in favour of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, it’s Secretary of State Clinton who’s pulling the U.S. interventionist strings in Libya, and Obama is right there with her.
The irony is that while he does this, his approval ratings are on the mend. Does this make him a good leader? No, it makes him a good politician.
