The U.S. sits one out

Posted By Kori Schake Friday, March 18, 2011 - 2:58 PM Share

Last night's U.N.  Security Council resolution passed with no visible effort by the Obama administration.  Britain, France and Lebanon drafted it and twisted arms to get it passed. Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy made the public case; their foreign ministers harangued the G-8 foreign ministers. Although Secretary Clinton herself spoke out in favor of multilateral action, when pressed by her G-8 colleagues to support the no fly zone, she was unwilling to take a position. When pressed by the President of France, she said "there are difficulties."

Meanwhile, President Obama leaves for spring break in Brazil without having consulted members of Congress or making a case to the American people that Libya's freedom is worth sacrifice by us. Our Commander in Chief cannot be intending to commit American military forces to intervene in Libya without being much more at the helm than this.

So a major international operation will begin, most likely under the leadership of the French or British. More power to them for being willing to undertake something difficult and dangerous in support of freedom. Hopefully the damage they do to Qaddafi's military will prevent him crushing the rebellion and lead to his overthrow.

Much could go wrong, though.  In response to the U.N. resolution, Qaddafi has threatened retaliation against shipping in the Mediterranean. And he didn't hesitate to blow up an airliner or develop chemical weapons in the past. The resolution explicitly forbids an "occupation force," which means it will be constrained to air and perhaps sea operations. Gaddafi is a despot and we should expect him to be just as tenacious in refusing to capitulate as was Slobodan Milosevic; the air campaign may go on for some time, and countries enforcing the U.N. resolution may not be able to succeed by these limited means.

I hope our government has quietly provided assurances to our allies that we will assist them in every way, including providing satellite intelligence, persistent surveillance, communications support, and even combat search and rescue from U.S. forces nearby. We should want work to get done in the world even if our own government won't do it, and we should most certainly want our trusted allies to succeed in preventing violence the president termed "outrageous and unacceptable."

Stepping back and letting others do the work certainly isn't a bold or brave moment for American foreign policy, and it will have consequences that our government has been so stingy in support of the cause of freedom. But President Obama just isn't willing to bear much freight for other peoples' freedom. The only thing worse would be him committing our military forces to a fight he has little real interest in.

 

JAUME

4:24 PM ET

March 18, 2011

"And he didn't hesitate to blow up an airliner"

That's two, actually: Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772.

 

SAM FROM CALIFORNIA

8:32 PM ET

March 18, 2011

What?

After the invasion of Iraq, I think Obama was more than justified in not jumping at the opportunity to bomb the crap out of a country.

Also, it is funny to see how many rightwing nuts are calling for intervention in Libya, but not against Yemen, Bahrain or the Ivory Coast. Why is that? Are Libyan people more important? Or does the US government just have more to gain by getting rid of Gaddhafi? Yemen has been BOMBING ITS OWN PEOPLE for years, using tanks and armoured vehicles against its own people, and just today gunned down THIRTY UNARMED PROTESTERS. I don't meant to defend MG, he is a odious human being who treats his people despicably. But this rush to war by the remnants of the neocons is just disgusting, especially while US allies behave just as badly as Gaddhafi.

 

JAYDEE001

10:23 PM ET

March 18, 2011

Better to let the Brits and French do the job.

We have plenty of examples of the US foolishly interfering in the afairs of other counties - we do not need another Commander in Chief who is anxious to prove how tough he is at the expense of the lives and the treasure we will spend to prove it.

If the British and the French can do the work, with some yhelp from the Arab nations there, it would be proof that the US does not have to be the world's police force. That would actually be a good lesson.

Obama will still have to go to Congress and the American people to make the case for committing US military to still another foreign conflict with a country that poses no direct threat to us. Let's hope that this time, there are some in the Congress with enough backbone to question the reasons and the justification for it.

 

TINNAS

2:26 AM ET

April 12, 2011

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Shadow Government is a blog about U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration, written by experienced policy makers from the loyal opposition and curated by Peter D. Feaver and William Inboden.

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