Qaddafi's death leaves a Libya that must build itself from scratch

In the US, there's been some talk of the NATO intervention as some time kind of model for future efforts to remove dictators.

To my mind, Libya presented a fairly unique set of circumstances – most important, that his population, in open revolt, was begging for assistance and it seemed that air power alone would tip the balance. That calculation by President Obama and European leaders proved correct. But the circumstances where that's possible are rare indeed.

Nevertheless, New York Times reporters Mark Landler and David Leonhardt write that Qaddafi's death "is another victory for a new approach to war."

"In the case of Libya — unlike in the case of the raids against Bin Laden and Mr. Awlaki — the United States made a clear effort to let other countries take a leading role. Indeed, Mr. Obama and his defense secretary at the time, Robert M. Gates, were initially reluctant to intervene and were lobbied to do so by, among others, the French.

The biggest question now, though, may not be whether the new approach will become a model for other wars or whether it will help Mr. Obama politically. Instead, it is simply this: What will happen in Libya, the other countries that have been part of the Arab Spring and even in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which continue to be the sites of American drone attacks"

Previous

1 | 2