President Obama's Address on Libya

President Obama's speech tonight was persuasive in casting the current action in Libya as a humanitarian mission in keeping with American values and interests. If you are a pacifist, of course, you feel that no military action is ever justified. If you are not, this operation is about as reasonably justifiable as any you will ever see. "For decades the United States has served as an anchor of global security and an advocate for human freedom," Obama began. Following close on the heels of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the ferment for freedom in Libya seemed initially on its way to being successful as well. Then the Moammar Gadhafi regime unleashed its air force and tanks. The President recounted how his Administration remained publicly rather quiet while it evacuated the embassy staff and all other Americans who wished to leave. Meanwhile, $33 billion in Libyan assets were frozen. The UN Security Council imposed sanctions and an arms embargo. Then Obama declared Gadhafi had lost his legitimacy and called for him to step down. Instead, the dictator stepped up his indiscriminate actions against civilians. At this point, the UN called for a no-fly zone to protect civilians, NATO began moving forces toward Libya, and the Arab League and the Libyan opposition invited international help. As regime tanks began their assault on Benghazi, a city of 700,000 people, the allies, led at first by French and American planes and mainly US cruise missiles, began attacking regime air defenses and the tanks moving on Benghazi. Obama drew the distinction that when genocide was taking place in the Balkans in the 1990s it took more than a year to assemble an international response while thousands died. This time in Libya it was all put together in 31 days. Obama addressed two objections to his action: some say we should not have interfered at all, and others complain that the mission should unequivocally be to target Gadhafi or overthrow his regime. Obama spoke to each. On the former, he maintained that in a case of a brutal tyrant with a record of slaughter on the march and promising "no mercy," when we possessed the means and the international political and military support to avert a bloodbath, not to act would be, "a betrayal of who we are. I refuse to wait for images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action." He realistically said that to do nothing would be "a signal to all dictators that violence is the best course to cling to power." To those who would like to see more and a policy of US-engineered regime change, Obama said, "To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq." He pointed out that, "Eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi deaths and $1 trillion later, that is something we cannot afford to do." Instead, he said the US will hand off most of the active role to a team of partners now. The group includes Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. They will enforce the no-fly zone and "protect civilians," presumably by continuing to destroy regime tanks and artillery if it goes into action. The US will provide support to the coalition and the Libyan opposition. He said that removing Gadhafi, "may take time, but the Libyan people will now be able to determine their own destiny," including building a democratic Libya that would mainly be up to the Libyan people themselves, "as it should be." The $33 billion in frozen assets is to be used to rebuild the country. Obama ended by painting a picture of, "a region where a new generation is refusing to be denied their rights and freedoms any longer," and maintained that, "We must stand beside those who share our values. History is on the move, and wherever people long to be free they will find a friend in the United States." That reputation, he argued "is our greatest strength."