Mar 14th, 2011
As the debate continues over a Western response to the fighting in Libya, Bill Kristol has added his 2 cents. To be fair, I called for air support earlier in the conflict. Limited, focused air support to prevent Gaddafi from using his aging fighters on fleeing civilians.
From
The Daily Caller:
"I think no one will do anything unless the United States does anything,” Kristol said. “It’s humiliating for the Arab League, which has always been a plaything of dictators to now be further along in calling for serious actions to remove Gaddafi, enemy of ours with American blood on his hands, presumably restart a nuclear program and restart his ties to terrorism if he survives this. It’s humiliating for them to be ahead of us. I suppose if the Obama Administration feels it needs the cover of a bunch of Arab dictators calling for us to intervene against this terrible dictator, I’m for it if it helps the Obama administration to finally do something but we need to do something.”
There is nothing more dangerous than the overwhelming desire to
"do something." Quick! Now! C'mon, let's
"do something." One wonders whether Mr. Kristol, who has been wrong on every single matter of national security for a solid 10 years, is aware of who comprises the rebels in Libya's eastern front? What Kristol and many others on the right are calling for is recipe for a new Al Qaeda.
As Abu Muqawama
wrote recently for The Center for a New American Security:
"I was looking through the Sinjar documents (.pdf) today because I remembered (incorrectly, as it turns out) that Benghazi had sent more foreign fighters to Iraq than any other city in the Arabic-speaking world. On a per capita basis, though, twice as many foreign fighters came to Iraq from Libya -- and specifically eastern Libya -- than from any other country in the Arabic-speaking world. Libyans were apparently more fired up to travel to Iraq to kill Americans than anyone else in the Middle East. And 84.1% of the 88 Libyan fighters in the Sinjar documents who listed their hometowns came from either Benghazi or Darnah in Libya's east. This might explain why those rebels from Libya's eastern provinces are not too excited about U.S. military intervention. It might also give some pause to those in the United States so eager to arm Libya's rebels."
