Last week I sent a letter saying that I had “no opinion” on what should be done regarding Libya. Since then I’ve made a couple of abbreviated attempts at a follow up without anything to show for it. I do want to correct my choice of words. Opinions are something which I have in abundance. What’s still missing on this subject is a conclusion.
My opinions fall into two broad conflicting categories. One is that Libya is in serious need of regime change and that since major members of the international community, including the United States, have made a commitment, we are obligated to honor it. But I’m also of the opinion that we don’t know what we’re getting into. If the help we have given is insufficient, what should we do next? It’s nice to have the approval of the U.N. and Arab League. But who is contributing the weaponry, personnel and money?
Like Nixon’s decision to send the needed armaments to Israel in the Yom Kippur War, Obama’s was made with precious little time to spare. It’s my judgment that he made the right decision. The consequences of both action and inaction were and are full of uncertainties. One certainty is that inaction would have led to imminent massive carnage involving thousands of Libyan civilians. I see Obama’s choice as a humanitarian act with which a majority of Americans would agree if they had no axe to grind.
There’s no shortage of commentary on this subject which, given what little is now known, consists of educated guesses. I imagine this might be a time when Barack Obama wishes he wasn’t president. What we need now is not a statesman but an oracle and the only one I can think of is that fellow at Fox with the blackboards.
No comments:
Post a Comment