{"id":6429,"date":"2011-04-28T17:17:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T13:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=6429"},"modified":"2011-04-28T17:22:41","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T13:22:41","slug":"libya-woes-an-opportunity-to-extend-u-s-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/libya-woes-an-opportunity-to-extend-u-s-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya Woes An Opportunity to Extend U.S Influence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/a>The brutality of Libyan leader Moammar Ghaddafi, and his refusal to concede power,\u00a0is costing Libya much more than innocent lives. The country is now also facing a\u00a0possible loss of future independence and sovereignty. From its early days, the\u00a0Libyan revolt seemed to take a difference course than those of other Arab countries.\u00a0It represented a window of opportunity for the United States and its western allies\u00a0to reposition themselves, slowly but surely, around a conflict that promised\u00a0gruelling and bloodier times ahead.<\/p>\n

A visit by Republican Senator John McCain to Benghazi on April 22, was described by\u00a0a CNN online report as \u201ca major morale boast\u201d for the Libyan rebels. His arrival\u00a0followed a US decision to deploy predator drones to Libya, thus promising a greater\u00a0American role in the war. According to McCain, drones are not enough, and more will\u00a0be needed to break the \u201csignificant degree of stalemate.\u201d He described Benghazi as a\u00a0\u201cpowerful and hopeful example of what a free Libya can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

A small crowd chanted as the US senator met with members of the Transitional\u00a0National Council: \u201cThank you John McCain! Thank you Obama\u2026Thank you America! We need\u00a0freedom! Gadhafi go away,\u201d according to the same report. \u00a0This decidedly American push has already inspired many neoconservative ideologues\u00a0who unfailingly endorse war against any Arab or Muslim country that fail to tow\u00a0their line. A major hub for US intervention \u2013 most often in support of Israeli\u00a0interests \u2013 is the American Enterprise Institute, credited for introducing many\u00a0suspicious characters to Iraq following the ousting of Saddam Hussein. AEI scholar\u00a0Michael Rubin said that the visit by McCain \u201cbrings more limelight to the rebels.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Rubin wants even more than this. \u201cIf McCain can meet the people for whom we are\u00a0fighting, why not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Why not Vice President Joe\u00a0Biden?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many indications to suggest that the US is upgrading its involvement in\u00a0the Libyan war, following a brief period of political and military vacillation. Much\u00a0talk of a pending stalemate in the unfair fight between poorly armed rebels and\u00a0Ghaddafi\u2019s forces preceded the actual standoff on the ground. With no meaningful\u00a0Arab action, and NATO\u2019s choosy military involvement proving to be largely\u00a0ineffective, the US is now being urged to \u2018do something.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Doing something\u2019 is, of course, a difficult endeavor in a highly volatile political\u00a0season in Washington. As miscalculations can be decisive factors in winning or losing elections, the Obama Administration is trying to play its cards right, moving\u00a0towards more tangible involvement in Libya, but with much caution. What is clear,\u00a0however, is that the involvement will be more visible than before.<\/p>\n

McCain\u2019s visit is significant, not just because of his political seniority, but also\u00a0owing to his former \u2018war hero\u2019 status. In Washington, military men are more trusted\u00a0than politicians. As he ushered in greater American involvement in Libya, Adm. Mike\u00a0Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was contributing to the built up of\u00a0rhetoric from Baghdad. The situation in Libya is \u201ccertainly moving towards a\u00a0stalemate,\u201d he told US troops during a visit. \u201cGaddafi\u2019s gotta go\u2026(and coalition\u00a0actions)\u2026are going to continue to put the squeeze on him until he\u2019s gone,\u201d he said,\u00a0according to Reuters (Washington Post, April 22).<\/p>\n

Ghaddafi\u2019s brutal treatment of civilians made their protection a top priority for\u00a0the country\u2019s rebels. Benghazi-based rebel-spokesman, Abdul Hafidh Ghoda, told\u00a0Aljazeera: \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that (the US decision to send unmanned drones) will\u00a0help protect civilians, and we welcome that step from the American administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

But since the destruction of \u201csomewhere between 30 and 40 percent\u201d of Gaddafi\u2019s\u00a0ground forces (according to Mullen\u2019s estimation) achieved very little by way of\u00a0protecting civilians, more steps are expected from the Obama Administration.<\/p>\n

Now we are witnessing a jubilant return of previously muted calls for\u00a0interventionism and regime change in favor of US-style democracy. While Libya may\u00a0not have specifically fallen under the Washington radar, it now presents an\u00a0opportunity too good to miss.<\/p>\n

This realization might challenge President Obama and force him to revise an earlier\u00a0claim that the US\u2019 goal was not regime change in Libya. In a televised speech on\u00a0March 29, Obama said, \u201cIf we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force our coalition would\u00a0splinter. We would likely have to put US troops on the ground to accomplish that\u00a0mission or risk killing many civilians from the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

But yet again, a stalemate might end up splintering Libya itself. The US and its\u00a0allies would either accept a divided Libya \u2013 and exploit this division whenever\u00a0possible \u2013 or raise their involvement to break the deadlock. If they opted for the\u00a0latter, there is already much rhetoric to support an upgrade in the military\u00a0mission. \u201cSome nations may be able to turn a blind eye (to) atrocities in other\u00a0countries. The United States of America is different, and as president I refuse to\u00a0wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

A US victory over Gaddafi may be seen as an opportunity to boost Obama\u2019s faltering\u00a0reputation just in time for the 2012 presidential elections. But history has\u00a0repeatedly shown the high cost of political and military arrogance. Obama himself\u00a0admitted that in Iraq, \u201cregime change\u2026took eight years, thousands of American and\u00a0Iraqi lives, and nearly $1 trillion. That is not something we can afford to repeat\u00a0in Libya.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the military plunder in Iraq, the US has resorted to softer and increasingly\u00a0clandestine methods to destabilize \u2018unfriendly\u2019 countries. Recent Wikileaks\u00a0revelations show that Syria was always positioned as one of these targets. Libya\u00a0seemed too stable and somewhat too distant from recent US foreign policy\u00a0estimations. However, the ongoing violence in the country, and fear of the long-term\u00a0repercussions of a military stalemate, could change all of that.<\/p>\n

In Washington, mood swings occur too quickly and too often. Political opportunists\u00a0know well how to turn a challenge into an opportunity, and an opportunity into an\u00a0all-out war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAMZY BAROUD: There is a lot of discussion and political calculation bouncing around the corridors of power in Washington about Libya. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":6446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,83,60],"tags":[423,6554,1969,472,322,2273,18321,6560,5335,18332,5528,6559,3181,121,2317,1808,2633,3008,2269,18330,6553,18302,2020,2624],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}