Just over eight years ago, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. Since then, over 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in their fight. If there is any consolation, it is that these brave men and women fought to promote democracy in a nation that was forced to live under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.
It is no secret that the use of military force to overthrow the Hussein regime was unpopular. Critics blasted the administration of President George W. Bush for using the threat of weapons of mass destruction as a reason for invasion, especially since the WMD intelligence was later proven to be false. Many have gone as far to call the invasion a crime. But I would say allowing Hussein to use chemical weapons on his people, ignore U.N. sanctions and mistreat his citizens is even more criminal.
Similar crimes have been or are being committed by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya, and the U.N. made the right decision to impose a no-fly zone and begin attacks on Qaddafi facilities.
The invasion has mixed support so far, probably because coalition forces are currently non-committal with their goals. They are refusing to send in ground troops and have no sign of a clear endgame strategy. The coalition needs a stronger goal than simply setting up a no-fly zone, and the United States needs to take a stronger stance than the ""support"" role President Barack Obama has placed our troops in.
Obama has stated Qaddafi ""must go,"" and I agree completely with his assessment. Qaddafi, like Hussein, is a ruthless killer, and Libyan rebels deserve our best efforts to help overturn his regime. But the United States being merely ""support,"" and the coalition, at the moment, only enforcing a no-fly zone is no recipe to effectively help the Libyan people in the long run.
The United Nations has had no-fly zones before, notably in Iraq during the nineties and over Bosnia from 1993-'95. And, unfortunately, horrible atrocities occurred during these interventions, including the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims.
At the moment, I don't believe coalition ground troops are necessary in Libya, as rebels are still able to put up a fight. However, the Obama Administration made an ill-advised decision to state that ground troops were not an option.
If they hold to their word, they give Qaddafi the ability to continue oppressing his people.
The world has too much experience with dictators who continue their oppression under U.N. watch to let it happen again. We must remember that the U.N. has had peacekeeping missions or no-fly zones in place during both the Bosnian and the Darfur genocides. The coalition cannot let anything even close to that happen in Libya.
The coalition is hoping that Qaddafi will step down or rebels are able to topple the dictator. However, they should be prepared to effectively intervene if the situation gets more out of hand. Given Qaddafi's instability, this is a very real possibility. This means keeping the possibility of ground support on the table.
The coalition should learn from the past and be prepared to offer full military support if Libyan citizens continue to be terrorized by the Qaddafi regime. Obama should put strong actions behind his call for Qaddafi's removal, instead of leaving it up to the U.N.-backed coalition, which by all past accounts will stagnate their efforts with a no-fly zone.
As of now, the no-fly zone seems to be the coalition's only goal in Libya, which I fear will not be enough to help the battered Libyan rebels. They need to know the coalition is going to do all it can to help them overturn the oppressive Qaddafi regime.
President Obama made the difficult, but necessary, decision to help in the intervention in Libya. But now he should convince the coalition to be prepared to put their full efforts into helping Libyan rebels topple Qaddafi. The world is always better with fewer tyrants, and it is about time the world changed their policy of appeasing Qaddafi and made a commitment to help overturn his regime once and for all.
Matt Beaty is a sophomore majoring in math and computer science. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
