Once upon a time, I was one of the biggest hawks there was. If the answer to a problem could be found via military action, I was all for it. Why waste time with diplomacy when we had the worlds most powerfull Navy and Air Force? As someone who as serving in the military, I didn't even feel like a hypocrite for having this attitiude, since my butt was out on the line also.
All that being said...it is strange that I am not 100% behind what is going on in Libya. I am not againt it by any means, it just doesn't give me much of a warm fuzzy, either. Heck...prior to about a month ago, I was unaware there was ANY kind of organized resistance in Libya. For most of the last half of the previous decade, Muammar was making efforts to work Libya back into somewhat 'normal' relations with the West. Other than a somewhat harsh crack-down on some protesters last month, Libya had seemed pretty quiet.
If a harsh response to protesters in any reason for the international community to step in and decide who gets to run a government, we should count our blessings there was no U.N. around to step in after MacArthur and Patton put down the Bonus Army, in 1932.
Part of my leeriness is not having any real data on the ‘National Transitional Council’. I know that is it made up primarily of ex-members of the Government, and folks that left back when Muammar came to power…but I really have no idea if they would be any better/fairer as leaders than Muammar himself has been. Historically speaking, we have not always had the best of luck when deciding to replace the leadership of other countries.
My real concern though, is that in our attempts to intervene in Libya, the U.S. has the potential to be exposed. I’m worried that this cruise missile strike, advertised as the first steps of enforcing a ‘No Fly Zone’, could be the only step we have. The Ye Old Military Cupboard has got to be getting pretty bare. Following the Reagan years, the military speak was that we were supposed to be able to handle 1 major conflict, and then two smaller ‘brush-fires’ simultaneously. That was 20 years ago, and I know things have gotten smaller since then. I would HATE to see the U.S. Military exposed when we can’t follow through on our commitments in regards to a third regional dispute.
It’s kind of starting to feel like a Tom Clancy book, out there.
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