It’s pretty early, but so far we know one good thing for sure: Qadhafi’s compound has fallen. The dictator is on the run, the world is rid of a dangerous megalomaniac, and the Libyan people are celebrating a chance to remake their nation. We don’t know what will come yet, but the end of a tyrant is cause for celebration. Wherever he turns up, I hope there’s a one-way ticket to The Hague waiting. Let’s pray that Libya’s next government can reinstate justice and revive civic life in a country that’s been too long run according to one man’s whim.
In other news, it’s been fun to see the Republican presidential candidates squirm on the issue. It seems like Obama’s strategy has been vindicated so far – he’s solicited international support but accepted America’s leading role, seized a golden opportunity to topple Qadhafi but kept American boots off the ground. The NATO bombing campaign did exactly what it should – weakened loyalist forces and allowed Libyans themselves to take their country back. (Contrast with, say, the Rumsfeld doctrine in Iraq.) Obama’s work as Commander-in-Chief has, briefly at least, silenced the peanut gallery. Thus are the perils of dogmatically sniping at everything Obama does – when the results bear him out and the Republicans can’t admit it, they end up looking a little silly.
Filed under: International Perspective
