Maksoud, Rylan

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Dec 2The Libyan Intervention and its BroaderImplicationsrylan maksoudThe United States’ intervention in Libya in 2011 is a prime example of the pitfalls states can fall victim towhen they stray from the well-traveled road of caution and restraint. What starts out as a mission with thegoal of helping the local population often ends up hurting it. For instance, the Gaddafi regime was dislikedworldwide. Gaddafi had been oppressing his people since he took power in 1969, and sponsored acts ofterrorism around the world. Pan Am Flight 103, the La Belle disco bombing, Pan Am Flight 73--a list of state-sponsored acts of terror left Gaddafi with an even longer list of enemies globally. In 2011, after 42 years, theinternational community was itching for new leadership in Libya, and the United States thought it had achance to accelerate that process. The Arab Spring, the subsequent uprising in Libya, and the inevitableviolent crackdown by Gaddafi’s forces created a fork in the road. On the one hand, the United States and itsallies could continue straight ahead on the well-traveled path: horror, then disgust, followed merely bycondemnation. This popular response rarely, if ever, changes the status quo, and we must be concerned withthe long-term effect of responses. Alternatively, the United States could swerve off the road down the path ofa stronger reaction. However, stronger reactions provoke even stronger, often unexpected, consequences.President Barack Obama decided to take the gamble and swerve off the well-traveled road, hoping that thestronger consequence would be the ushering in of an era of peace and democracy in Libya. Explaining hisreasoning for intervening, the President declared, “We knew that if we [...] waited one more day, Benghazi--acity nearly the size of Charlotte-- could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region andV O X  P O P U L IGloballibya, foreign policy, usR Y L A N  M A K S O U DRylan Maksoud is a Plan II and Government freshman from Houston. A former editor-in-chief ofNeo Politico, a youth journal for politics, Rylan is passionate about politics and its interactionstained the conscience of the world.” Two days later, the U.S. and its allies established a no-fly zone and beganbombing Gaddafi’s forces in support of the rebels. Within seven months, the rebels conquered the country,and shot Gaddafi dead. Almost akin to Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” gaffe in 2003, the Obamaadministration immediately declared victory. Emulating Julius Caesar's “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came; I saw; Iconquered”), Secretary Clinton declared, “We came, we saw, he died.” President Obama vaunted in the RoseGarden, “Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives.” Evenscholarly articles were quickly published with intros such as “NATO's operation in Libya has rightly beenhailed as a model intervention.”It was too good to be true. Alan Kuperman, an Associate Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of PublicAffairs here at the University of Texas at Austin, describes the grand scale of the failure, “Libya has not onlyfailed to evolve into a democracy; it has devolved into a failed state. Violent deaths and other human rightsabuses have increased severalfold.” The United States did not just worsen the situation on the ground for theLibyan people, it failed to escape unscathed itself. The failed state fostered an environment ripe for thecultivation and protection of terrorist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, striking at the core U.S.interest: homeland security. President Obama’s deviation produced the worst outcome possible. Had theUnited States stuck to the usual policy of non-intervention, there is a good chance that Gaddafi’s largemilitary would have crushed the uprising, or at least secured the populated areas. Security under adictatorship is always preferable to anarchy and terrorism.Related PostsDec 10 Hydraulic Fracturing: Yay or Nay?Dec 2 The Vil  cation of Higher EducationNov 26The Nuclear Threat: Flaws in the U.S.StanceFeb 5The Case for Sanders’ Single-PayerHealth Care Systemwith the world around us.  Leave a commentFeb 10Trump, Pence, and the JerusalemQuestionThe Texas Orator is a nonpartisan, peer-reviewed political publication that was founded and is maintained byUniversity of Texas at Austin students. We value thorough analysis in our articles and strive to protect theideals of free speech and unhindered access to information on campus and nationwide. We seek to keep thestudent body informed of the implications of ever-changing political climates, both domestically and abroad,from a range of voices and perspectives.Join Our CommunitySubscribe to our weekly newsletter!Email Address  SUBMITD O N A T EPowered by Squarespace

The Libyan Intervention and its Broader Implications

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The Libyan Intervention and its Broader Implications

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