I am pretty disappointed in Obama and the Western world. They stood around while Libyan protesters were burned to the ground by Qaddafi.
I understand the tremendous uncertainty around the various uprisings in the Middle East, and that it is very difficult to know when to assist and when to just give encouragement on the sidelines. But, I really think the U.S. made a mistake in letting the madman Qaddafi and his brutal sons crush the opposition with little more than meaningless rhetoric about how we are “tightening the noose” around him. What on earth was the president talking about?
I think our inaction was not idealistic – it didn’t promote American ideals of freedom and liberty around the world.
I think our inaction was also not realistic – it didn’t join with the forces on “the right side of history”, i.e the forces of Muslim freedom overthrowing tyranny, who will remember our inaction in time of desperate need – and it let a dangerous lunatic off the hook. The Qaddafis can be expected to seek terrorist revenge against the U.S., England, and France for speaking against their brutality.
Also, neighboring tyrants see America ponder what to do and perceive that the Mubarak solution, abdicate, doesn’t work but the Qaddafi solution, crush without mercy, does work.
I think our president, and the West, which is in the habit of waiting to be led by the U.S., made a pretty tragic mistake in Libya, and as best I can tell it is too late to undo that mistake.
