Lessons from Libya

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YMix
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Lessons from Libya

Post by YMix »

"Lessons from Libya: How Not to Intervene"

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• The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong. Libya's 2011 uprising was never peaceful, but instead was armed and violent from the start. Muammar al-Qaddafi did not target civilians or resort to indiscriminate force. Although inspired by humanitarian impulse, NATO's intervention did not aim mainly to protect civilians, but rather to overthrow Qaddafi's regime, even at the expense of increasing the harm to Libyans.

• The Intervention Backfired. NATO's action magnified the conflict's duration about sixfold and its death toll at least sevenfold, while also exacerbating human rights abuses, humanitarian suffering, Islamic radicalism, and weapons proliferation in Libya and its neighbors. If Libya was a "model intervention," then it was a model of failure.

• Three Lessons. First, beware rebel propaganda that seeks intervention by falsely crying genocide. Second, avoid intervening on humanitarian grounds in ways that reward rebels and thus endanger civilians, unless the state is already targeting noncombatants. Third, resist the tendency of humanitarian intervention to morph into regime change, which amplifies the risk to civilians.

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Uche Americanus
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Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:25 pm

Re: Lessons from Libya

Post by Uche Americanus »

It is fiction to argue or even imagine that NATO's intervention in Libya in 2011 was motivated by a humanitarian response. Far from it. Libya had to be broken up and punished by vested interests like the Wahabists in Saudi Arabia, the corrupt political class in the Gulf States, the corruption of Sarkozy who was embarrassed by leakage of political contributions to his campaign by the Libyans, by Hilary Clinton who was only susceptible to Saudi money and the whole rogue gallery of Italy, Sweden, etc., who saw the campaign s an opportunity to prove the capacity of their weapons to potential buyers. It was a bloody mess. Now, the perpetrators of this crime tell us that they did not see the fallout that rose from their intervention. Really? When posters like Nonc and others even without the aid of research assistants and secret service operatives knew what the outcome of that intervention would be.

Libya is now a basket case and likely to remain so for a few more decades. I have no hope for a better outcome anytime soon.
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