Mac-Coleman

1 November 2011 -

Yesterday, NATO ended its seven-month air campaign against Libya, less than two weeks after NATO aircraft attacked Qadafi’s convoy and forced him into a cement culvert for protection. From that hole, then-rebel-now-government forces captured and killed Moammar Qadafi. Interesting is the Libyan government’s request to NATO to continue its air operations for a few more weeks. Wise is NATO’s polite decline of the request. Declare objectives met and get out! It would be foolish to stay engaged militarily. The hope of extending European and U.S. influence through military contact into the next phase of Libya’s new governance would benefit no one, especially not NATO or the U.S.

The President’s recent remarks about Libya’s difficult road ahead to democracy tell me that he either doesn’t get it yet and was incredibly lucky to get in and get out of this adventure with no debacles or that he simply did not want to admit publicly what is a fact of life in that region of the world: western, secular democracy doesn’t sell well. Libyan leaders’ intent for the future has little to do with a western version of democracy or with what we consider a representative form of government. After ground hostilities ended, Libya’s interim government immediately declared that any new governance system would be based on Sharia Law and that Islamic religious groups would play a vital role in reviewing and declaring just a new governance structure and its resulting laws. So much for the hopes of the ignorant who believe that western democracy will germinate and flourish in this Arab Spring. If our operations above Libya helped future oil flow to Europe and to stabilize the country—with whatever form of government the Libyans feel comfortable—then our strategically vital objectives will have been met. Democracy in such regions is not attainable and, therefore, is not as important as stability and trade.