The civil war in Libya is creating a humanitarian crisis as refugees flee the area. The U.S. is joining with other countries to help refugees escape. The following video from MSNBC shows how the U.S. Air Force is coming to the aid of those trying to escape the violence:
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Beyond helping refugees, what more can the U.S. do? Should the U.S. directly intervene in Libya to push out Qaddafi? Should the U.S. cooperate with our NATO allies in enforcing a U.N. mandated no-fly zone to protect civilians from Qaddafi’s wrath? According to this report in the Wall Street Journal, allied action is under consideration:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that any NATO military action would require a U.N. Security Council resolution. “I can’t imagine that the U.N. and international community will stand idly by,” he said Monday. NATO military planners were preparing assessments of a no-fly zone and how to enforce an arms embargo on Libya, to be considered by alliance defense ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, according to U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder. Asked about the prospects for a no-fly zone, he said “All of us want a Security Council resolution for that eventuality. That’s a pretty clear requirement…We would certainly seek one.”
Even as the report details the preparation underway to implement a no-fly zone, the report also indicates that there are doubts about support for a no fly-zone from Security Council members Russia and China. Without their support a no-fly zone resolution could not be passed by the U.N. If the U.N. fails to act, it would fall to the U.S. to act unilaterally. And, as this report from The New York Times make clear, the U.S. has the capacity to act:
The latest military force to draw within striking distance of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, is the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard two amphibious assault ships, the Kearsarge and the Ponce. The unit provides a complete air, sea and land force that can project its power quickly and across hundreds of miles, either from flat-decked ships in the Mediterranean Sea or onto a small beachhead on land. In this task force are Harrier jump-jet warplanes, which not only can bomb, strafe and engage in dogfights, but can also carry surveillance pods for monitoring military action on the ground in Libya; attack helicopters; transport aircraft — both cargo helicopters and the fast, long-range Osprey, whose rotors let it lift straight up, then tilt forward like propellers to ferry Marines, doctors, refugees or supplies across the desert — landing craft that can cross the surf anywhere along Libya’s long coastline; and about 400 ground combat troops of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.
So, clearly, the U.S. can act, but should it? Serious reservations have been raised by Defense Secretary Gates, who points out that a no-fly zone is not the clean “shoot missiles from a distance” kind of operation that many imagine it to be:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, testifying before Congress, criticized “loose talk” about any military intervention in Libya, where military rebels and civilian opponents of the government are trying to topple Col. Gadhafi […] Mr. Gates on Wednesday made clear the U.S. military would have to launch pre-emptive strikes to destroy Libya’s air defenses if President Barack Obama ordered the imposition of a no-fly zone, “Let’s just call a spade a spade,” Mr. Gates said. “A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya.”
Is the U.S. prepared to attack Libya? Moreover, in the war of perceptions, is the U.S. prepared to be seen attacking another Muslim country? If we attack directly, would that make Qaddafi a popular figure among disaffected and radicalized jihadis, bolstering his cause while undermining ours? Perhaps a more indirect approach is warranted, one that provides material support and guidance to the rebels fighting Qaddafi while leaving them to fight their own war for independence. President Obama has already said that Qaddafi should go, and so he should go, but let’s be smart about this. Regime change in Libya stands the best chance for success if it’s seen as a popular uprising against a dictator and not a plot by the West to secure the oil fields. The dictator is done and everyone knows that. Let the U.S. demonstrate strength by demonstrating restraint. We can support the rebels and then when they win, the victory will be theirs and the reward (in goodwill and regional stability) will be ours.
