The Right Thing

[poliphilo]

I believe it was the right thing to do to challenge Gaddafi.

When a murderous bully is gaining the upper hand- and you're bigger than he is and have a fair chance of stopping him, it's wrong to sit on your hands.

This intervention was possible. And the calculations suggest a fair outcome is likelier than a miserable one. 

I have, in the past, called myself a pacifist. Obviously this was a lie.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe I disagree.

The war is already in progress. The purpose of the intervention is to stop a crazy dictator from killing his own people. I think I am allowed to approve of this without being obliged to take up arms and rush to the front.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

But isnt that what we said about Saddam Hussein? And what happened AFTER we succeeded? I cannot help wondering how many of our - and your - young soldiers will have to die, along with how many Libyan civilians, in order to achieve the goal. I also wonder whether if we accomplish this put down of a dictator, will all of us then have the good sense to go home and let the people of Libya work out their system for themselves?

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

No. What was said about Hussein was that he was a terrible person with weapons of mass destruction, not that he was about to shell a city of 600,000 into rubble.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed.

If you want to compare Libya to Iraq, compare how Poppy Bush encouraged the Shiites to rise up against Saddam Hussein and then stood by idly while they were summarily slaughtered. That, I think, is a similar situation.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

That's precisely correct and there is a special circle in hell reserved for Bush I.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I believe so, yes.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are differences. The allies went out of their way to pick a fight with Saddam. With Gaddafi they're intervening in a civil war.

I agree there's a chance it'll all end horribly. But it would certainly have ended horribly if we hadn't gone in.