Sadamed if you do, Sadamed if you don’t
Iran is happy to cast the US as a colonial evil seeking to take advantage of revolution in Libya to grab more oil while they (the Iranian leadership) voice support for the Libyan rebels (conveniently ignoring the oppressiveness of their own leadership and the internal opposition to it). Since the US loses this skirmish either way it goes (we either lose a chance for a new Libya to become an oil ally in the Middle East or we erode pro-American support by inflaming fears of U.S. hegemonic ambitions) the US should bite the bullet and do what is otherwise in its best interests.
The UN is taking it’s time over a Libya no-fly zone — which delay works in favor of Ghadaffi, China and Russia. The reluctance of the US to act precipitously in Libya is understandable, but if we’re really interested in letting the “indigenous” forces win “on their own” (so that we don’t have to police the result and incur the wrath of the rest of the Middle East) we could have intervened just enough to tip the balance against Ghadaffi. Almost surely, merely stating we were intervening militarily would have brought the army over to the rebel side — last week. The Libya that would have resulted from such a minor intervention on our part would no more require our continued presence to nation build than would the Libya that resulted from an entirely indigenous revolution. Minimal involvement would avoid raising fears of American aggression. But, further prevarication only empowers Ghadaffi and thereby requires an increasingly large intervention on our part (if we do decide to intervene) now that the tipping point seems past, and this implies an increasing subsequent commitment to nation building, at a time when are resources are stretched, and in a manner likely to draw intense criticism throughout the Middle East. Putting off the decision merely makes both sides of the equation tougher. It would be unfortunate to see our fears of more Iraqs and Afghanistans plunge us back into the post-Vietnam paralysis. The time to act is now.