Recently, JINSA asserted that the U.S. Air Force could and should “flatten the Libyan Air Force.” We seem to have wandered through other people’s conversations about a) no fly zones; b) ground troops; and c) helping the Libyan rebels.

No American War in Libya is Needed
by Shoshana Bryen
March 14, 2011

Recently, JINSA asserted that the U.S. Air Force could and should “flatten the Libyan Air Force.” We seem to have wandered through other people’s conversations about a) no fly zones; b) ground troops; and c) helping the Libyan rebels.

No, no. Managing a “no fly zone” implies a long term commitment the U.S. government should not make; our ground troops are quite fully committed elsewhere, thank you; and we have no particular interest in “helping” rebels we do not know and who, according to the newspapers, want their rescue to be divine and immaculate with no American or British fingerprints. None of that would be good policy.

The point was and remains that the Libyan military has undertaken indiscriminate action against Libyan towns and villages. The point was for the United States to punish the perpetrators, remove a weapon from their arsenal and show in a concrete and specific way that the United States does not accept the bombardment of cities and civilians. It was as much for us to make ourselves clear about the limits of our tolerance as it was for the Libyans.

With rebellion sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, it is tempting simply to cheer the demise of detestable governments. But it may also be the beginning of a period of chaos in which people that are similarly detestable take control.

Click here to read the full op-ed

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