by Brian Tomlinson

Created on: March 16, 2011

The United States should not intervene in Libya- directly. I pose the same question that Richard Hass, president of The Council on Foreign Relations, asked, why are some in Congress and in the White House so sure that we know enough about the structure of all the tribes in Libya? How are we sure that putting boots on the ground, or establishing a no fly zone will not create a vacuum that could, believe it or not make worse the situation in The Middle East and Northern Africa, by galvanizing and strengthening al-Qaida. As for the numerous tribes, is there one man who can control them once Gaddafi is gone? Is there one person who can control the millions of people in the many tribes that supported Gaddafi, and can bridge the almost inseparable gap between them? If so we have not seen him yet.

American writers, and politicians are clamoring that America and the world wants the U.S. to intervene. Contrary to this, is that according to a Pew research poll by a wide margin the public says that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to do anything about the fighting in Libya. When asked this question 63% of Americans say no, and 27% responded yes. Compared to asking that same question concerning the ethnic fighting in Darfur in December 2006, 51% of Americans said we had a responsibility to do something about it. The tragic memory of the United States invading Iraq is still fresh in the minds of the rest of Europe and The Middle East. They are in no hurry to enter into another quagmire.

Humanitarian aid should be sent in by America, advisors should be sent in by America, I would be very cautious about sending American troops into another country that would just strengthen the radical Muslim base. American troops are already bogged down in Afghanistan, still on alert from another unpredictable leader in North Korea, and licking their wounds from brutal and devastating combat operations in Iraq.  In the words of Anne Applebaum of Slate Magazine “Nobody in Asia, and nobody in Europe, is calling for the Marines to be sent back to the shores of Tripoli." We should not be fighting in any country’s civil war, let along Libya’s civil war, that will only bring us more into debt, and in even worse light with The Middle East. America and the rest of the world will not stand for another major build up to a war, nor should it.

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