Thinking Citizen Blog — What Did Obama Call “His Biggest Mistake”?
Thinking Citizen Blog — Monday is Foreign Policy Day
Today’s Topic — What Did Obama Call “His Biggest Mistake”? What explains it? What were the consequences? What are the lessons?
For some, Obama’s greatest failure was his pulling out of Iraq prematurely with the consequence being the rise of ISIS. For others, it was his failure to stand by his “red line” in Syria resulting in a massive refugee crisis and numerous atrocities. For others, it was the Iran deal. For Obama himself, his biggest mistake was intervening in Libya. Today, the summary of an article by Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe on the causes, consequences, and lessons of the Libyan intervention. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
WHY BRING THIS QUESTION UP NOW? THE NEWS FROM MALI
1. “Last month in Mali, an African nation twice the size of Texas, military rebels overthrew the government. It was the kind of event that Americans barely notice: another coup in another distant country where people can’t find ways to live together. The truth is more damning. This coup was not the result of personal rivalries or “ancient hatreds.” Instability in Mali, and across North Africa, is a long-term result of the NATO attack on Libya in 2011.”
2. “That attack, in which the United States played a key role, may now be ranked among the most recklessly self-defeating military interventions of the 21st century.”
3. “It was sold as “humanitarian intervention,” but wound up producing a human rights disaster. It turned Libya, once one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa, into a failed state and breeding ground for terror. In nearby countries, it has nourished a generation of murderous militias.”
NB: “The coup in Mali shows that after-effects of the Libya attack are still reverberating.”
THERE WAS NO NEED FOR AN INTERVENTION — Qaddafi’s fatal mistake
1. “Libya’s leader, Muammar Qaddafi, had been a thorn in America’s side for decades. He had aided terrorists, including those who blew up an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.”
2. “ In his later years, though, he came out of the political cold. Under an agreement painstakingly negotiated by the George W. Bush administration, Libya paid $1.7 billion to a fund for victims of Lockerbie and other terror attacks.”
3.”Then, eager to show his goodwill, Qaddafi went a step further. He agreed to give up his nuclear weapons program.”
NB: “That may have been his fatal mistake. Stripped of his nuclear deterrent, he was exposed to those in the West who wanted to punish him for years of defiance.” Is the message for other countries clear? Never, ever give up your nuclear deterrent?
THE 51–49 DECISION THAT RUINED THE LIVES OF MILLIONS
1. “Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Vice President Joe Biden, and military commanders argued against bombing Libya.”
2. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, and two National Security Council aides, Samantha Power and Ben Rhodes, argued in favor.”
3. “Obama, in what he called a “51–49” decision, ultimately sided with the bombers.”
NB: American and allied forces bombed Libya for several months in mid-2011. By that autumn, Libya’s government had collapsed and Qaddafi had been murdered. Secretary Clinton reveled in the triumph. “We came, we saw, he died.” Very soon, however, this victory began turning sour.”
FINAL QUESTIONS: what to you are the lessons of Obama’s foreign policy record? what, if anything would change your mind? Was Obama’s military intervention in Libya more or less justified than George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003?
Obama’s ‘biggest mistake’ is still wreaking havoc — The Boston Globe
Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest or most important thing you learned in the last week, month, or year related to foreign policy. Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in our life related to foreign policy.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. And to consolidate in your memory something important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart. Continuity is the key to the depth of thought. The prospect of imminent publication, like hanging and final exams, concentrates the mind. A useful life long habit.
