If Obama supports war in Libya, why did he oppose it in Iraq?
In an address to the (American) nation the other night, President Obama laid out his rationale for going to war in Libya. After denouncing the Iraq war "bluntly," as he said, President Obama hailed the "core principles that have guided us through many storms: our opposition to violence directed against one's own citizens; our support for a set of universal rights, including the freedom for people to express themselves and choose their leaders; our support for governments that are ultimately responsive to the aspirations of the people."But every one of those criteria was met in Iraq.
For him the problem is that the U.S. decision to remove Saddam Hussein met all of President Obama's conditions: Saddam killed more than 400,000 of his own citizens - a figure Gaddafi will have to work long and hard to match - including poison gas attacks on the Kurds of the north and the Shiite Marsh Arabs, and damming the rivers to dry up the southern marshes, decimating the population and turning tens of thousands of people into refugees. Iraq now has a government that, while not perfect, does permit people to express themselves and choose their leaders; it is perhaps the freest government in the Arab Middle East.No, the real reason Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq is that it was started by George W. Bush. And that, in fact, is the problem with the Obama administration. More than two years after taking office, he still has no foreign policy except to do the opposite of what George W. Bush did.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Obama, Iraq, Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Libyan regime change
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:11 PM
2 Comments:
when bush sent troops into iraq, how was he stopping sadaam from slaughtering his own people?
has obama sent ground troops into libya?
your attempts to demonize and turn obama into a hypocrite just dont pass the smell test
the cia are reportedly on the ground in Libya as advisors and intelligence operatives. arms and accompanying advisors are reportedly in the pipeline.
bush didn't expect to be in iraq for years.
obama doesn't intend to be in libya for even weeks.
no president goes looking for a major investment or a quagmire.
but only the wishfully optimistic think they can reasonably expect to shape any military confrontation without ground troops.
clinton got lucky with yugoslavia.
obama may yet have his libyan war.
Post a Comment
<< Home