Why are we in Libya?

Editorial

The intervention in Libya, approved by the United Nations and executed by Western forces, is intended to end the rampage of Muammar Qadaffi against the civilians of his country. But why has the world intervened in this case when many flashpoints around the world might have invited a similar response? Why are we in Libya, when we might also be in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Ivory Coast, Darfur or any number of other places where civilians are imperiled?

There are numerous cynical answers, including, firstly, oil. Control over the free flow of a commodity the West desperately needs is one reason for intervention in Libya.
An answer that goes without saying is that we are not in places like Bahrain because we would find ourselves on the opposite side of our “ally” Saudi Arabia. Intervention in other places with repressive governments, like China or Russia, is off the table due to obvious military and financial reasons.

Another cynical answer is skin color. North Africans may not be as white as the Bosnian Muslims in whose interest NATO intervened in Kosovo, but neither are they as black as the Rwandan Tutsis, who were left to their own devices, even as it was evident that genocide was imminent.

The real answer to why we have intervened in Libya lies somewhere among these varied explanations. There is a Western interest in seeing change in the region, with the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions offering the possibility of democracy in those countries.

Perhaps the UN, which waited until the anti-Qaddafi forces were almost exhausted, was finally motivated to act because enough members of the Security Council were not prepared to see the Arab Spring end in Libya. While it remains to be seen which forces will fill the vacuum in countries where despots are ejected, this is still a moment of opportunity for the people of the Middle East and North Africa. To allow the Libyan dictator to plough over his civilians would have sent the message to other autocrats that anything goes. Of course, this is also a precedent. What happens when the next Arab dictator tries to crush his people? The West will, presumably, blow up that bridge when we come to it.

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