The Shores of Tripoli Beckon Once Again

by Carroll W. McInroe

As we watch the Libyans in their desperate and bloody fight for freedom, the world watches America. Our President and our country are being  judged by the opinion of people and nations round the globe. Let us not fail to respond with the honor of freedom loving men and women. Now is the time for President Obama to show bold leadership in the little people’s quest for democracy. With one masterful stroke, he has the opportunity to positively change the way the Eastern world views the United States of America.

Brave Libyan men and women are fighting a vicious dictatorship, using rocks against mercenaries, airplanes and automatic weapons. And they are openly begging for American aid, not American troops. The Libyan people are clear on that point – “we will fight our own revolution, we just need a little help, no American troops.” President Obama – at the very least, needs to impose a no-fly zone, a naval blockade and have our CIA begin unloading AK-47’s and ammunition on the shores of Tripoli, where American Marines, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson, once fought and died.  Those fine Marines were fighting terrorists too.

Consider the following: 

1. The world at large will view us as tentative and morally challenged if we do not assist in unseating the “mad dog,” President Reagan’s term for Khadaffy. No one has forgotten what Reagan did when Khadaffy killed American military men.
2. If we impose sanctions and a no fly zone, the people of the Mid-East will never forget our help.  Al Quaeda will find fewer and fewer sanctuaries.  Hundreds of millions of Arab people will stop thinking of America as the Devil, and begin viewing us once again as an honorable country, prepared to lend a helping hand to freedom loving people in need – when asked.
3. There is a real opportunity here to unite our own country.  Democrats and Republicans alike can and will respond positively to brave and bold leadership in this situation. Americans badly need a common cause to agree upon.

We have a dual history in the area of post-WWII foreign intervention. Sometimes we intervene to stop the slaughter of innocents – as in Bosnia. Sometimes we do not – as with the Kurdish revolt after the first Iraqi War, where Saddam Hussein was allowed to murder tens of thousands of his own people with air strikes and chemical warfare. Which of those two situations do we feel the best about today?

There are times when an American president must do the right thing in the eyes of the world, because it is the right thing. The United States has a recent history of supporting too many Mid-Eastern dictators, especially if they have large oil reserves. It is time to rectify that sort of short-sighted injustice. I urge our President to take the action free people everywhere are yearning for. Reasonable, measured support of free Libyans, in their fight against tyranny.