Last week I blogged on Libya and commented that there would surely be mission creep to a wider war;
The result could be mission creep – boots on the ground to enforce the ICC indictment (Compare this to the use of force – which I opposed – to capture Manual Noreiga in Panana. At least that was based on a court of competent jurisdiction under the Constitution of the United States.) in Libya. The boots on the ground would then have to maintain order and keep the rebels from committing their own bloodbath of Gaddafi loyalists. We would then have to rebuild the nation of Libya – of course the oil must resume flowing right away! Of course, this is paid for with debt from China while our own infrastructure decays and our debt mounts. Medicare goes broke but Libya has good roads! More American men and women die in a foreign land so the do-gooders will feel better about themselves. Count me out.
Well, I did not expect President Obama to be so accommodating so soon. But he did: The New York Times reported the goal was now to overthrow Gaddafi:
President Obama has subtly shifted Washington’s public explanation of its goals in Libya, declaring now that he wants to assure the Libyan people are “finally free of 40 years of tyranny” at the hands of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, after first stating he wanted to protect civilians from massacres.
The Times also cited the inpending ICC arrest as another reason to capture Gaddafi:
According to NATO officials, Colonel Qaddafi has a calculation of his own: facing a possible indictment by the International Criminal Court, he may soon have few places to go and little to lose by waiting out NATO and betting that European public opinion will tire of the bombing campaign and its costs.
NATO is a sock-puppet of the US; I mean no disrespect but consider this: If the other NATO countries wanted to attack say Iceland for their obeying the will of their citizens and not bailing out banks, the US would have to approve it. So, when NATO speaks, it is the US voice. It has to be. But Congress still has not been consulted. This war is not authorized and any US involvement in an arrest of Gaddafi or confederates by the ICC is illegal. Libya is not a signatory to the ICC; nor is the US. I do not think American forces should be sent to fight in Libya for the ICC or the UN or NATO. Rather it is, as a great man (Ron Paul) once said, “It’s time to come home.”
Article written by: Elwood "Sandy" Sanders
About Elwood Sanders
Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written ten scholarly legal articles. Sandy was also Virginia's first Appellate Defender and also helped bring curling in VA! (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)
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