In the past few weeks, President Obama has ordered our own troops to enter Libya not to remove their leader and form a new government, but simply to prevent mass slaughter. The main purpose of this mission was to enforce a “no-fly zone.” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as well as Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman support the operation in Libya. The situation is comparable to the mass killings in both Rwanda and Kosovo. Soon after President Obama decided to send troops into Libya, many Americans were quick to disapprove. The outcome came as a surprise to both Republicans and Democrats because Obama has always taken a more “anti-war” stance.

English philosopher Edmund Burke once wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

For the U.S. to sit back and watch while Libyan dictator Muammar el-Gaddafi kills innocent people would be our greatest failure. It may not be our responsibility to protect civilians of another country, but it would be unjust for any nation to allow such behavior to continue. In the past our nation has helped to prevent genocide. In Somalia and Vietnam, we got involved because it was the right thing to do. We have a moral obligation to our neighbors. It would be selfish not to.

Many are worried that the mission we started in Libya will only worsen our financial crisis. Congressman Mo Brooks said, “We don’t have the money to pay for it and we don’t know how long we are going to be there.” Wars cost money and use resources, but what some people fail to realize is that wars also create jobs. Creating jobs can lead us out of our recession and improve the flow of our economy. World War II occurred during our country’s worst financial catastrophe. This time period could have been seen as one of the worst time’s in history to go to war, but the creation of jobs led us out of the Great Depression. We do not need to hold on to our money and save it, we need it to circulate.

Our mission is not to change Libya’s government or even to get rid of Gaddafi. Obama has repeatedly stated that our purpose in Libya is only to defend civilians and prevent any more murder.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates states, “You don’t want ever to set a set of goals or a military mission where you can’t be confident of accomplishing your objectives. And as we’ve seen in the past, regime change is a very complicated business.”
This is an opportunity to learn from our past mistakes. We are not trying to fix, only protect.

As citizens we can be quick to judge the decisions of our leaders. We are outsiders, and being an outsider requires trust. We see all of the possible pitfalls in the mission but completely miss what valuable results may come. We are giving our economy a chance to repair itself as well as making room for new jobs. Pamela Geller, executive director of Freedom Defense Initiative, received an email from a frightened Libyan saying, “The aunt was on phone fearing for her life huddled in the apartment with their family. She wants to know where the UN is, the US is, the media, anybody.”

We are filling our role as a nation by bringing justice to a broken country.

cheykoop@mesastate.edu