Just causes are ten a penny. You can always find one if you look hard enough. And as I said, I don't deny that the man is doing nasty things, and I agree that in principle people who use their power to do nasty things ought to have that power removed. Though it does seem to me that if Gaddafi is a notably sable kettle, we are a more than equally fuliginous pot.
The real motivation, as you say, is virtually certain to be either economic or political expediency. One of my flist blames Obama, but then he would. I think it's more likely to be our lot as prime motivators, and I am quite convinced that they are perfectly capable of setting a military action in motion, ordering the deaths of unknown numbers of people, as an exciting sideshow to draw attention away from the men behind the curtain and what they might be doing. It's happened before.
And it will inevitably (a) escalate beyond the terms of the SCR; (b) last longer and cost more than anyone envisaged; (c) result in a worse situation in Libya than the one it was supposedly intended to correct. I feel utterly safe in making this prediction. I just wish I didn't have to.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-03-20 09:02 am (UTC)The real motivation, as you say, is virtually certain to be either economic or political expediency. One of my flist blames Obama, but then he would. I think it's more likely to be our lot as prime motivators, and I am quite convinced that they are perfectly capable of setting a military action in motion, ordering the deaths of unknown numbers of people, as an exciting sideshow to draw attention away from the men behind the curtain and what they might be doing. It's happened before.
And it will inevitably (a) escalate beyond the terms of the SCR; (b) last longer and cost more than anyone envisaged; (c) result in a worse situation in Libya than the one it was supposedly intended to correct. I feel utterly safe in making this prediction. I just wish I didn't have to.