NATO and the United States decided one month ago today to intervene in the Libyan Civil War against dictator Moammar Gaddafi with the expectation that they would be able to prevent mass murder and overthrow the tyrant in a short period of time. President Obama said it would take just days, not weeks, to overcome the Gaddafi government by using air strikes against government forces, in support of the rebel group.
No one imagined that Gaddafi would employ troops in rebel cities in mosques and schools, and make it impossible to use air strikes to overcome him and his henchmen, and meanwhile, indications of mass murder have been evident, a very frustrating situation, amidst a mounting financial cost for the United States and the NATO nations!
But the United Nations directive, decided a month ago, was that the goal of the intervention was to protect civilians, and not to begin a ground invasion by Europeans and Americans of an Arab nation!
So now the question is what next? There is no desire of the American government or the NATO powers to get involved in a long, drawn out war in Libya, and there is little public support for a ground invasion, which has no guarantee of success in the short or long run!
But can the Obama Administration and NATO allow Gaddafi to remain in power, without it being seen as a human rights disaster and a blow to the whole concept of NATO’s effectiveness?
How can Obama look good if Gaddafi remains in power? How can that help his re-election campaign? What effect will this have on the Middle East revolutions that have erupted since January?
In other words, Barack Obama and the NATO nations are in the midst of a major morass, with no easy exit or solution, something no one could have imagined just a month ago!