US Begins Air Offensive Against Western Libya

By: Austin C. Howe, Writer and Columnist

The rebel movement was quickly gaining momentum in Libya. Within days of
protests beginning, the official government had lost control of Eastern Libya to
armed rebel forces (a first for the wave of middle eastern protests, peaceful until
now), and an opposition government was set up in the city of Benghazi that went
so far as to claim Tripoli, the official Libya capital, as it’s own, despite it still being
under the control of the Ghadaffi regime. It seemed that the Libyan revolution
would be the quickest so far, but within a few weeks, the regime has begun to
push back, capturing some rebel-controlled cities. It was very possible the
rebellion might fail, or that it’s fragile coalition, only united by the cause of ousting
Ghadaffi, not any coherent political philosophy, might fall apart entirely.

The Obama administration had already declared support for the rebellion, as
had other major western powers. If the regime succeeded in recapturing all rebel
cities and ending the rebellion, Libya, and its oil, might be cut off from much of
the western world. The United Nations, facing an awkward situation, first expelled
Libya from the human rights committee1, and passed Security Resolution 1973,
calling for the use of force against the Ghadaffi regime.

The US began their part with Operation Odyssey Dawn, preventing the regime
from running bombing missions against it’s own citizens, destroying Libyan
weapons, and in general protecting civilians, though the capture nor death of
Ghadaffi are main objections of the operation.

The Obama administration has, at present, said very little about the intentions of
the operation, how long the US plans to stay involved, or how deeply the US is
committed to the rebel cause. Following the typical standards for complaining
about national defense policy, Democrats have criticized the president for
involving the US in another military conflict on top of the ongoing war in
Afghanistan and the slowly ending war in Iraq, as well as for having not yet asked
for congressional approval of the Operation (which, in accordance with the War
Powers act, he must do within 60 days), and Republicans criticized the president
for not acting harder and not committing early enough.

So far, the military offensive has not involved the use of ground troops, only air
strikes, similar to President Clinton’s use of the strategy, which prevented Iraq
from building a nuclear weapons program, and it remains to be seen whether
ground troops will be used in a manner similar to the NATO Kosovo operation.

As always, updates as new information arrives. Thanks for reading.

1
Yes, Libya was on the Human Rights Committee. Let’s not talk about it.