There was a fairly lively debate over at Balloon Juice this past spring about whether it was a good idea to get involved in Libya. There was a fair amount of isolationist sentiment and "Oh, great another war."
I felt differently. If Egypt and Tunisia stand a chance at creating a democratic future for themselves, then Libya could not become a massive refugee crisis. Getting involved made sense from a geo-political standpoint. It also made sense from a "basic human decency" standpoint, as Qadafy was a bloodthirsty brute who would've visited medieval levels of violence on the people of Benghazi.
But, typically, Obama took a middle course between doing Shock and Awe and "Aw, Shucks, what can you do?" NATO did a Kosovo-type operation and it worked. I'm amazed Khaddafy held on that long, but ultimately, his fate was sealed when NATO seized control of the air space.
The US and its allies in NATO can be a force - and I mean FORCE - for good in the world primarily be leveling the playing field between the viciously sociopathic and the rest of humanity. We should not seek to control what happens in the rest of the world, as we tried in Iraq and Afghanistan. That won't work.
But we can help take down a 64daphee. We can help take down a Joseph Kony. We can help free people from the forces of tyranny and bloodlust.
Everything that come after is up to them.
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