Norway was Right

by Dillon Freed
March 23, 2011

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1345/norway-was-right

Barack Obama, during his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, said the award would be "a call to action." He was right, and now he is finally earning his Peace Prize by bombing Libya, and the Caligula in power there, Muammar Gaddafi.

True, few believe that violent action has ever led to be peace, but that is rubbish. Reagan's Cold War arm's build-up engendered a more peaceful Europe in the 1980s, the bombing of the Balkans under Clinton likewise lead to a certain peace in that region in the 1990s, and (so far so good), the nation of Iraq seems on a path to amity as we observe Bush's War on Terrorism come to an end in the second decade of the 2000s. None of these perfect peaces, but in each case, war ended the reign of demons and freed millions. Hat's off to that.

Obama's decision to strike Gaddafi and provide succor to the rebels who aim to take down this psychotic ruler, is similar to the above scenarios and could certainly be one of his most noble acts as President. Of course, there is no telling if he will handle the campaign appropriately from this point onward, if it will work even if he does everything right, or whether he has the resolve, like Bush, to keep bombing even as public opinion polls nosedive, and if Gaddafi, as he as promised, will fight to the end. And though it took Mr. Obama quite some time to decide what to do (the rhetoric and menacing of Britain and France, effectively beating Obama off the starting line as world leaders, may have been Obama's impetus to finally act)– he has, for now, done the proper thing.

In the rough game of politics, countries like Tunisia, Yemen and Bahrain are learning that even superpowers do not act wholly in the name of self-less service – that the United States and Europe turn their words and missile-heads from the dictators murdering their own in these rebelling countries is bitter and cruel for sure. But it must be done.
There are two simple rules for U.S. engagement outside of our borders: first and foremost, to act in American self-interest, and then, secondarily, to promote freedom and human rights where we it can. One must come before two (even if we do not always like to admit it), and thus, Libya, because of our and our allies interest there, namely, dependence on oil and past engagement, and only after that, then, for his flagrant human rights violation (not just now but in times past), warrants our "TNT" attention.

There is without doubt a major risk in our selective backings: it will surely create a murderous resentment in some of these Muslim lands in the near future. "Why did they help Libyans with guns and Egyptians with words, and not you?" One can almost hear an Imam exhorting some to jihad for these sins of omission on our part. But here's the deal: tell the Taliban to knock it off in Afghanistan, and advise the terrorist radicals in Somalia and Yemen to quit trying to kill us, and perhaps we'd have more resources to help these other nations. No guarantees but we are spread thin as is.

The Norwegians surely thought Obama's explosiveness was to be his charisma and language, magically transforming violent men to downy creatures of the wood. But – and I am certain this rankles to no end the Peace Prize people – Obama is employing the more adept descendants of Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite in an effort to produce peace in the region. Good for him, but better yet for the rebels in Libya – even if they turn out to be fools as well, when/if they take power).

Plato, in the 300s B.C., declared that peace was but a parenthesis – and the main passages in the storybook of mankind were war. Plato would have known this well indeed – after all, even during the Golden Age of Greece, according to historian Victor Davis Hanson, the people of Athens and her neighbors were at war three out of every four years. As the Persian Wars ended in the 470s B.C., just four decades later, the enormously bloody internecine conflict we know as the Peloponnesian War was waged. War shall never end.

I think Obama has come to this realization (it helps him sleep at night I am sure) and has begun this non-congressionally approved bombing, under the operational name Odyssey Dawn, in the hope that it yields a parenthesis of peace in North Africa. I for one would like to thank the Nobel Peace Prize council for making our president a warrior-President, and thereby, giving their prize meaning again.

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