THE day before he ordered the US military to intervene in Libyas civil warwithout securing a constitutionally mandated authorization from CongressPresident Barack Obama, with presumably unintended irony, attempted to sound poetic about the need to defend democratic values in the nation then ruled by Muammar Gaddafi.
Left unchecked, we have every reason to believe that Gaddafi would commit atrocities against his people, Obama said.
Many thousands could die, he said. A humanitarian crisis would ensue. The entire region could be destabilized, endangering many of our allies and partners. The calls of the Libyan people for help would go unanswered.
The democratic values that we stand for would be overrun, he said.
Obamas Libyan allies did overthrow Gaddafi. But did democratic values triumph in Libya? What about US national security interests?
The State Departments most recent country reports on terrorismdescribing the situation in 2015, four years after Gadhafis removaldeclared that violent extremist groups operate with impunity throughout Libya. A Congressional Research Service report published this March made a similar assessment.
Criminals and violent Islamist extremists have exploited these conditions, said CRS, and the latter have strengthened their military capabilities and advanced their agendas inside Libya and beyond its borders.
Obamas decision to intervene in Libyas civil war harmed the interests of both the Libyan and American people. Now, the question is: Should the United States intervene in Syrias civil waronce again siding with rebels who oppose an authoritarian leader who has used evil means to maintain his power?
Last month, after an engagement between pro-Syrian regime forces and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the US shot down a Syrian military aircraft over Syrian territory.
A statement put out by Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition operating in Syria and Iraq, said the coalition was not trying to fight the Syrian regime by shooting down its warplane.
The coalitions mission is to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria, said the statement. The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.
Yet, in April, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described a step-by-step strategy for US-backed regime change in Syriaa regime change he envisioned would remove both IS and Assad and begin to create the sort of stable, peaceful government in Syria that Obama envisioned for post-Gaddafi Libya.
Overall, the situation in Syria is one where our approach today and our policy today is, first, to defeat IS, Tillerson said, according to a White House transcript.
By defeating IS we remove one of the disruptive elements in Syria that exists today, he said. That begins to clarify for us opposition forces and regime forces.
So, its to defeat IS; its to begin to stabilize areas of Syria, stabilize areas in the south of Syria, stabilize areas around Raqqa through ceasefire agreements between the Syrian regime forces and opposition forces, he said.
Stabilize those areas; begin to restore some normalcy to them. Restore them to local governanceand there are local leaders who are ready to return, some who have left as refugeestheyre ready to return to govern these areas.
Use local forces that will be part of the liberation effort to develop the local security forceslaw enforcement, police force, Tillerson said.
In the midst of that, through the Geneva Process, we will start a political process to resolve Syrias future in terms of its governance structure, he said, and that ultimately, in our view, will lead to a resolution of Bashar al-Assads departure.
Despite the similarity between this administrations desire to see Assads departure and the last administrations desire to see Gaddafis, it would be a mistake to see Libya and Syria as similar nations.
Libya, according to the CIA World Factbook, is 96.6 percent Muslim and they are virtually all Sunni. It sits in Africa, separated by wide deserts and the significant regional power of Egypt, from Israel and the heartland of the Middle East.
Syria is 87 percent Muslim. But its Muslim population is divided between 74 percent who are Sunni and a combined 13 percent who are Ismailis, Shiites and Alawitesthe sect of the Assad family.
Ten percent of Syrians are Christianstargeted for genocide by the Islamic State, not Assad. Three percent are Druze.
Syria borders Lebanon Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel.
Pointing to the precedent set in the 12th century by Nur ad-Din and Salah ad-Din, al-Qaida leader Ayman al Zawahiri has cheered on the Syrian rebellionseeing Islamist control of Damascus and Cairo as strategic precursors to the conquest of Jerusalem.
After pursuing regime change in both Iraq and Libya, we have not been able to establish stability in either of these countries or deny their territory to terrorists.
This does suggest a basic rule that can be applied to Syria: A Middle Eastern regime that does not come to power through its own power cannot retain power. Nor restrain terrorists.CREATORS.COM
Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSnews.com.
More here:
Will Syria be the next Libya or worse? - The Manila Times