On March 19 the American military joined a United Nations backed coalition, in what is being called “Operation Odyssey Dawn” (I refer to it as “Operation OdD” or simply “OdD”). According to the U.S. Department of Defense OdD is “to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan people from the country’s ruler.
The goal of the military coalition is to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens, officials said, adding that the coalition also wants to degrade the ability of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime to resist a no-fly zone being implemented… The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada already have announced that they are part of the coalition. Officials expect Arab countries will publicly announce their participation soon.” Not only is this military action unconstitutional, as are the “wars” in Iraq & Afghanistan, it is also unnecessary.
Potential Presidential candidate R. Lee Wrights says, “For an American president to initiate an attack on a nation that does not threaten us is despicable enough, but to justify such aggression by citing a United Nations resolution sets a dangerous precedent that threatens our very sovereignty…
First, the United States has no business initiating an attack on any other nation unless there is a declaration of war by the Congress. Second, Libya has not attacked us, nor does it threaten U.S. security or sovereignty. The conflict in Libya is a civil war.”
Vice-Chair for the Dallas County Libertarian Party John Jay Myers says, “If the Arab League voted for intervention then the Arab League should intervene, why a country 4000 miles away? A country with a completely different culture, they do not want us in their countries, even those who want Gaddafi out.”
Wrights adds, “When you drop a bomb, you cannot be sure who will die when it hits, and once you let it go you cannot bring it back… Innocent Libyan people will die! This is not about Obama or Gaddafi… This is about how wrong it is to bomb a sovereign nation that has done you no harm. How wrong it is to sentence innocent civilians to death because of the actions of their government’s leader.”
The American government likes to play “world’s police force” though it is never consistent in how and when it chooses to intervene. For instance Sudan has been involved in a civil war of one form or another for nearly 6 decades with no American involvement; in 2008 the Republic of Georgia attacked Russia, when Russia retaliated the American military was there as part of a NATO force to “defend” Georgia. On this inconsistency Myers says, “…libertarians understand that this inconsistency is a major part of the problem. We would like more consistency on the side of minding our own business.” Like most other major military actions in American history, and the indefinite detention being imposed on some without charge, OdD has no end in sight.