Would the coalition ever target the Libyan rebels?
The New York Times is featuring a photo on its front page of a rebel pointing his gun at civilians thought to be Gaddafi supporters. It’s a good reminder that while much of the rhetoric surrounding the situation in Libya presents the conflict as a simple and brutal war by Gaddafi’s forces against the Libyan ...
The New York Times is featuring a photo on its front page of a rebel pointing his gun at civilians thought to be Gaddafi supporters. It's a good reminder that while much of the rhetoric surrounding the situation in Libya presents the conflict as a simple and brutal war by Gaddafi's forces against the Libyan people as a whole, there are in fact some civilians who support the regime. To appreciate the hollowness of the rhetoric that intervention in Libya is only about protecting civilians, assume that the rebel in the photo fired on those unarmed civilians and that other rebels did the same. Would the coalition take military action against the rebels? Of course not. Our diplomats would remonstrate with them, no doubt, and issue earnest statements of disapproval. But the coalition is not a neutral referee of the civil war, ensuring from 30,000 feet that all combatants follow the laws of war. Coalition forces are now a party to the conflict, on the side of the rebels. That's the right side to be on and we should ensure that the rebel forces prevail. That victory will come more quickly if we don't let ourselves pretend that we're not a full party in this civil war.
The New York Times is featuring a photo on its front page of a rebel pointing his gun at civilians thought to be Gaddafi supporters. It’s a good reminder that while much of the rhetoric surrounding the situation in Libya presents the conflict as a simple and brutal war by Gaddafi’s forces against the Libyan people as a whole, there are in fact some civilians who support the regime. To appreciate the hollowness of the rhetoric that intervention in Libya is only about protecting civilians, assume that the rebel in the photo fired on those unarmed civilians and that other rebels did the same. Would the coalition take military action against the rebels? Of course not. Our diplomats would remonstrate with them, no doubt, and issue earnest statements of disapproval. But the coalition is not a neutral referee of the civil war, ensuring from 30,000 feet that all combatants follow the laws of war. Coalition forces are now a party to the conflict, on the side of the rebels. That’s the right side to be on and we should ensure that the rebel forces prevail. That victory will come more quickly if we don’t let ourselves pretend that we’re not a full party in this civil war.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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