Libya, A Success?

I'm no fan of dictatorship. Far from it. I'm generally a fan of rebels against dictatorships. Generally, because it's hard to know whether today's rebels against dictatorship are merely tomorrow's dictators. In the case of Libya, it seemed impossible to form an opinion... although now it may become easier. Time has a way of making it so. From an AP article on Yahoo News:

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Rebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, accusing them of fighting for ousted strongman Moammar Gadhafi and holding them in makeshift jails across the capital.

Virtually all of the detainees say they are innocent migrant workers, and in most cases there is no evidence that they are lying. But that is not stopping the rebels from placing the men in facilities like the Gate of the Sea sports club, where about 200 detainees — all black — clustered on a soccer field this week, bunching against a high wall to avoid the scorching sun.

Handling the prisoners is one of the first major tests for the rebel leaders, who are scrambling to set up a government that they promise will respect human rights and international norms, unlike the dictatorship they overthrew.

I'd say they failed the first test, if the rebels are specifically rounding up black men.

So, why again did we bomb Libya? What exactly was our national interest?

Did the Administration learn nothing from Iraq? And The Left, fervently anti-war until Obama was elected, stridently silent for fear of undermining a Democratic administration. Had so much to say about destabilizing nations, about the power vacuums caused by dislodged strongmen in 2008. Precious little to say about it in 2011.

I hope this causes migraines in certain quarters. Intense migraines. Hypocrites deserve at least as much.

I remember how much I heard about how foreign policy under Bush damaged our standing around the world. This was so much the case that Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize within weeks of inauguration. (sarcasm alert) I'm sure our standing is vastly improved, and the Nobel folks are pleased with their selection.