Now That We Are At War

Posted by Elizabeth Holland • March 23, 2011 • Printer-friendly

Statement written by Sayre Sheldon, March 22, 2011

When I wrote “To Intervene or Not to Intervene,” there was still time to weigh the dangers of going into Libya. Now we are “At War in Libya” (N.Y. Times lead editorial, March 22) and, along with our Congress, the U.S. people have had nothing to say about it. One letter in today’s Times comments accusingly, “…why the silence among all those antiwar dissidents …who rightly excoriated President George Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan?”

The answer is we were overtaken by fast-moving decisions. The rebels seemed to be on the verge of defeat, the U.N. Security Council decision was rushed through, and the bombing began. We were told that this was a joint action by Britain, France and the U.S. and that it was a humanitarian intervention: the protection of Libyan civilians from their openly vindictive ruler.

Suddenly it was hundreds of planes and missiles, towering flames in the sky, uneasy flashbacks to Baghdad in 2003. “Operation Odyssey Dawn” was unleashed (who comes up with these names?) and clearly the U.S. was leading it. There is confusion over whether we are there to protect the rebels or to get Khadafi. What I was afraid of when the no-fly zone was adopted: “mission creep” is already happening.

What should we be looking for now? WAND joins the voices that ask for official recognition that defines the goals of this operation. WAND opposes another long, expensive and dangerous commitment of our military power. We support efforts for non-military solutions.

-Sayre Sheldon

Editor's Note: Sayre originally wrote a blog post on Libya on March 9, 2011, featured on the blog section of our website. All of Sayre's blogs can be found on WAND Action Center or by clicking here. The article above has been approved by WAND Executive Director, Susan Shaer.