This Tuesday, Hillary Clinton traveled through Tripoli, Libya to ensure the new government that the US would continue to support them as they struggle to take control of the country. Clinton has been helping Libyans rebuild their economy with financial aid, bringing supplies for those wounded in the war, and helping to round up missing antiaircraft missiles that still remain. She is the highest ranking official to visit the country since Moammar Khadafy was kicked out of office in August. Her aid has allowed new government leaders to focus their efforts on destroying the remaining Khadafy troops so they can finally take full control of Libya. But despite her efforts, she still fears the troubles that could arise from the few resistance groups that still remain. "We are still at the point where liberation has not yet been claimed because of ongoing conflict," she told reporters. In Sirte, one of the few remaining strongholds for Khadafy forces left, were able to defeat anti-Khadafy militia and keep control of the city. Even Tripoli is still almost divided down the middle and some civilians even refuse to put down their weapons and return to normal life. Clinton promised that the US would continue to send NATO war planes to protect the country, but even with that she fears the conflicts that could arise as Khadafy is at large. Without him behind bars, he is still able to organize his followers and gain supports, hindering the efforts of the new government. Clinton announced that she does not care if Khadafy is "captured or killed" as long as his fear and power over the people of Libya stops. Are their any others ways the US could support the new government of Libya, or is the US government already to involved in this issue?
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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9 comments:
I think now Clinton can stop worrying about Gaddafi because now he is dead. If her main goal was to stop the spread of fear of Gaddafi, I think she reached that goal with his death. The people of Libya can now sleep soundly at night knowing that Gaddafi is dead. On a side note, I really admire Clinton going out over her way to care for a country in a time of need even if it might be for the rich oil the country contains =]
While Qaddafi (I know this is the third spelling we have used on this post, so bear with me) is now dead, we still need to pay attention to Libya.
A huge part of the Libya rebellion was influenced by the tribal divisions within the country.
While in power Qaddafi belonged to the Qaddafi tribe. Throughout his rule, enormous benefits were gained by the Qaddafi tribe as well as the rest of the Tripolitanians (the tribes which are generally in the north western area of the country.) Meanwhile, the Cyrenaican tribes, such as the Zuwayya tribe, did not benefit from Qaddafi's rule.
The U.S. and the rest of the international community would do best to place scrutiny upon the Libyan National Transitional Council to make sure that the new Libyan government does not exercise tribal discrimination as well.
I agree Sammy, now that Ghadafi is dead, Clinton has eliminated one of her biggest obstacles. Now she will be able to focus on rebuilding the country as quickly as possible and in a way that the people are happy with. I think you make a really good point Andrew that just because Ghadafi(does anyone know how to really spell his name by the way?) rule only benefitted the Qadafi tribe, it by no means gives the new government to be biased against them or show any preference for any other tribe. If they do so, they are simply recreating the same problem that they just ended. All tribes in Libya must be given equal treatment under the new government in order to prevent another such incident like with Ghadafi from happening again.
Gaddafi's death does not necessarily stabilize Libya, necessitating further American involvement. In retrospect, Libya represents the first bloodless (in American lives), multipartite intervention by American on behalf of democracy in our history. Reagan's unilateral intervention in Granada hardly boasts the importance of Libya today. Libya, however, should not be a precedent for further "policing" acts in the world in which America snipes at its minor enemies.
On another note, while Obama may be disparaged slightly by the GOP at the moment, he has another international victory of justice and democracy to tuck under his belt until re-election.
While it looks like Libya has now started to hold reelection, there is still some unrest amongst the people and especially for the remaining Gadhafi supporters. However, Libya has at least taken a step closer to recovering and democracy. The US might have some other interest also in Libya since after all Libya is an oil rich country that produces 300,000 barrels a day. I agree with Sabrina that Ghadafi’s death not only makes Obama look good, but he also can boast about how not a single U.S service member has been hurt.
I agree with Sabrina and Katherine, this is a huge win for Obama and will definitely help his reelection campaign.
I think that one of the big reasons the US will stay in Libya is for the oil that Katherine mentioned, but I think that would be harming Libya more than helping. Libya needs that export to generate money so that they can rebuild their country and they should be able to regulate it on their own, with out the US intervening and taking advantage of the situation. The US should stay in Libya as a security against any further resistance that may try to rise up again, not for selfish reasons. We all know thats not going to happen though.
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