There has been a fair amount of comment to the effect that President Obama isn’t taking enough action in response to the uprising in Libya. What that should be isn’t always clear, but establishing a no-fly zone is one demand. The criticism probably is encouraged by the fact that Obama hasn’t been very active about anything, but part of the impetus is the usual armchair militarism.
There is one prominent dissenter, however. George Will, in a column on March 8, set out sixteen rhetorical questions, all suggesting that intervention would be as bad idea. As to the no-fly proposal, Will asked, reasonably, “Could intervention avoid ‘mission creep’? If grounding Gadhafi's aircraft is a humanitarian imperative, why isn't protecting his enemies from ground attacks?” More fundamentally, “The world would be better without Gadhafi. But is that a vital U.S. national interest? If it is, when did it become so?“ It’s unfortunate that the last question was not asked — and answered by Bush and Co. — before invading Iraq.
