Fairy Tales

Bombs have begun to fall in Libya, and it’s reasonable to ask “why?”

To their credit, many Democrats and a few Republicans, not to mention most of us in the Center, are trying to understand how a President who no more than two weeks ago spoke publicly against an adventure in Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fiefdom is now leading an “international coalition” against only one of the many brutal thugs who terrorize their own people in the Arab crescent.

Why is it that the President’s SecDef, William Gates, spoke against any military adventure no more than 10 days ago, but is now on-board? And our Secretary of State? If we’re to believe media accounts, she was a driving force behind intervention. Why?

Does the United States have a strategic interest here? Do we even have a coherent foreign policy in the region or around the word?

Should we intervene in a civil war pitting an insane, murderous dictator against a band of “revolutionaries” with Islamist leanings and malevolent intent toward the United States? Or should we believe the fairy tale narrative of Barack Obama’s political and media defenders—that we’re trying to avert a “humanitarian crisis;” that civilian lives are in jeopardy or that human rights in a far away country trump national interests in our own?

But if that fairy tale were true, then why did we not intervene in Iran’s domestic affairs when its murderous regime attacked civilians in the public square? If the President is so concerned about “human rights” then why is his administration actively engaging the equally murderous thugs in Hezballah and providing hundreds of millions of aid dollars to Hamas—an organization that just yesterday, launched over 50 rockets targeted at civilians in Israel.

Should we accept the ridiculous assertion proposed on Sunday morning news shows that if Qaddafi remains in power (a distinct possibility) that it’s somehow a “victory” for the President? Or if Qaddafi falls, that the new leadership will be democratic and pro-Western? What utter nonsense, spewed by shills who are either cynical or ignorant of the harsh realities in the Middle East.

The Middle East is a cesspool of murderous dictators, anti-democratic movements, growing anti-Western Islamism, and tribal feuds that we cannot hope to understand fully. Fairy tale narratives about “freedom” and “democracy” are for children. But then again, it’s increasingly evident that children are setting whatever passes for the foreign policy of the United States.