The establishment of a no-fly zone in Libya, even when sanctioned by the UN, is an act of war. And normally when countries go to war, it is usually because their vital national interests are at stake or have been attacked.
But neither of those reasons exist in terms of intervening in Libya. It is of little vital national interest who ends up in charge there. Certainly we, and the rest of the world – not to mention the people of Libya – would be better served if representative democracy blossomed there, but that’s not very probable. And given the government that’s been in charge for 40 years, we’ve managed quite well without intervening there. And, in fact, it is now being reported that mixed liberally among the rebels we and the rest of the world have chosen to acknowledge may be a large percetage of Islamic extremists.
