The U.S. government has failed to follow the example of its founding generation.
In 1821, John Quincy Adams described America as a “well-wisher” to democratic states around the world, while simultaneously declaring that she would not “… [go] abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” Given our recent history of interventionism around the world, America is clearly failing to live up to that ideal.
Today, many Americans are simply unaware of their government’s actions in foreign countries. Organizations such as Young Americans for Liberty (of which I am a member) are actively working to address this issue at the college level. Through its “Bring Them Home” initiative, YAL is educating the next generation about the need for a sober foreign policy centered on American interests abroad, and the return of our troops from shadowy conflicts across the globe.
It is well known that American airpower and military expertise were instrumental in ending the Libyan Civil War and deposing Libya’s dictator, Moammar Gadhafi. However, the costs of American interventionism in Libya, and around the world, are decidedly less appreciated.
Recently, news outlets reported on President Trump’s continued airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya, largely unbeknownst to the American public. This raises the question: When is it enough? When do we decide to end the costly cycle of interventions, “regime changes,” and attempts at nation-building in faraway polities?
Trump’s airstrikes represent the continuation of American involvement in Libya, which began in February 2011. A month later, former President Barack Obama said American military involvement was to prevent a humanitarian crisis: “If we waited one more day, Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”
Obama’s actions were in response to the requests sent to NATO begging for help in controlling the spiraling civil war in Libya as Gadhafi’s troops moved on Benghazi. NATO moved quickly to enforce a naval blockade of Tripoli, a no-fly zone over the country and a ceasefire in response to requests by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the then-head of Libya’s precarious transitional government. Regardless, government and pro-Gadhafi forces entered Benghazi on March 18, 2011.
The next day, military forces representing the U.S. and 16 other nations initiated a series of responsorial military operations in Libya. These highly successful operations worked in sync to destroy nearly 6,000 Libyan armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery. As a result of the NATO airstrikes, Gadhafi was ousted and executed by his own people in the streets of the city of Sirte in October 2011.
In the power vacuum that has since opened in Libya, a score of amorphous minor terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State, have gained a foothold in the country. One of these groups, known as Ansar al-Sharia, or “Supporters of Islamic Law,” carried out the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya. The attack was likely motivated by the release of “Innocence of Muslims,” an amateur anti-Muslim video whose release sparked protests and anger across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The current instability in Libya and the Benghazi attack are just two examples of the dangers of American interventionism abroad. Another danger tied to interventionism is the concept described by the Central Intelligence Agency as “blowback”. In Britain, the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing was motivated by U.S. and U.K. intervention in Libya, and claimed 23 lives. Other major examples, especially wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the drone warfare program in Yemen, and the training of rebels in Syria have cost much more in American blood and treasure.
Exactly how many U.S. soldiers were in Libya is unknown to this day; however, in 2016 the Pentagon acknowledged the presence of U.S. troops on the ground in Libya. While the number was cited as “small”, it nonetheless proves that the federal government put American lives at risk while continuing its efforts to facilitate regime change.
Regime change and nation building create vacuums of power which allow radical groups to gain strength. These radical groups are often worse than the awful governments they supplant, and civilians continue to suffer. It’s time to stop putting America at risk, bring our troops home, and reintroduce a sober, restrained foreign policy that will protect civilian lives around the world.
Ian O’Shaughnessy studies Classics, History, and Political Science at Colorado College. He is a media ambassador and a chapter vice president for Young Americans for Liberty.
