George Bush overthrew Saddam Hussein in just a few days. It was one of the greatest military victories in world history. A well-established dictator with a modern army was quickly and surgically removed from power. Then Bush tried to handle the results like a Democrat. He switched from a military operation to a exercise in nation building. We poured in billions in aid, concentrating on re-building the infrastructure and training the Iraqi police and military. Democrats were urging Bush to avoid having too much of a U.S military presence since we didn’t want to look like “occupiers.” It didn’t work. Iraq quickly came unglued with rapidly escalating violence. Finally, in an act of desperation, Bush sent in the infamous surge, defeated the insurgency, restored order, created security and gave Iraq a chance at becoming a stable democracy.
It looks like the rebels, with the help of NATO, have been able to overthrow Gaddafi. At a minimum, he has lost control over much of Libya. The real question is what comes next.
Perhaps it is time to remember what happened during the Cuba revolution. Castro’s army rolled in to Havana on January 8, 1959. Castro said that “power does not interest me and I will not take it.” Jubilant crowds poured into the streets with automobile horns honking and the black and red flag of the July 26 Movement waving all around. The world rejoiced. It didn’t quite turn out like people expected.
According to the following article in Investors’ Business Daily, things are not going that swimmingly in Egypt:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=582346&p=1
We may have lost our best Ally in the Arab world. At best, this could hardly be considered an upgrade.
No one knows what will happen in Libya, but if Egypt is any indication, this is very unlikely to end up well. In Egypt the military remains in control. In Libya, once Gaddafi is gone, no one is likely to be in control:
I fear we have done nothing more than remove a brutal, but aging dictator, who was no threat to the U.S. and replaced him with chaos and anarchy. It is always nice to see someone like Gaddafi bite the dust. I just hope we didn’t trade him in for something worse.
Note: There are reports that Special Forces teams were sent in to “manage” the ground assault on Tripoli. If you see the pictures from the media outlets, it looks like utter chaos. These people don’t look capable of organizing a brawl at a Raiders game. That seems to lend credence to the Special Forces rumors. It would help explain why things changed so quickly. However, it could also mean that this is far from over.
TDM