Libya Speech -- Echoes of the '90s and '00s, Guideposts for the '10s
Posted by David Shorr
For a significant segment of the foreign policy community, the genocides and humanitarian crises of the 1990s were a formative experience. In other words, as we debate the response to Libya, many of us can't helping thinking back to the bloodletting in the Balkans and Africa. Here's the main point of President Obama's speech: had the US and its partners failed to step in and defend civilians, Benghazi would have joined Srebrenica (site of an infamous July 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims by Serb forces) in the annals of tragedy and shame. In terms of American public understanding, this raises the old question of the political salience of "proving a negative." I'd like to believe that Americans are able to grasp the value of taking action to prevent tragedies from occurring -- even if it means we don't see those tragedies on CNN -- but then, I'm not a duly certified political strategist.
For all the things I liked in the speech (see below), the passage about Bosnia was a little perplexing. The president said it took "more than a year" for the US to use air power against the Serbs, which has me scratching my head over the timeline. NATO air strikes came in August 1995 -- weeks after the Srebrenica massacres and more than three years after the Serbs commenced ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in April/May 1992. Whatever timeline the White House is using, this only heightens the contrast with the speed of the Libya intervention.
As for President Obama's refusal to broaden the military mission to regime-change, obviously the media coverage has focused on his been-there-done-that comparison to Iraq, but I was struck by four little words in that section. Obama rejected the proposal that the US "do whatever it takes" to oust Gaddafi (emphasis added). This phrase is on my personal list of tough-talking flourishes, strongly reminiscent of the Bush era, that score political points at a cost to policy sense. It is the ultimate blank check, and the president is wise to carve room to make deliberate policy choices rather than wide-open commitments.
One of the president's top priorities has clearly been to keep the United States from being left holding the bag for this entire operation. Most of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy seems to focus on defining the limits of the American role. This stems partly from not wanting to test Americans' appetite for overseas commitments and also sensitivities about US intervention in Muslim countries. But the media discussion has underplayed the larger strategy. Instead of focusing just on how America is trying to curtail its role, we shouldn't overlook the other side of the equation -- that President Obama is trying to put other nations on the hook for their share of the burden. Two grafs toward the end of the speech explain the approach quite nicely, and are worth quoting at length:
There will be times, though, when our safety is not directly threatened, but our interests and values are. Sometimes, the course of history poses challenges that threaten our common humanity and common security - responding to natural disasters, for example; or preventing genocide and keeping the peace; ensuring regional security, and maintaining the flow of commerce. These may not be America's problems alone, but they are important to us, and they are problems worth solving. And in these circumstances, we know that the United States, as the world's most powerful nation, will often be called upon to help.In such cases, we should not be afraid to act - but the burden of action should not be America's alone. As we have in Libya, our task is instead to mobilize the international community for collective action. Because contrary to the claims of some, American leadership is not simply a matter of going it alone and bearing all of the burden ourselves. Real leadership creates the conditions and coalitions for others to step up as well; to work with allies and partners so that they bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs; and to see that the principles of justice and human dignity are upheld by all.
Actually it's an approach and a worldview that runs through many areas of Obama foreign policy. Just think of all the issues on which the administration talks about the need for other nations to "meet their responsibilities." Whether this qualifies as an "Obama Doctrine," I leave for others to decide.
UPDATE: I meant to include one more '90s reference. The Libya debate reminded me of a brief passage from President Clinton's acceptance speech at the 1996 Democratic convention:
We cannot save all the world's children, but we can save many of them.
We cannot become the world's policeman, but where our values and our interests are at stake and where we can make a difference, we must act and we must lead. That is our job, and we are better, stronger and safer because we are doing it.
Not very extensive, but it struck the right balance. I wonder if, in a sense, President Obama's current stance is a fuller exposition of the above.
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