Written by Sarah Everett
Muammar al-Gaddafi has led Libya for nearly 42 years. This is far too long for even the most benign ruler to hold such great power. It is time that rulers like Gaddafi be held accountable for the oppression of their people, but that accountability must come from within each nation. A democracy forced by outsiders is not a sustainable one. The United States should not involve itself in the rebellion of the Libyan people. We do not have the money for such battles, and we have no business being there while the world is and will continue to be full of rebellion and oppression.Gaddafi has been cruel, especially in recent weeks, but there are other protests being violently suppressed in places like Bahrain and Yemen. Dissidents in Iran are so sufficiently stifled that protests cannot even get off the ground. Why are we not intervening there? Gaddafi’s oppressive rule is nothing compared to the atrocities in Sudan that have been largely ignored by the United States. There is no justification for intervening in the Libyan rebellion while ignoring the genocide carried out by Omar al-Bashir on the people of Darfur. The Arab League and the African Union should be encouraged to handle situations in their own regions. This is how nations and regions grow and mature. With the U.S. and other Western states constantly stepping in to play parent, the developing world will continue to lag behind in both politics and economics. These nations must be allowed to develop on their own. Growth is painful. We endured one bloody war to become the United States of America and one more to stay that way.I believe the world should work together to prevent such crises and to solve them when they do arise. However, fighting incidents of violence with even more violence is not helpful. As long as we are going to maintain some sense of nationalism and state sovereignty, we must respect that of other nations and at least try to allow them to work out their conflicts independently. When the leaders cross the line, intervention may be necessary, but this should begin within the region and progress from there. We jumped immediately from apathy to dropping bombs on a sovereign state.This fight is predominantly a concern for the Arab world. Therefore we should lend verbal and diplomatic support to them as they work through their conflicts, using protocol set up by the international community for such events. The U.S. cannot afford to play policeman forever, especially if we are going to arbitrarily pick and choose which fights we will take.SARAH EVERETT is a guest contributor for the Buffalo. She may be contacted atseverett@harding.edu
