Well, the G8 has released its statement from its final meeting today.
Prospects of the swift establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya receded today after members of the G8 group failed to give their backing at a summit in Paris.
Various "leaders" in Washington are dithering. Some say a no-fly-zone is "no problem". Others "express concern" about arming and supporting a group of rag-tag rebels with no government established, and no known leaders to "deal with". The specter of Afghanistan is raised, with the memory of the armed fighters morphing into Al Queda, and the disaster that is Iraq becoming the defining model for US intervention.
Britain has joined with France to push for military intervention by the international community to stop dictator Muammar Gaddafi using his air power to bombard towns held by the opposition.
But, the US opinion was absent from the final communique, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is off to Egypt and Tunisia, to check on things there.
I heard a fragment on the BBC World broadcast, last night, from a former State Department Official, (sorry I did not get his name) who pointed out the root of all the fear and trembling we are witnessing. He said, "The last time we bombed Gaddafy we got Lockerbie. If we do anything, we had better make damned sure we take him out."
Once again we see American Exceptionalism, writ large. If we do it it's Okey Dokey. If we decide for what ever reason not to do it, why that just OK, too.
The moral cowards on display in our government branches is profoundly disappointing.
Better to leave a mad man who murders his own people in place than risk giving assistance to a rag tag group of men and women who have demonstrated such courage, and resourcefulness in trying to bring down the monster, against a formidable military machine.
When even the Arab League asks for a no fly zone, what kind of moral failure allows western nations to look away?
