In 1785 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams convened a negotiating session in London with the Ambassador from Tripoli about the unwarranted raiding of United States merchant ships and the capturing of U.S citizens for slavery. The Ambassador informed them that because the sailors from America were not followers of the Qur’an, they were open to plunder and slavery. After Jefferson became President, he took action to quell the threat from the Barbary pirates.
This past week President Obama went along with a UN directive promoted by France and Great Britain to enforce a “no fly zone” over Tunisia. It was characterized as a humanitarian effort to save the lives of Tunisians who were protesting and rebelling against Colonel Gaddafi’s dictatorial rule. Although the total extent of the U.S. involvement has not been revealed or leaked, there are strong indications and intelligence that our B-2 bombers were deployed.
At this point we continue to have major deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our military has more than 900 bases in 136 countries across the globe. Our professional fighting forces have been stretched so thin that National Guard and military reserves are serving multiple tours in the various hotspots identified by the nation’s political leadership. In some respects we have come to be known as bellicose bullies while, at the same time, displaying weakness with true threats to our national security. Iran and North Korea have both stated a willingness to do harm to our country and its people, yet their positions as nuclear powers and rogue states remain relatively unchallenged by our leadership. This current state of affairs is not limited to golfing/basketball-player/bracket-creating Democrats. It has existed for some time under presidents from both of the old parties.
In my gut I believe that our political leaders who have not served in armed conflict use these meaningless, unconstitutional adventurous forays as bona fides for establishing their “tough guy” images. This attitude has been prevalent for a long time. In 1898 Teddy Roosevelt formed his own military force and charged up San Juan Hill against a few poorly-armed peasants to prove that he had the courage, the dash and the leadership qualities to be a leader. He was elected to the presidency two years later and served for two terms (he was instrumental in the first great federal land grab). Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada, and the invasion of Panama to capture General Noriega was authorized by George H. W. Bush. President Clinton endorsed General Wesley Clark’s 30,000 foot high military intervention in Bosnia to minimize ethnic cleansing by bombing civilians and the Chinese Embassy.
Tunisia and Gaddafi have been pesky irritants for some time for the United States. In 1986 President Reagan ordered a bombing of Gaddafi’s private complex near Tunis, and one of his children was killed. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, and 259 people perished. It was suspected and recently confirmed that Gaddafi ordered the “hit” in retaliation for the 1986 raid. For as long as the United States has existed as a nation, the Barbary, Tripoli/Tunisian region has been a problem area.
So in the midst of fine dining, dancing the bosa nova, and attempting to appear “presidential,” President Obama has approved another military intervention in Tunisia. Despite his differences from his predecessors, his actions and his rhetoric copy theirs. If humanitarian concerns were his driving impulse, then the Sudan and Rwanda would emerge as theaters of operation. The people who have served in the halls of power for our country may reflect different philosophies, different domestic policies and varying political skills. They all share a common trait, however. They undermine our liberty, plunder our property and steal our wealth while risking the lives of our professional military personnel, spending borrowed money for ordinance and deployment, and behaving like the tin-pot dictators that they claim to oppose. The fault is ours, fellow citizens, for electing the weak to lead us. The Lord said the meek would inherit the earth. The meek are humble. The weak are dangerous.
Why Libya? Why now? Why at all? Why attack countries which have the military might, the GDP and the geo-political power of Rhode Island? Isn’t it forays such as these that lead to our being labeled an international bully? What purpose do we serve by projecting our national power in places such as these? Or…are they mere exercises in the exhibition of presidential personal testosterone? Lord Acton was correct. “Absolute power does corrupt absolutely.”
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