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Thursday, December 10, 2020

The Test of Time For the Shores of Tripoli 3.0

You may recall that the 2011 Libya War was basically a test of the theory that if only America had taken down Saddam in Iraq and then left, the locals would have sorted out their differences without the horrible destabilizing effect of America's presence. Kite-flying paradise soon to follow.

About that theory:

In Morocco the GNA Government of National Accord) and HoR (House of Representatives) are holding another round of UN-sponsored negotiations. ... At the Morocco meeting it was agreed that the new parliament would be based in Benghazi, rather that Tripoli, the traditional capital. The problem with Tripoli is that it is still dominated, and often threatened by the many independent militias that often do what they want, not what any government wants them to do. 

The Morocco conference still has several unresolved issues to deal with, including the continued presence of Turkish troops. The UN-backed GNA (in Tripoli), is unwilling or unable to get the Turkish force to leave.

The locals have not gotten together after Khadaffi was killed by NATO-supported rebels.

And while America stayed out, jihadis rushed in. (Which is odd because Democrats wrongly said that jihadis only went to Iraq because America was there.) To be followed by Egyptians, Turks, and Russians.

Nearly nine years after America overthrew Saddam, the President Obama boasted (see the update) of  leaving a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people" when American forces left.

How soon will Libya be a sovereign, stable and self-reliant state with democracy? Of course, by leaving Iraq too soon, Iraq reverted to the Libya model of foreigners coming into the vacuum to ruin the place--in Iraq's case jihadis and Iran.

Libya was also a test of "leading from behind" but we'll not go back over that ground again.

And don't get me started on Responsibility to Protect. Will both these policies be reset too in the Biden era? I'm sure the Democratic planning fetish improved a lot over the last decade, eh?

But no worries. No matter what war Biden fights, the media will defend and praise it. Heck, Biden can fall down "while playing with a dog" and break his foot, and the media swoons in praise.