I’ll be brief here. I would like to extend compliments to the Obama administration for taking action and declaring some controlling principles. I have plenty of criticism which can be seen all over my blog and elsewhwere, but that is not this post. I believe that the price of admission to a gripe session includes a willingness to take Yes for an answer, and proposals for shared success, not just criticisms. I’m not sure where I’ll wind up on this putative doctrine of President Obama’s, and I’m not sure what it will turn out to be, but my first impression is that it’s a step in the right direction. So I take this opportunity to give credit where due.
The President has ordered U.S. military aircraft to evacuate Egyptians trapped in Libya at the border with Egypt by legal and geographic concerns, along with other non-Libyans who may need extraction. I will simply assume that the Americans have been evacuated or situated properly.
President Obama repeated his call for Gaddafi to depart the scene, using more blunt language than the first time. He also clarified that his conditions for opposing a regime are first, a lack of freedom and second, violence against civilians . This was almost buried in his comments, but I believe that those two points are critical to understanding his approach to foreign affairs.
Those conditions form the core of a doctrine, actually, and one which closely matches my positions on the use of American power:
- Freedom is the birthright of every person.
- Freedom is wasted on him who will not make others free.
- National sovereignty ends where government oppression begins.
I supported our involvement in Kosovo, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan, the horn of Africa, and others. I support our current or new involvement in more areas than this. I support popular movements in Lebanon, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and others as well. I have always criticized the State-Department-esque position which seems to value stability over freedom, security over liberty.
I understand that some of these movements will succeed as instruments of freedom, and some will putrefy and be taken over by totalitarians, in which case they become places where I will support even more action by the U.S. military. But I do not see how America as a nation with a conscience, founded with a purpose, and with an exceptional role to play in this world can do anything other than support freedom—even if the results are not guaranteed.
There is much work which remains to be done if the President’s nascent doctrine is to succeed, and I do not expect him to ever come around to my way of seeing things. But I am certainly willing to take this as a start, to assume that it will be fleshed out, and praise it as step in the right direction.
None of us expected this President to have a good grip on foreign affairs, so if he must “grow in office” to attain competence in this challenging field, then I will not criticize that when it occurs.
I applaud recent steps taken by the administration, and hope to see more in the near future—I am certain it will be needed.
