In the past month, the situation in Libya has continued to spiral out of control. President Muammar Gadhafi has continued to kill his own people, and ignored the worldwide pleas for him to leave office.
As a result, the UN Security Council implemented the oft-discussed no-fly zone, which prohibits aircrafts from flying over Libya, last week.
In order to enforce the zone, several countries have sent a military presence to Libya, the United States being one of them.
This past Saturday, President Obama announced the beginning of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the codename for the U.S.'s role in the Libyan conflict. That role will include the presence of several naval warships and stealth bomber planes from the Air Force.
In the four days since Operation Odyssey Dawn was announced, there has been a lot of debate over whether or not this was the right thing to do.
Many believe the situation in Libya has gotten out of control and that military force is the only thing that will stop Gadhafi.
Additionally, many believe that Libya is too big, and too meaningful of a country to be ruled by a lunatic who has lost all credibility as a leader by killing his own people. For the good of Libya, as the well as the good of the people, something has to be done.
The counterargument is that after the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the last thing the United States needs to do is get involved in the affairs of another largely Islamic country known for its supply of oil. It would simply look bad.
Both sides have a valid point in this case. In past editorials about the Libyan conflict, The Spectrum had taken the latter argument, stating our opposition to any U.S. military presence in Libya.
Opinions can change with time, however, and as the situation has spiraled further out of control and Gadhafi has continued to kill his own people, we understand why Obama would make the decision to get involved the conflict.
Additionally, it is important to note that our opposition stemmed from the notion that the U.S. would be going in on its own, as it did in Iraq. Instead, our country is merely working with several other countries, including Great Britain and France, and they are enforcing a rule created by the UN Security Council.
It is also important to note that despite the media hype, the military presence is nowhere close to that of the Iraq invasion. There are no ground troops being sent to Libya and, as of now, the U.S. Army has played no role in Operation Odyssey Dawn. In other words, it can hardly be considered a war.
Considering the atrocities committed by Gadhafi, as well the international support for the no-fly zone, this is certainly a reasonable decision.
