The Libyan intervention has challenged many on the Left. Of course there are those who cheer U.S. foreign policy everywhere and those who think Qaddafi is a left hero. But for those who reject both these points of view, the Libyan situation has still been very difficult to sort out. Mike Albert and I wrote a question and answer offering our views.
We take the position that protection of the rebels from imminent slaughter by means of a no-fly zone and a no-drive zone was justified in principle despite the sordid hypocrisy of the intervening powers. However, the actual UN Security Council resolution 1973 was far too open-ended and imposed too few constraints on the intervening powers to ensure that the moral and human benefits would exceed the moral and human costs.
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