The Timeliness Paradox: Why isn’t Obama getting credit for s

[Rombaldi]

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/858 ... ed-paradox

The Timeliness Paradox
Why isn’t Obama getting credit for stopping an atrocity?

Tom MalinowskiMarch 27, 2011 | 5:53 pm

Here is one lesson we can draw from the mostly negative media commentary about the Obama administration’s actions in Libya: Presidents get more credit for stopping atrocities after they begin than for preventing them before they get out of hand.

(snip)

In Libya, many people (we don’t yet know how many) were arrested, forcibly disappeared and possibly executed as the Qaddafi government consolidated its control over Tripoli and rebel-held enclaves, like Zawiyah, in the country’s west. But the Obama administration and its international allies did act soon enough to prevent the much larger-scale atrocities that would likely have followed Qaddafi’s reconquest of eastern Libya and especially the city of Benghazi. Indeed, though this intervention must have felt painfully slow to the people of Benghazi as Qaddafi’s army bore down upon them, it was, by any objective standard, the most rapid multinational military response to an impending human rights crisis in history, with broader international support than any of the humanitarian interventions of the 1990s.

(snip)

But precisely because the international community acted in time—before Qaddafi retook Benghazi—we never saw what might have happened had they not acted. Today in eastern Libya, there are no columns of refugees marching home to reclaim their lives; no mass graves testifying to the gravity of the crisis; no moment that symbolizes a passing from horror to hope. The sacking of Benghazi was the proverbial dog that didn’t bark. And so, just days into the military operation, commentators have moved on to a new set of questions—some serious (Is the mission to protect civilians or to remove Qaddafi? Will NATO be stuck patrolling a divided country?), and some trivial (Should Obama have gone to Brazil when the bombing started? Did the interventionist “girls” in his administration out-argue the cautious boys?)

(snip)

But before the debate moves on, as it must, we should acknowledge what could be happening in eastern Libya right now had Qaddafi’s forces continued their march. The dozens of burned out tanks, rocket launchers, and missiles bombed at the eleventh hour on the road to Benghazi would have devastated the rebel stronghold if Qaddafi’s forces had been able to unleash them indiscriminately, as they did in other, smaller rebel-held towns, like Zawiyah, Misrata, and Adjabiya. Qaddafi’s long track-record of arresting, torturing, disappearing, and killing his political opponents to maintain control suggests that had he recaptured the east, a similar fate would have awaited those who supported the opposition there. Over a hundred thousand Libyans already fled to Egypt fearing Qaddafi’s assault; hundreds of thousands more could have followed if the east had fallen. The remaining population, and those living in refugee camps abroad, would have felt betrayed by the West, which groups like Al Qaeda would undoubtedly have tried to exploit. Finally, Qaddafi’s victory—alongside Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s fall—would have signaled to other authoritarian governments from Syria to Saudi Arabia to China that if you negotiate with protesters you lose, but if you kill them you win.

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Tom Malinowski is the Washington director of Human Rights Watch.

[Bobbi Snow]

Why isn't he getting credit? Because he's only half white, and because he's a Democrat... It's just that simple. People can "justify" criticizing him all they want with their well-thought-out, carefully worded reasoning, but when we cut to the chase, if he were white and had been elected on the Republican ticket, the attacks would be far more subtle and there wouldn't be this stupid Birth Certificate question. If he were white, we wouldn't have the Tea Party, hijacking one of my favorite flags, which now I will never fly again for fear of being associated with any one of those crazies. It doesn't matter how smart he is, how carefully he thinks decisions through, or how much he loves this country. Everything he does is "wrong," even if the Republicans have wanted those kinds of decisions in the past... Once President Obama wants it, too, then suddenly it's not the right thing to do.

[Linnea]

Excellent article on this, Rombaldi. A different and refreshing perspective. I was beginning to get too cynical...

Thanks

[Rombaldi]

Lin, Bobbi...

exactly.. we hear all this bullsnit about "IMPEACH" "Violated the Constitution!" and that's all it is...

bullsnit from all sides... between the Reich Wing that want's to tear down anything he does, to the misguided that think they have to have everything RIGHT NOW, and unless it's THEIR WAY, then Obama is worse than Bush...

I'm proud of the way this has been handled.. and those that want to slag off on that being "Democratic Propaganda" or other dismissive taunts... I refer your to the works of one Cee-Lo Green...

This has been handled right, with the right actions, with proper international support and agreement, and has saved COUNTLESS lives...

[Live365]

Obama to address this issue in about 45 minutes. Don't want to post the time since not sure about zones! ETA: it's 5:45 pm here...address begins at 6:30.

[kbot]

Watched the address. This morning the reviews were mixed. Rom is correct in that he very well may have averted an atrocity. Obama pointed out that NATO (this is a joint venture after all) reacted much quicker than in Bosnia. So, the sticking point wel may be "atrocity". Did an atrocity, on a par with Bosnia or Darfur exist in Lybia, or will Obama (and NATO) be viewed as opportunists, more concerned about oil than people? Already the similarities between Obama's speech and Bush 43's from a few years ago, when the invasion of Iraw started have been made.

[Shazam]

When the youth of Iran revolt (as they have) an Obama backs THEM up and keeps them from getting shot down in the street THEN I will give him credit....till then....ill hold judgement...good or bad...

[SETIsLady]

Great article Rom, thanks for sharing it.