Hypocrite, Hypocrite, Two-Faced Posted by Michael Cohen

Over at the Atlantic, my good friend and colleague Josh Foust has a post up deriding those who advocated intervention in Libya and are not now doing the same in Yemen:

From almost every angle, I cannot see why tho se who demanded the world intervene to prevent an atrocity from happening in Libya are not doing the same on behalf of Yemen. Some say that Yemen is prohibitively complicated, but Yemen only seems more complex because we know more about it . . . Other argue that intervention in Libya had more international support, but there is broad international consensus that the Saleh regime needs to end. And the argument that the world had to stop an atrocity in Libya ring the most hollow of all: unlike in Libya, there are atrocities happening in Yemen right now, and they are by all accounts horrifying.

To be honest, I don't think this is really all that confusing - all you really need to do is read President Obama's speech justifying intervention in Libya from back in March:

Some question why America should intervene at all - even in limited ways - in this distant land. They argue that there are many places in the world where innocent civilians face brutal violence at the hands of their government, and America should not be expected to police the world, particularly when we have so many pressing concerns here at home.

It is true that America cannot use our military wherever repression occurs. And given the costs and risks of intervention,we must always measure our interests against the need for action. But that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what's right.In this particular country - Libya; at this particular moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale.We had a unique ability to stop that violence: an international mandate for action, a broad coalition prepared to join us, the support of Arab countries, and a plea for help from the Libyan people themselves. We also had the ability to stop Gaddafi's forces in their tracks without putting American troops on the ground.

One doesn't have to agree with this - and in some parts I don't - nonetheless, the President makes what is a very clear and compelling case for why the US could and should have intervened in Libya . . . and why such an intervention can't necessarily be replicated everywhere else. In fact, while I had and have real concerns about our intervention in Libya I also  recognize that what made this war unique - and why it is different from Yemen or Syria - is that US interests and capabilities were very much in concert (and that doesn't happen very often).

There was an international coalition supporting the intervention (including backing from the Arab League); the US was not being asked to take the military lead or put troops on the ground; because of the unique geography of Libya it was possible to intervene and do so in such a way that a) saved civilian lives and b) turned back the enemy. Very few of these particular attributes exist in Yemen or Syria or anywhere else for that matter.

Indeed, there are many good arguments against intervening in Libya - it wasn't in our interests, we didn't understand the rebels we were supporting, we didn't think long-term about what would happen after the fighting stopped etc. But the argument that we shouldn't intervene in Libya because it would set a precedent we couldn't replicate is by far the least compelling argument. It's a basic recipe for inaction, even when the capabilities exist for the US and the international community to intervene in such a way that could be beneficial (and obviously one can disagree over whether our intervention in Libya was beneficial).

By the logical progression of Josh's argument we should not intervene to protect civilians that are risk of being killed . . . because we can't do it everywhere. As he says, "The problem is, Libya let the cat out of the bag. We sent that message that if you scream loud enough, we will step in. And now, when we choose not to, we risk looking like hypocrites." I don't see it this way at all. Countries choose to intervene or use military force all the time and as Obama suggests "we must always measure our interests against the need for action." That is a smart, pragmatic way to approach international issues and its one where consistency is a hugely overrated consideration. Who cares if the US is consistent if it comes at the expense of furthering the country's national interests? I don't mean to be flippant, but I tend to agree with old saw about consistency being the hobgobblin of simple minds (not that Josh is simple-minded!)

Of course, this doesn't mean that the US and the international community can't respond to what is happening in Yemen or Syria; but it doesn't necessarily mean that the response has to be one of military intervention. This is only hypocrisy if one views the response to humanitarian emergencies as exclusively that of military force. Clearly as the President suggests the places where the US should send troops in response to a humanitarian emergency is limited - and rightly so.

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