Lybian fighter
© REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-FetoriA member of the Libyan National Army holds his weapon during clashes with Islamist militants in Khreibish district in Benghazi, Libya.
When the Obama administration led a 2011 NATO military intervention on behalf of rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, there was considerable optimism that the move would produce a much better country. Although U.S. officials and their media cheerleaders acknowledged that significant challenges remained for a post-Qaddafi Libya, they argued that the outcome could scarcely be worse than the oppressive status quo. Events over the past six years have proven their assumptions spectacularly wrong. Libya is now a cauldron of turmoil and Islamic radicalism.

As Qaddafi's rule teetered, optimism in U.S. political and journalistic circles was pervasive. "Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant," President Obama stated in August 2011. "The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator." Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham were equally gratified and positive. "The end of the Gadhafi regime is a victory for the Libyan people and the broader cause of freedom in the Middle East and throughout the world," they concluded. The two senators, along with their Republican colleagues, Mark Kirk and Marco Rubio, gushed during a visit to "liberated" Tripoli that the rebels had "inspired the world."

In his remarks regarding the dictator's capture and gruesome death in October, Obama asserted that "the dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted" from Libya. He urged the citizens of that country to "build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke" to the former oppressor. Ivo H. Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Adm. James Stavridis were equally enthusiastic. Describing the intervention as "an extraordinary job, well done," they called it "an historic victory for the people of Libya who, with NATO's help, transformed their country from an international pariah into a nation with the potential to become a productive partner with the West."


Comment: What egregious lying! Under Ghadaffi, Libyans had the highest standard of living in Africa. All of his policies supported and improved the lives of his citizens. Western "humanitarian intervention" has brought nothing but misery to Libya.

Much of the American news media chimed in about the glorious outcome of the U.S.-NATO intervention. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was euphoric about how the people he encountered in Libya loved America. "Americans are not often heroes in the Arab world, but as nonstop celebrations unfold here in the Libyan capital I keep running into ordinary people who learn where I'm from and then fervently repeat variants of the same phrase: Thank you, America!"

There were only a few dissenting voices from the celebration. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, writing in Salon, expressed his astonishment and dismay at the lack of realism or even minimal skepticism on the part of policymakers.
I'm genuinely astounded at the pervasive willingness to view what has happened in Libya as some sort of grand triumph even though virtually none of the information needed to make that assessment is known yet, including: how many civilians have died, how much more bloodshed will there be, what will be needed to stabilize that country and, most of all, what type of regime will replace (Moammar) Gadhafi?
Greenwald's apprehension proved well founded. Libya soon became the playground for both rival militias and rival governments. Writing in 2012, shortly after the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the other victims in Benghazi, Greenwald asked
"[H]ow much longer will it be before we hear that military intervention in Libya is (again) necessary, this time to control the anti-U.S. extremists who are now armed and empowered by virtue of the first intervention? U.S. military interventions are most adept at ensuring that future U.S. military interventions will always be necessary."
A little more than three years later, the United States conducted a new round of airstrikes to prevent the establishment of an Islamic State (ISIS) beachhead in the Mediterranean coastal city of Sirte. ISIS infiltration already was becoming evident in late 2014 and early 2015. An early sign of the terrorist group's presence was a mass beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians who had migrated to Libya to find work.