No-Fly Zone

Submitted by Nick (United Kingdom), Mar 10, 2011 at 14:47

Daniel Pipes, are there any circumstances under which you would endorse the implementation, by the US and or other international forces, UN, NATO etc. etc. of a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians from bombardments by Qadafi? Or to reformulate, would you be open to a no-fly zone in which the UN and or NATO and or the UK for example play a fundamental leading role, with the United States not taking a front seat?

In principle I agree with the premise that the US (UN is perhaps another story) is not here to do social work, and that military involvement should be to further the interests of the US. This seems however to me to be a complicated proposition, as the argument can be made that US interests may indeed be furthered by supporting the Libyan people's just demands for an end to the Qadafi dictatorship, and of course the removal of the 'mad dog' Qadafi. And whilst conspiracy theories will no doubt flow throughout the Arab world should the US take action which involves engagement in another Muslim majority country, there is I believe potentially the opportunity for a situation of a different kind, on a scale, scope and with a purpose and mission quite different to that of Afghanistan or Iraq for example.

I would appreciate your expanded comments on this matter

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