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LIBYA
Exit Gaddafi: The Hidden History of the Libyan Revolution, by Ethan Chorin. London: Saqi Books, 2012. £15. [Also published as Exit the Colonel: The Hidden History of the Libyan Revolution. New York, Public Affairs Books, 2012. $30.]
Reviewed by Jason Pack
More than two years after the United States joined France, Britain, Qatar, and others in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, the morality, political wisdom, and international legality of helping rebel forces topple Mu'ammar al-Qadhafiis still hotly debated.
Was it a success as it aided the Libyan people's fight for freedom and led to successful elections, bringing the Arab Spring's only non-Islamist successor government to power? Or a failure as the post-Qadhaficentral government is so weak and security so patchy that the British Ambassador's motorcade was bombed and the US Ambassador was assassinated by Islamist militants even though the authorities and the vast majority of the Libyan people hold favorable attitudes toward Britain and America?
Even the highest political officials in the land cannot seem to decide if the United States adopted the right policy in engaging in Libya. In fact, since the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, the subject of America's role in Libya has become irrevocably tainted by partisanship
In her last public act as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton appeared before Congress on January 23, 2013. She presented vague admissions concerning the State Department's and the intelligence community's failings that led to the death of Ambassador Stevens. Freshman senator from Kentucky Rand Paul claimed that Clinton should have been fired for the security lapses, while Senator John McCain bravely redirected the discussion away from security and toward the larger issues of the US-Libya relationship. He bucked the consensus in Congress which holds that the US should invest more in security and less in "nation-building" in societies in transition. McCain hit the nail on the head as he pointed out that Ambassador Stevens was inherently in danger in travelling to Benghazi, not because Americans are hated in Libya, but rather because the US did not provide enough capacity building assistance to the Libyan authorities to help them construct central security mechanisms. He rightly acknowledged that American failings in Libya have been from engaging too little,...