NATO, with America at the helm, is becoming increasingly involved in Libya under the guise of a humanitarian mission to protect the intentional killing of civilians opposed to the Libyan government. President Gaddafi has proven he is willing to murder his own people in order to stay in power and his removal from power may bring about a more democratic government and open society. However, what are the real reasons America and its allies have become so invested in Libya, given the unrest, uprising, and repression going on across the Middle East?<\/p>\n
Consider the following: recent statistics place the civilian death toll in Libya at approximately 6,000. However, there are far worse scenarios in which the US did nothing and current humanitarian situations where the US continues to do nothing. In the early 1990’s, the Rwandian genocide claimed the lives of 800,000 people (20% of the countries population at the time), and yet we did nothing. It took 5 years of civil war and several years of on-the-ground reporting of massacres in Yugoslavia for NATO to act decisively. Meanwhile, regimes across the Middle East (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kuwait, and Yemen) have had massive protests that have ended with respective armies mowing down unarmed civilians. What has suddenly motivated the US and its allies to consider the Libyan situation worthy of active intervention?
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\nThe obvious answer is that Libya is the largest oil producer in Africa and the ninth largest in the world, producing 1.8 million barrels a day in 2006. Well-informed citizens understand the pattern here: our so-called \u201chumanitarian missions\u201d tend to happen in oil rich countries. Secondly, Libya is largely on the outskirts of the American sphere of power. Much like Saddam or Chavez, Gaddafi operated internationally by presenting himself as a revolutionary anti-imperialist outside of Western manipulation. The United States does not have to sacrifice a strategic partner or ally in removing Gaddafi; in fact, the US will most likely gain another government complacent to American interests:<\/p>\n