Obama Doctrine Emerges: International Support Critical To Military MissionsSusan Crabtree | March 27, 2011
For Americans accustomed to U.S. presidents, especially George W. Bush, making decisions about war and peace unilaterally and weary of the results of that approach in Afghanistan and Iraq, the difference is stark.
After 9/11, Bush talked loudly and carried a big stick, famously threatening to catch Osama bin Laden and bring him back "dead or alive," with no results after nearly a decade, and selling the public on a doctrine of preemption in Iraq even though years later the administration still could not prove there was ever a real threat.
Obama appears to be embracing almost the opposite approach. In Libya, he was content to take cautious, behind-the-scenes steps that led to eventual international support -- even if it meant weeks of delay and potentially worse conditions on the ground. As he struggles to find a way to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and continue to stabilize Iraq, he is extremely leery of committing ground troops anywhere else and he firmly pledged not to do so in Libya.
The Bush wars were so long and costly, that many Americans and their representatives in Washington are wary of committing the U.S. military in any additional conflicts. The consternation over the decision to dedicate U.S. forces to Libya cuts across traditional ideological boundaries. Democrats and Republicans of all political strips have questioned his decision to intervene in Libya against the government of the notorious Muammar Qaddafi while leaving other dictators with records of crushing democratic rebellions free.
Obama has tried to make the case that helping innocent people escape brutal governments is the right thing to do -- but only if and when the international community can provide some backup.
"I firmly believe that when innocent people are being brutalized; when someone like Qaddafi threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region; and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives--then it's in our national interest to act," he said in his weekly address. "And it's our responsibility.then it's in our national interest to act. And it's our responsibility."http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/obama-doctrine-emerges-international-support-critical-to-military-missions.php President Barack Obama speaks during a working dinner for Heads of Delegation at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., April 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)