{"id":32503,"date":"2014-08-15T19:21:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T23:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=32503"},"modified":"2014-08-15T19:21:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T23:21:14","slug":"why-did-president-obama-who-invoked-responsibility-to-protect-in-the-case-of-libya-not-do-the-same-during-the-final-days-of-the-war-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=32503","title":{"rendered":"Why did President Obama who Invoked Responsibility to Protect in the case of Libya not do the same During the Final days of the War in Sri Lanka?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Taylor Dibbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Obama recently made a decision. Consequently, the U.S. is launching limited airstrikes in Iraq and has also undertaken a humanitarian operation in the northern part of the country.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s press conference last Thursday was difficult to watch. He couldn\u2019t conceal the disgruntled look on his face; it appeared that he was having trouble looking directly into the camera. Obama emphasized that this was a humanitarian operation and that U.S. ground forces would not be going back to Iraq.<\/p>\n

Notably, he didn\u2019t mention anything about defeating the Islamic State (IS).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Obama\u2019s anti-war stance had a lot to do with his winning the Democratic nomination in 2008, but I\u2019m hoping he\u2019s thinking more about the well-being of the American republic (and the world) instead of campaign promises. Regrettably, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve gotten there yet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During his press conference on Saturday Obama said, \u201cThere is not going to be an American military solution to this problem.\u201d And of course, he refused to come out and say that defeating the Islamic State is a goal \u2013 looks like he\u2019d rather leave that to his successor.<\/p>\n

Limited airstrikes and humanitarian intervention were obviously needed. The problem is that more will need to be done. Nobody\u2019s talking about how limited airstrikes in Iraq will take out the Islamic State or even come close to doing so.<\/p>\n

Since that\u2019s the case, we\u2019ve still got a really big problem on our hands. Obama seems to think that it\u2019s time for the Iraqis (or anybody besides the U.S.) to step up and deal with this problem. Unfortunately, that\u2019s not feasible and that notion flies in the face of at least seventy years of diplomatic and military history.<\/p>\n

When asked about whether he had any regrets about leaving a residual force in Iraq, Obama maintained his disingenuous line about how we have arrived at where we are today. He clearly stated that it wasn\u2019t his decision. He goes with this line in spite of the fact that his administration did not take negotiations surrounding a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) seriously.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good that the U.S. is intervening to protect Americans and prevent genocide, but there are now a lot of inconsistencies in Obama\u2019s foreign policy. It\u2019d be helpful if he made some clarifications.<\/p>\n

Why not act in Syria? Why did the intervention in Libya not end up working so well and what can we learn from it? (Wasn\u2019t Libya supposed to prove to the world that \u2018leading from behind\u2019 would be just fine?)<\/p>\n

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was invoked to support the Libyan attacks, but then why wasn\u2019t the same rationale used in 2009 \u2013 during the final months of Sri Lanka\u2019s civil war? <\/strong>This latest move by Obama looks like the president feels compelled to \u201cdo something\u201d and help save his reputation without providing a coherent plan.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s self-absorbed brand of humanitarianism is neither a strategy nor a solution.<\/p>\n

Recently, there\u2019s been plenty of talk about how more military action in Iraq would go against Obama\u2019s campaign promises. There\u2019s no question about it; Obama wants to stay out of Iraq (and the rest of the Middle East) and hopes things work out for the best.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there\u2019s been a lot less talk about how the president should be far more focused on his presidency compared to what he said on the campaign trail in 2008 or 2012. Sure, he\u2019s at risk of upsetting his base and many Americans on both sides of the aisle don\u2019t want to see more American engagement abroad. But what about declaring that the Islamic State must be defeated?<\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t that be a goal? Obama should put his polling data aside and clearly make that case to the American public: Sitting on the sidelines or just getting to the periphery of the problem isn\u2019t sufficient and more must be done. Of course, Washington cannot control everything, but the Islamic State has metastasized under Obama\u2019s watch. And doubling down on his strategy of American disengagement and retreat would be ill-advised at this conjuncture.<\/p>\n

Obama looked frustrated on Saturday. At times when he was taking questions from the media, he came across as mildly irritated and even defensive. Maybe it\u2019s a good thing he\u2019s going on vacation for two weeks. Perhaps that will give him adequate time to reflect on all the major events in global affairs that appear to be passing him by.<\/p>\n

The world \u2013 with all its problems \u2013 will still be there when he gets back.<\/p>\n

(Taylor Dibbert <\/strong>is an international consultant based in Washington, D.C.<\/strong> and the author of the book Fiesta of Sunset: The Peace Corps, Guatemala and a Search for Truth.This article is reproduced from The Commentator<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Dibbert President Obama recently made a decision. Consequently, the U.S. is launching limited airstrikes in Iraq and has also undertaken a humanitarian operation in the northern part of the country. Obama\u2019s press conference last Thursday was difficult to watch. He couldn\u2019t conceal the disgruntled look on his face; it appeared that he was …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Why did President Obama who Invoked Responsibility to Protect in the case of Libya not do the same During the Final days of the War in Sri Lanka?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32504,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32503\/revisions\/32504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}