CFR PREZ HAASS DEMANDS BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN LIBYA

Richard Haass has today written in the FT that there must now be boots on the ground in Libya to restore order[1]. Stating that revolutions are often the result of a group of people with little in common except for their hatred of the government they wish to overthrow, Haass suggests that there is now a power vacuum which the TNC cannot easily fill, and that because NATO assisted the rebels it is therefore the responsibility of NATO to now keep the peace in Libya while a new government is formed.

But in proposing this Haass does admit that the NATO intervention was all about regime change.

All of this poses serious challenges to the outside world. Nato’s airplanes helped bring about the rebel victory. The “humanitarian” intervention introduced to save lives believed to be threatened was in fact a political intervention introduced to bring about regime change.

[1] Libya now needs boots on the ground, FT, 22/8/2011