The U.S. has been widely criticized for invading Afghanistan and Iraq, by just about every country in the world. Many world leaders have campaigned for election by saying they were against these wars. People criticize the U.S. for having selfish motives such as oil, or that the U.S. simply does not belong in a foreign land. It is criticized for invading Afghanistan a country that is responsible for the death of thousands of their people. Or, Iraq which had a ruthless dictator who mercilessly killed people. But the world does not see the U.S. as the "shining city upon the hill" for invading these countries, instead they see greed and corruption.
Obama is telling the world that they cannot criticize the U.S. on both sides of the argument. If the U.S. invades Libya, they will eventually be condemned by the world who will stare down at them, sitting on their pillar of judgement which is supported by false integrity. Yet what have these other countries done? The U.S. has a 14 trillion dollar deficit, much of which has come from military spending (approximately $700 billion in spending a year including wars) as they protect the world, while the world continues to decrease their military spending. The U.S. spends nearly 3 times as much on military as Europe despite having economies of approximately the same size. The Europeans and the world enjoy budget surpluses as the U.S. provides a free of charge global army.
The people rallying for the U.S. to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and wondering why the U.S. has not invaded Libya should note the striking irony in their arguments. Where they see human rights abuse they cry for action and when there is action they condemn the one who takes it.
Should the U.S. take action in Libya perhaps. But it won't, because international condemnation for the last 10 years has put their world power and global might in a straightjacket.
Will other world powers step up, and help out the Libyan people? Probably not, they would rather criticize and do nothing.
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