Should Western Powers Intervene in Libya?

There is an interesting conversation being had on twitter right now between Jeff Emanuel, John Noonan, and Dan Foster about whether the United States or other western powers should intervene in Libya on behalf of the protesters who are being killed by Gaddafi's air forces. One proposal, apparently being made by the Libyan ambassador to the United States (who has now defected to the protesters), is to establish a no-fly zone over the country.

There are a few questions wrapped up in the proposal: (1) Is such an intervention, which is essentially a declaration of war on Gaddafi loyalists fighting in their own sovereign nation, moral? (2) Is it legal? And (3) Do we (or NATO or other western powers) actually have the practical ability to intervene right now?

My armchair sense of the situation says that the answers are probably yes, no, and yes, though there are few questions on which I am less equipped to opine than U.S. military capabilities. What do you think?

And why? I'm particularly interested to know why there is a distinction between intervening to prevent the loyalist air forces from massacring protesters, but not to prevent the ground-based military from doing the same. Is that a moral distinction, a legal distinction, or a practical distinction being made?

Incidentally, if you're not already following the three guys I linked above, you probably should be.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 04:32 PM

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