More bad Libya arguments
A curious conventional wisdom has emerged in the commentary on Libyaâ??s revolutionaries. â??We donâ??t know who these people are or what comes next,â? the popular reasoning goes, â??so we canâ??t let ourselves be too enthusiastic about them, their goals or their achievements.â? - Leslie CampbellBut it is a distorted form of realism to believe that the future will be worse than the present. Itâ??s as if the unpredictability of the future has led to nostalgia about what once was, even though Libyaâ??s status quo included a maniacal dictator who plundered his countryâ??s resources, sponsored outrageous acts of international terrorism, and harassed, jailed and killed his political opponents. It is surely unfair to demand that the courageous Libyans assuage our anxiety before claiming their fundamental human rights.
Come again? No one is demanding that the Libyan rebels "assuage our anxiety before claiming their fundamental human rights." We're demanding they "assuage our anxiety" before we fight a war on their behalf. Is this so hard to grasp?
