Hiding behind the mythical “international community,” as Washington has done so far in response to Moammar Khadafy’s brutal clampdown in Libya, sends a clear and unseemly message: The Obama administration is bowing out of any leadership role on an issue that cries out for US direction.
It was left up to a low-level Libyan diplomat to awaken that slumbering Turtle Bay-based “international community” to the horrors taking place in his homeland. Risking retribution against family members, Libyan deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, got the Security Council to convene its first meeting on any of the momentous Mideast events since a young Tunisian set himself on fire in December.
Dabbashi publicly denounced Khadafy on Monday afternoon, calling on the United Nations to prosecute the colonel on crimes against humanity and requesting that someone — anyone — set up a “no fly” zone over Libya to end the “genocide” perpetrated by the tyrant’s forces against his own citizens. Dabbashi then called to convene an emergency council meeting, so the “international community” could address his requests.
Meanwhile, President Obama was conspicuously silent about Libya, while all Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could muster on Monday was, “We join the international community in strongly condemning the violence in Libya.”
Violence? Gee, who’s perpetrating it? Is there a guilty party?
When camel-riding, whip-wielding hoodlums went on the attack in defense of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak last month, Washington’s response was decisive. It might have even helped in topping the scales in Egypt’s revolution.
But now comes news of piles of dead bodies after Khadafy’s forces used helicopters and fighter jets to attack freedom-seeking Libyans on the streets. Clinton’s response? “We will take appropriate steps in line with our policies, our values and our laws, but we are going to have to work in concert with the international community.”
Except it isn’t a community, and it certainly never acts “in concert” with us. A day after Dabbashi, by his lonesome, got the Security Council to convene, his boss, Ambassador Abdurrahman Shalgham (who’s been away from the UN halls for a while) popped up — telling reporters yesterday that he remains Khadafy’s “friend.”
By late afternoon yesterday, Shalgham addressed the Security Council in a closed-door session, telling its 15 members that he’s against violence too. But, like Washington, he declined to finger any perpetrator in particular. And, no, Libya certainly doesn’t favor international prosecution or a “no fly” zone over its skies.
The council predictably ended up issuing a bland statement, expressing “grave concern” and vaguely threatening that it would “hold to account” anyone responsible for attacks on civilians. Under pressure from China, a sentence calling for an international investigation was dropped from the statement.
“You know something’s wrong when the Arab League statement on a Mideast issue is stronger than the council’s,” said a UN diplomat. Well, it’s even worse when the council’s statement is stronger than the White House’s.
So America was willing to throw the dictator Mubarak, formerly our closest regional ally, under the bus — but we’ll let the UN take the “lead” (that is, the stall) when it involves a mad tyrant who’s slaughtering as many of his people as he needs to maintain power.
That message will reverberate in the region for a long time.
It doesn’t matter whether we’re doing it because of oil, fear of the wild revolutionary tiger, or concern over refugee waves washing on European shores.
Last week, the Obama administration sent the correct message when it vetoed a Security Council resolution that bizarrely attempted to address the only regional issue that remains unmoved by revolutionary fervors: The UN, it said, is the wrong place to address Palestinian-Israeli peace.
In reality, it’s the wrong place to address any international issue of consequence. Instead of delegating Libya to the UN, Obama should invite Ibrahim Dabbashi to the White House, along with other diplomats who recently dropped out of the services of a tyrant who has ruled their country for 42 years.
After all, how difficult can it be to call for the ouster of the worst Arab dictator, who has also killed dozens of Americans and has been a thorn in our side for so long? beavni@gmail.com