Foreign Policy Blogging at OTB

I’ve just published a foreign policy-related post at Outside the Beltway:

Clark Opposes Libyan No-Fly Zone

In a sort of rebuttal to John Kerry’s argument yesterday Gen. Wesley Clark argues that imposing a Libyan no-fly zone does not meet the standards for U. S. military intervention. I agree.

I think there are some practical problems with his attempt in this op-ed to conjoin the success of a mission with its meeting the standards he sets out. The success or failure of some of the actions he lists remains in doubt. Was Iraq successful? Was the intervention in Bosnia? Kosovo? If you define the objectives narrowly enough, e.g. “removing Saddam Hussein”, the answer is clearly yes. However, if a broader definition, e.g. producing a politically stable aftermath, is applied you can’t know until after troops have been withdrawn, whether in Kosovo or Iraq.

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