The attack on the US consulate
in Libya and the killing of the US Ambassador and several aides is another
tragic example of how our interventionist foreign policy undermines our
national security. The more the US tries to control the rest of the world,
either by democracy promotion, aid to foreign governments, or by bombs, the
more events spin out of control into chaos, unintended consequences, and
blowback.
Unfortunately, what we saw in
Libya last week is nothing new.
In 1980s Afghanistan, the US
supported Islamic radicals in their efforts to expel the invading Soviet
military. These radicals became what is known to be al-Qaeda, and our
one-times allies turned on us most spectacularly on September 11, 2001.
Iraq did not have a
significant al Qaeda presence before the 2003 US invasion, but our occupation
of that country and attempt to remake it in our image caused a massive
reaction that opened the door to al Qaeda, leading to thousands of US
soldiers dead, a country destroyed, and instability that shows no sign of
diminishing.
In Libya we worked with, among
others, the rebel Libyan Fighting Group (LIFG) which included foreign
elements of al-Qaeda. It has been pointed out that the al-Qaeda affiliated
radicals we fought in Iraq were some of the same groups we worked with to
overthrow Gaddafi in Libya. Last year in a television interview I predicted
that the result of NATO's bombing of Libya would likely be an increased
al-Qaeda presence in the country. I said at the time that we may be
delivering al-Qaeda another prize.
Not long after NATO overthrew
Gaddafi, the al Qaeda flag was flown over the courthouse in Benghazi. Should
we be surprised, then, that less than a year later there would be an attack
on our consulate in Benghazi? We have been told for at least the past eleven
years that these people are the enemy who seeks to do us harm.
There is danger in the belief
we can remake the world by bribing some countries and bombing others. But
that is precisely what the interventionists - be they liberal or conservative
- seem to believe. When the world does not conform to their image, they seem
genuinely shocked. The secretary of state's reaction to the attack on the US consulate
in Benghazi was one of confusion. "How could this happen in a country we
helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction," she asked.
The problem is that we do not
know and we cannot know enough about these societies we are seeking to remake.
We never try to see through the eyes of those we seek to liberate. Libya is
in utter chaos, the infrastructure has been bombed to rubble, the economy has
ceased to exist, gangs and militias rule by brutal force, the government is
seen as a completely illegitimate and powerless US puppet. How could anyone
be shocked that the Libyans do not see our bombing their country as saving it
from destruction?
Currently, the US is actively
supporting rebels in Syria that even our CIA tells us are affiliated with al
Qaeda. Many of these radical Islamist fighters in Syria were not long ago
fighting in Libya. We must learn from these mistakes and immediately cease
all support for the Syrian rebels, lest history once again repeat itself. We
are literally backing the same people in Syria that we are fighting in
Afghanistan and that have just killed our ambassador in Libya! We must
finally abandon the interventionist impulse before it is too late.