Violating Libyan Sovereignty

The United Nations today, March 17, authorized the use of force to impose a "No Fly Zone" (NFZ) over Libyan airspace; see the following link; http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/uk-libya-idUKLDE71Q0MP20110317. Of course, the United States will be expected to help enforce the NFZ through the treat of violence if it is violated. If the U.S. military were to take part without a declaration of war by Congress, this would be unconstitutional. This never stops the government from doing something that they want to do, but with the new crop of "Tea Party" congressmen claiming to swear fidelity to the Constitution, you would expect them to hold true to their oath. Since this news just broke this afternoon, we will wait and see if they demand that war be declared before we take any sort of military action, but I won't hold my breath that war is declared before we invade Libyan airspace.

Now some may wonder why it is a bad idea to enforce the NFZ, after all, Gaddafi is killing his own citizens who are protesting against him.

The first reason I oppose involving ourselves into Libyan politics, after all that is essentially what it comes down to, is we are broke. We can't afford the war in Afghanistan or Iraq so what makes anyone think that we will suddenly be able to afford a third military incursion; even if it is only billed as simple air missions?

Second, who are we to tell any other, sovereign, nation how to run their country. As long as they aren't disrupting our ships, both military and civilian, and they aren't trying to invade us, we should leave them alone. By the way this is is called non-intervention, not isolation.

Who among us would stand for any other nation who tried to tell us how to run our country and then used military action to enforce it? What make the U.N.'s or our actions any different? Those who would claim that the protesters would be able to set up a democracy that would write a constitution that would mirror ours or come close don't understand the underlying tone of the protesters. The type of government that is likely to come out of a disposed Gaddafi would be one of Sharia law. Dictators like Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein had more of a secular government not a Sharia law type of government.

Instead of going around the globe looking for monsters to slay, we should mind our own business and try to keep invaders out of our country instead of "democratizing" the rest of the world.