Ravinder Arneja - Libya Outline

I have changed my thesis a little to: why did the international coalition intervene and decide to create a no-fly zone?  I look at the facts and circumstances to answer this question

• Background on Libya Pre Arab Spring - Qadhafi’s reign of power
• Clashes with the Eastern Tribes
• Conflicts with the religious classes and how he used the government to suppress religious freedom
• The “Green Book”
• The assault on Sunnism
• The rise of militant Islamist in the 80’s and 90’s and the regimes response

Arab Spring Protesting

•  Protest begin with angry mobs in Reyida, Benghazim and Zetan on February 15, 2011
• Protesters started being killed
• Mustafa Jalil resigns and joins the protesters
• Islamic leaders issue a Fatwa telling Muslims it is their duty to rebel and overthrow Qadhafi (open revolution)
• Protesters coalesce to organize (some fragmented groups) to create National Liberation Army
• Benghazi and Misrata fall to the revolutionaries, but Tripoli still under Qadhafi control

International Response

• Sarkozy proposes sanctions against Qadhafi in spring 2011
• Shortly after David Cameron proposes the no-fly zone
• Jalil endordes and pushes for no-fly zone along with the NLA
• National Transitional Council forms and is formally recognized by international community
• Arab League approves the no-fly zone plan after one month of protesting
• UN Security Council votes with 10 approvals and 5 abstentions to approve the np-fly zone
•  International coalition intervenes in Libya with air support

U.S. Reaction

• Obama signs executive order to commit advisors to Libya-Republicans accuse him of overstepping the nonbinding agreement signed earlier by Congress and the War Powers Act
• Obama signs executive order authorizing covert U.S. support of the NLA
• This turned the objective of the intervention from humanitarian purposes to a regime change intervention

Why Libya? Why no-fly zone?

• Regional support from Arab League was critical
• Large international coalition (not just the unilateral action of one country or a few country)
• The tide was turning fast – things got bad fast for protesters
• The NLA had requested support – but adamant about no boots on ground
• Support was shaped by domestic opposition – intervention needed to be swift and decisive (less than 90days), no “boots on the ground”
• History of bad relations with Libya (although the U.S. was tentative allies with Qadhafi regime in War on Terror, there was a history of animosity between Qadhafi and the U.S.)
• Other countries in the are were following suit- there was a wave of change in the Arab world the U.S. wanted to be on the right side of things
• No U.N. veto (Russian President Myedved, better relations with U.S. than Putin and China also abstained)
• Lucrative contracting opportunities for rebuilding country (including keeping oil production and export steady after revolution)
  Conclusion

From the Libyan intervention, we can study what exactly had to happen to intervene in the manner in which the international coalition did and maybe answer future questions such as why is there no intervention in Syria.