Natalie Gonnella
The escalating conflict in Libya was again addressed by a number of conservative guests during this Sunday's political show round up.
Although representing different backgrounds and offering a variety of opinions, conservatives were unified in reiterating the view that while the we should avoid putting our own troops on the ground, for the sake of regional security and the future of democracy the President must demonstrate a stronger and more coordinated response to the ongoing violence in the Middle East. Here's a look at what they had to say in their own words:
Former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said on CNN's State of the Union that while he appreciates President Obama's initial message more needs to be done:
I think, for example, we could consider a statement now saying: We’re looking past Gadhafi. We’re going to help the Libyan people build a regime, in which they can be proud. I’d like to see us take this money that we have frozen – I think it’s $15 billion – and say we will start creating a trust, for the re-building of Libya...And we could be calling for tribes, the military, other groups, to join – to turn against Gadhafi, to join in building the new Libya – and then make the point that they will be held responsible for his crimes.
During an appearance on Meet the Press, New York Times columnist David Brooks commented that:
[W]e're hedging, and I don't think we should be hedging. Maybe we can't do--go in--no one wants to go in with boots on the ground, but we've got to at least express our principles clearly that we're for democracy, we think autocracies are unstable, and we're for that kind of change. And we--we're always hedging nuances that nobody else pays attention to that makes us look passive. The problem with a Libya is we've gotten ourselves into a bad situation by imposing sanctions on Gadhafi, essentially saying, "You've got to fight to the death because there's no way out for you," but then not doing the second step, which was actually removing him. So we've put him--we've boxed him in, and now he's fighting back, and we're sort of doing nothing. It's a phenomenally difficult problem, but we've got to at least express our values clearly.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on ABCS's The Week, Senator John McCain reiterated his previous statements, calling once again for the US to intervene in a number of ways that would be a great assistance to the Libyan people and democracy in the region:
Well, clearly, we are on the side of the rebels. We have called for Gadhafi's removal. That's the president of the United States' policy. But, again, I want to emphasize. Ground intervention would not be appropriate, certainly not at this time. A ground intervention by the part of the United States could be very counterproductive. But we can assist in a lot of ways, humanitarian, intelligence, providing them with some training and other things that we could do as they form up a provisional government in Benghazi.
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