Libyan Crisis: Should we or should we not intervene

In Libya, Col. Gadhafi is massacring its people to keep his hold on power. He has been ruling Libya for more than 40 years and seems in no hurry to leave. To say that the man is insane is an understatement. In 1975, he published "The Green Book" and made it a required reading for all Libyans. It documents his political philosophy. In here, he rejects liberal democracy, capitalism and free press and touts "Direct Democracy" being practiced in Libya where he appoints all key office holders.

One Libyan scholar, Dirk Vandewalle, has described the following passage from the book as encapsulating Gadhafi thought best:

"While it is democratically not permissible for an individual to own any information or publishing medium, all individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means, even if such means were insane and meant to prove a person's insanity."

The question for American administration is whether to intervene militarily or not to remove Col. Gadhafi from power. It seems to me that Libyan ruler currently does not represent a clear and present danger to United States and thus obviates any need for an unilateral military intervention.

Having said that, international community can not ignore the prospect of a full-fledged civil wire in Libya and thus a co-ordinated respond by the world community makes sense. Towards that goal, Arab League, last week approved creation of a "no-fly" zone over Libya. This is the first time Arab League has recommended such a measure against one of its own members. United States should now lead the effort in UN to get a security council approval for no-fly zone and work with its NATO member nations to implement it.

President Obama is being deliberate in this matter and I fully agree with his approach. We are still paying the price for hastily invading Iraq. We can not make that mistake again.