So apparently, after the tragic incident that everyone’s been talking about since yesterday (Sept 12), Pr. Obama announced that he would dispatch marines in order to hunt down the killers of Christopher Stevens, the 52-year-old US Ambassador as well as of another diplomat and two US officials. The attack at the US Embassy took place as a reaction against an American film, widely considered to be anti-Islamic. And all that, right before Obama dives into battle with his political opponent, Mitt Romney, in the 2012 Presidential Elections.
Wait- what?!
Okay, don’t get me wrong, and without wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, this was a PR Deus Ex Machina for Obama. I am not, by any means implying that this was a set up thing. But on the other hand, it does offer the US foreign policy in Libya, what Gaddafi’s regime couldn’t offer: Legitimisation (both internal and external) of a US invasion. That’s the reason, after all, that last year’s bombing of Libya was conducted under the NATO umbrella (and not directly under a US initiative).
Do Obama’s declarations constitute a beginning for a more active US foreign policy in Libya? Will we see any troops in the near future? I say, quite likely. One year later, Libya is still a land of mayhem and political conflict. Apart from that, of course, its significant geostrategic position, makes it a key target for the new US foreign policy. If the US sets troops is the country, it could monitor the already chaotic political situation in Tunisia, as well as gain access to the energy resources of not only the Northern African region, but also the recently discovered Eastern Mediterranean ones. Libya is literally in the middle of the Arab world.
As I said, let’s not make arbitrary, Michael-Moore-style, assumptions that the attack at the Embassy was planned. But then again- why on earth would you show an American film, possibly containing anti-Islamic messages, in a country such as Libya. Just saying.
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