Interventions

Obama: U.S. Saved ‘Countless Lives’

Reactions to his Libya speech.

President Obama took to television screens on Monday to announce that the U.S. has saved “countless lives” by intervening in Libya. However, he also stressed that the U.S. would not seek to remove Gaddafi from power, saying “To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq.” David Frum calls the speech “preposterous”: Obama brought up Iraq, Frum argues, so he can “ justify cutting short the commitment to Libya.” Spencer Ackerman at Wired says the speech offered little clarity: “So what happens if Gaddafi doesn’t simply go? What happens if the rebels can’t overrun him, as the Pentagon assesses? What happens in the event of a stalemate? How does the U.S. not escalate if Gaddafi hangs on?”