interventionism

"what would you do if you found them controlling american cities with the power of weapons?"
col. qaddafi in a letter to obamaland 3-19-2011

1) i do NOT condone the killing of civilian populations ANYWHERE, ANY TIME.
2) i am deeply skeptical of col. qaddafi's claim that he is fighting al qaeda and instead believe he is resisting an attempt by the libyan people to take control of their own political future.
that said the question is still valid. what would the government of the united states do if a sizable prtion of its population rose in an armed rebellion and took control of significant portions of the country? call it an expression of "the people's longing for political freedom", fold up the national bagnio, and call for elections and a new constitution? not bloody likely...there is a preceident...honest abe declared war on a significant portion of the population of the united states who were naive enough to believe jeffersonian rhetoric about the right to self-determination and rebellion against an "unjust" government...old abe killed citizens of this country for four years until they said "enough" and then he forgave them...they did not, and have not, forgiven him ( and there is an interesting facet of the dialectic...unless they are all killed, the losers of any conflict do not disappear and have a considerable, if officially unrecognized, impact on later events...no-one ever realy gets their way.. read " the culture of defeat" by wolfgang shivelbush) the rebel's position was compromised by the ethical albatross of slavery...but abe didn't really care about slavery...he used it as a political tool to keep the brits from interevening... he would have let the "peculiar institution" survivie to restore the antebellum status quo...our involvment in the arab world is a direct result of the need to control energy supplies...the rest is rhetoric a marginally intelligent three year old could see through...the empire is stetched thin so the french may bear the brunt of this...but we are all western allies, no? all with the same end goal in view...moe has to go because his fall has become a tool that can be used to expand western influence in oil producing areas...and obamaland would kill me as quickly as anyone if it saw me as a real threat to its power...or you for that matter...don't let them confuse you...this is all about preserving their positions and prerogatives.