Reason for U.S. Decision to Attack Libya

If one considers that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for world-changing peaceful actions that were anticipated to occur, it seems incongruent that he would favor having the United States enter into a military conflict with Libya. Several of Obama's liberal friends have openly expressed outrage.

With the launching of more than 100 cruise missiles, arguments for and against U.S. involvement in the Libyan crisis are moot. Americans are involved.

But the question regarding Obama's apparent turnaround on U.S. military engagement overseas seemingly goes unanswered. Obama's reasoning hasn't been fully explained.

Are we supporting the furtherance of democracy or are we engaging in a humanitarian effort to stop genocide? Many people are wondering why the U.S. is joining the coalition, led by France and Britain, at all. Simply put, what are the specific U.S. interests?

One idea is that there is a personal element. An acquaintance suggested to me that the real reason Obama seemingly switched positions on being peace-loving was that he was tired of being elbowed in the ribs by the First Lady.

It's believed that Michelle Obama is royally pissed that the President of the United States and family are not invited to next month's nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton and, as a consequence, day in and day out husband Barack is being harangued, poked incessantly.

"Wake up! You need to do something."

"Huh? Michelle, it's 2 AM. What do you want?"

"I want an invitation to the royal wedding, dammit! You need to do something."

"What do you want me to do? The Brits are mad at us. The Queen thinks we dissed her."

"Do something that will make them like us. Think of something."

[zzz … zzz … zzz]

[poke, poke, poke] "Wake up, Barack, and think of something. Time is running out."

"Okay, okay. OKAY!"

So, the theory is that President Obama only became allied with France and, more importantly, Britain to grease the skids for a reversal of negative feelings about the U.S. in Britain and, thereby, put a stop to pokes in the ribs from his wife.

Frankly, I'm not convinced but it's arguably as good as any of the other justifications offered for military action in Libya. For exercise, consider this justification. Gaddafi is a thug dictator who has put a bulls-eye on himself. Saddam Hussein did the same thing and look where he is.