The words "vacillating" and "aimless" are commonly used by both left and right to describe President Barack Obama's approach to the Libya war. His political friends and foes alike lament that he has no clear goal in Libya—and that, by failing to articulate one, he is revealing his unease at having been dragged into the fight to oust the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.
Democratic Senator James Webb of Virginia issued a press release on March 21, 2011, noting that the U.S. mission in Libya "lacks clarity." Former Republican Senator Slade Gorton wrote in the Washington Post: "We should never enter a war halfway and with an indecisive goal. Regrettably, that is where we stand today."
The criticism has some validity, but it misses an important point: the administration's approach has logic and coherence in the service of strategic considerations that extend far beyond Libya. . . .