New York Daily News – Michael Cohen on Rebuilding Libya
Source: New York Daily News, 10/21/2011
ASP Senior Fellow Michael Cohen is a featured author.
Excerpt:
“Few Libyans will be shedding tears at the news that Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy has been killed. The exultant firing of AK-47s in Tripoli at the news of his demise is a clear indication of how most Libyans feel about Khadafy’s death.
But just as the fall of Kabul didn’t end the war in Afghanistan and President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech of 2003 didn’t mean the U.S. conflict in Iraq was done, Khadafy’s death is not the beginning of the end, but rather the end of the beginning for Libya.
The real test for Libya’s future comes now: Will the country begin the transition to post-conflict stability and democracy, or will the low-level civil war that has gone on for much of the past year continue? Will the new boss look suspiciously like the old boss? If the U.S. wants good answers to these questions, then we must stay sufficiently engaged to see Libya through to a better future.
There are reasons for both pessimism and optimism. The National Transitional Council, which took over Tripoli in August, has pledged to hold elections, write a new constitution and create a transitional authority to govern Libya. Its leaders are saying all the right things about Libya’s direction, but, then again, they wouldn’t be the first rebels to promise democracy and deliver something else.
Under Khadafy’s rule, civil society in Libya was largely hollowed out, which makes the building blocks for a new state fragile at best. While Libya doesn’t have the same religious and ethnic tensions that plague Iraq and Afghanistan, its social fabric has plenty of challenging rifts…”
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