Obama's policy in regards to Libya has been a mess from Day 1. Originally, he failed to comment on the issue at all: saying anything would have been more comfortable than the prolonged silence.
When he finally did decide to take a stand, it was an extreme one: use the United States' military to help the rebels fight Gaddafi. Now, if Libya had been integral to our foreign policy or national defense, then this would have been the appropriate action. However, Obama himself referred to our reason for entering Libya to be averting a humanitarian crisis. Remember, this was the same politicians who criticized Bush for invading Iraq, a country that Obama said had no effect on our defense. Ironically, Libya has even less bearing on that than Iraq did.
So as of now, we are aiding the rebels even if Obama has yet to go as far as to supply them. To make matters worse, the rebels appear to have deep connections to al-Qaeda, something Gaddafi was not accused of. In fact, as of 2003 reports said that he was "getting milder" and could even become an ally of the west.
There certainly is some sense in what Donald Trump said. If the other Arab states were encouraging us to take action against Libya, we should send them the bill. We simply cannot afford to police the world. Trump, for better or worse, seems to be one of the few who can recognize that.
None of us actually know what the CIA knows about Libya. But if taking Gaddafi out of power was necessary for our defense, Obama should have said so. Because right now, it looks like the tax payers of the United States are paying for a war they have no interest in that has no bearing on them whatsoever.
I wish that Obama was still in his "candidate" shoes, afraid to do or say anything "unpopular." Maybe this mess could have been averted.
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