Now, in the first war -- or "kinetic military action" -- that President Obama can truly call his own, his administration seems determined to best its predecessors by violating all of the maxims simultaneously.In Libya, instead of starting with the desired end state and working back to develop a strategy for achieving it, the administration has launched the United States into battle with no clear vision of what a successful and stable outcome looks like. Instead of defining postwar goals precisely and matching means to ends, different officials have set out a range of objectives, from narrow (protecting civilians) to broad (ousting Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi), even as they have announced severe restrictions on the military measures being considered to achieve them (no ground troops and no lengthy U.S. involvement). And if there has been any contingency planning for what happens should Gaddafi not fold or fall quickly, it is the only U.S. diplomatic secret yet to be leaked.
"No one starts a war -- or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so -- without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it," noted the 19th-century military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Bringing a war to a successful close, he said, requires a "thorough grasp of national policy." Unfortunately, at this point, such a policy is precisely what the Obama administration seems to lack.
Ouch.
This is why its first order of business now should be to settle on an actual goal for Libya's future order.
Ask your buddies who got you into this, Obumble.
It must decide, for example, whether Gaddafi will be allowed to stay in power under any circumstances -- and if not, what local political and security arrangements will follow his departure, and who will maintain them and how. The president's address to the nation on Monday night would be an ideal opportunity to lay out such a policy publicly. But regardless of whether he does so then, the challenge will remain. Only once he establishes a target will Obama be able to aim properly and hope to finish well what he started so badly.