Libya - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Libya Index / Locations Transcripts Samantha Power ...began to cascade in other regions, Libya is really next. And there, Muamma... ...as we had in Egypt and Tunisia in Libya , but not as much expertise, becaus... ...his custody in one of the main jails in Libya [Abu Salim prison]. He just had n... ...Ali leave Tunisia—although Egypt and Libya coincided a little bit, basically woul... ...refer the crimes being committed in Libya to the International Criminal Court... ...the revolution, a town called Benghazi, Libya 's second largest town, home t... ...even the most spirited advocates on Libya 's behalf had been. That is, Libya... ...key officials around Qaddafi outside of Libya . And we're just probing, probing: I... ...from the vantage point of seeing Libya today, and the chaos and division tha... ...that coming together in the interest of Libya as a whole. Qaddafi was the bigges... ...as well. Obama has spoken about Libya , and he has said—I think, even, h... ...be no central security presence in Libya after Qaddafi, because his forces woul... ...had happened Iraq—that in order for Libya to stabilize itself, and Libyans t... ...wanted no international presence inside Libya . So what that meant was, all thes... ...just meant pulling more people out of Libya and insisting that that happen—but thi... ...by saying, “We don't want foreigners in Libya .” And that really did mean that th... ...then, that the political Islamists in Libya should be treated like ISIS would b... ...involved on behalf of factions in Libya that had the same view. Whereas Qata... ...would engage in negotiations or leave Libya before things got much worse, an... ...and money, and to stop projecting onto Libya their own domestic political rivalries... ...again, no one can feel good about how Libya looks today. I guess I just—I don'... ...advantage of the failed state that is Libya , and massacres of civilians that woul... ...in time, go the other way, given what Libya looks like today? I'm not sure, jus... ...thumb on the scale, but in a case like Libya , where you have the information t... ...question in there? Did the precedent of Libya factor in at all? Because Obama had no... ...bit technical, but what had happened in Libya was that the president used—he had, o... ...his commander-in-chief authority. So in Libya , which was quite recent, two year... ...even a limited objective, and Libya also was a limited objective in th... ...lawyers. Then the question became, in Libya , was the military engagement tha... ...and therefore, Obama could maintain the Libya campaign into the summer. But ther... ...was overdetermined because of Iraq. So Libya already was beginning to fragment i... ...Syria. Because, again, the concern on Libya , in addition to the war power... ...but the war powers questions from Libya are looming large, because he has ... ...who had controlled all of that—there, Libya , similar, one man who had governed s... Show more... Colin Kahl ...sometimes, I didn't have Afghanistan or Libya , I just had all the easy countrie... ...in—political tumult in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya , throughout the region—do you have ... ...and Bahrain, and Jordan, and Oman, and Libya , and Syria. I mean, what started wit... ...to every other country, and we were— Libya wasn't in my portfolio, but obviousl... ...of Defense [DOD] became very focused on Libya from March onward because of the NAT... ...Treaty Organization] mission in Libya . There were questions about whethe... ...Syria would ultimately go the way of Libya . Events in Yemen had spun out o... ...Egypt, what to do in the aftermath of Libya , what to do with regard to Syria, wer... ...in Egypt that looked like the events in Libya and Syria, ultimately. Which would hav... ...in militarized regime change. But Libya really put this issue to a test becaus... ...the proponents of intervening in Libya —and this is widely reported—folks lik... ...was supporting the intervention in Libya , knowing what he knows now about th... ...I do think that the experience of Libya , in my judgment, created a shadow ove... ...the timing is different. So Libya happens essentially March—and then fo... ...of the administration, and the Libya intervention. And in both cases, i... ...into a large-scale intervention.” And Libya was very fresh in his mind as he wa... Show more... Stephen Kroft ...the US participation in the bombing of Libya . And that he did not know what it wa... Martin Dempsey ...diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya ] or something else. But then, you g... ...of thousands of refugees—and so did Libya , by the way—in North Africa and in th... Kenneth Roth ...This becomes a key argument in the Libya discussion. How did you explain this... ...going so great, we now see clearly. The Libya intervention went poorly. And so ... ...the court, and supported referral on Libya and voted for referral on Syria, but i... Harold Hongju Koh ...asked about. Yes. So, there's the Libya war powers matter. As you recall, th... ...It's like, “We're fighting [laughs] in Libya . We don't want to have another wa... ...total percentage of ordnance dropped in Libya was less than one percent in Kosovo. S... ...those ten thousand people are alive. Libya didn't turn out well, but—and Benghaz... ...head examined.” So he was opposed to Libya . And so, the Defense Departmen... ...Department suddenly thought that Libya was illegal. And that's where it wa... ...my former teacher, at the time of the Libya wrote—made a quote saying, “Harold mad... Show more... Ben Rhodes ...No, no, Egypt is part of Africa; Libya is part of Africa. We had this tow... ...becomes most acute in Syria, but with Libya and—basically, at some point, we wer... ...to know why he ended up intervening in Libya and not Syria, read the Nobel speech... ...I want to move on to talking about Libya , but of course—and Yemen, Bahrain... ...different from Yemen, different from Libya , but the US is central to th... ...Egypt at all? Why is he talking about Libya at all? There was almost an incredulit... ...forty-nine call.” What made the Libya case different from the Egypt case, an... ...in his confrontation with the facts in Libya and deciding what to do about [Muamma... ...beyond that is somewhat limited. In Libya , we had very—we had a relationshi... ...step, but we had no real influence in Libya , beyond being a superpower. Wha... ...being a superpower. What happens in Libya is—what's also very different in Liby... ...Libya is—what's also very different in Libya is, it wasn't a protest movement in th... ...soon as the protest movement started in Libya , Qaddafi lost control of most of th... ...he had a power base. Benghazi—eastern Libya was basically gone, and then othe... ...basically gone, and then other parts of Libya . You had this situation where he'... ...There was international consensus on Libya , unlike in other places, unlike i... ...had any interest in going to war in Libya . Meanwhile, the calls in Washington... ...pushing to put a no-fly zone up over Libya , or do we do nothing?” [Laughs] Thos... ...the first mass atrocity on our watch.” Libya , weirdly, became seen through tha... ...networks. It just showed you how much Libya was not seen as [laughs] a first-orde... ...to be heavily involved militarily in Libya . It was like, “I can stop a massacre... ...from 2012, which is largely about the Libya decision, it strikes me that thi... ...the case at the time? As he was—even if Libya had played out exactly as the strateg... ...Yes. The other thing he did with Libya that was very unusual was that he, fo... ...was going to give it in March, and then Libya happened, so he gave a speech abou... ...happened, so he gave a speech about Libya . Then bin Laden happened. So thi... Show more... Jeremy Bash ...aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the Libya intervention. When you look back t... ... We haven't talked a lot about Libya and the war there, but again, ver... ...approach. And you were at DOD when the Libya decision was made, is that right? Or— ... ...Obama has talked about the handling of Libya as something he has regrets about. An... ...the decision to engage militarily in Libya began, but it played out. And I woul... ...say that even though our engagement in Libya always gets a bad rap, and leaves a ba... ...diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya ]. Second of all, because in general... ...Second of all, because in general, Libya is viewed as a little of a chaotic, no... ...and ultimately, the change happened in Libya . Now, again, whenever things like tha... Show more... Samuel Locklear ...shortly after we arrived, a crisis in Libya occurred. At that time, the Europea... ...In between the initial uprisings in Libya and Qaddafi's first attacks agains... ...NATO, in any sort of intervention in Libya . The good thing about militar... ...a huge stake in what was happening in Libya . Because the connections between eve... ...between even a country like Italy and Libya are historic and deep, and they hav... ...make sure that he wasn't the eldest of Libya for the next fifty years. Everybody wa... ...more questions that I want to ask about Libya . You talked about getting guidanc... ...with him directly when I was in the Libya campaign, as you would think, becaus... ...that it would go differently in Libya ; that the people we liberated, they'r... ...that were historically embedded with Libya would have taken a major role in tryin... ...so now we're going to pick up another Libya . My sense was we should take th... ...The last question I wanted to ask about Libya —and it's perhaps related—as you loo... ...to be in Europe and Africa. Once the Libya campaign died down, I was lookin... ...that you did have with him. We had no Libya or Osama bin Laden–type of scenari... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Hawaii Hawaii go to the Republican Opposition Republican Opposition go to the Asia Rebalance Asia Rebalance go to the Public Health Public Health go to the Criminal Justice Criminal Justice