Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat down with The Washington Post to reflect on the campaign that helped lead to the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi. Here are some highlights:
On Gaddafi’s defeat as a vindication of Obama administration policy:
“I do think that we set into motion a policy that was on the right side of history, on the right side of our values, on the right side of our strategic interests in the region. And it turned out to have brought about the result that we thought it would in a relatively short period of time. . . .
We live in an incredibly complex world where America’s leadership is essential, where a lot of the things we want to see done in our own national interest in furtherance of our own values are important enough that, if necessary, we would do it unilaterally, but preferably, we want to do it with a coalition of nations that understand the interests and values at stake.”
On the initial reluctance to embrace the no-fly zone:
“It was so unclear in the beginning as to how this would play out. It took some time for me to be convinced that we could put together a credible coalition that would be able to support the opposition and to support strong action in the UN and then the kind of military support that they needed in order to have a chance at succeeding. . . .
There was a lot of questioning within our government about whether we should do anything; if so, what should we do; what kind of role the United States should play. And it was important to do — to lay the groundwork, which meant we had to find out who these people were, look them in the eye, try to figure out how serious they were, how capable they were. We had to test the willingness of the Arab League and Arab countries to go beyond rhetoric to action and support. We had to be sure that the U.N. would pass the kind of resolution that would enable the international community, starting with sanctions and freezing of assets and then moving to the no-fly zone, embargo, civilian protection mission. And all of that took intensive amounts of diplomacy.”
On ensuring Arab support for the mission:
“The turning point in the international assessment was when the Arab League asked for action. And as I said, we had to do a lot to make it clear they totally understood what they were asking for when they asked for a no-fly zone, so that there couldn’t be any recriminations later. So we did a lot of that work, we laid the groundwork. So then when they came in with their Arab League meeting and said yes, we want you to do that, it was really important that they participate. And it turned out that they did. And although Egypt and Tunisia did not participate in any kind of military way, their support on the borders was absolutely essential.”
On concerns about a possible stalemate:
“I really did think if we had the patience to persist, we would see success with the mission. For a couple of weeks there, we were having regular calls of just the top national security officials with our military commanders who were part of the NATO mission in some supportive role, and our understanding of the situation was getting better by the day. The NATO mission, along with our Arab allies, was getting smoother. . . .
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