Let's Not Make the Same Iraq Mistakes in Libya

„Now is the time for the international community -- the United Nations, NATO, the Arab League, and the African Union -- to engage with the TNC and with Libyan exiles, but most importantly with pro-Gaddafi tribal leaders to help the Libyans work out a coalition government of their own choosing and to pave the way for the country's first-ever transition to democracy. It can't be a fake democracy that keeps out the people we don't like. It has to be a real democracy that respects every point of view. And the decisions have to be made by the Libyans, not by us.

One of the major mistakes we made in Iraq was dictating who could and couldn't participate in the democratic process. It was wrong then and it would be wrong now. Banning Iraq's Baath Party and elements of the military only made large swaths of the populace hate us even more than the invasion already had. We prohibited some of the country's best and brightest from helping to rebuilt their shattered country. It made us look imperial, hypocritical, and anti-democratic.

We've participated in a relentless bombing of Tripoli in the past six months that has included civilian casualties. There likely will be some raw feelings even after Gaddafi goes. Now is not the time to dictate who will lead the Libyan people. Soon, probably in the next couple of weeks, it will be up to the Libyans to decide who will play and who won't. We should respect that. And we should promise the Libyan people that there will be no more Ahmed Chalabis.”