It is unforgivable to repeat the same mistakes in Libya. Regardless of its good intentions, the United States will be depicted once again as predatory and anti-Muslim, generating more terrorism in due course. Even the much-praised resolution of the Arab League that calls for a no-flight zone warned against any “invasion” and ruled out any attack on Libyan air defenses — the signatories obviously did not mind if the (presumably American) patrolling pilots were thereby exposed to antiaircraft missiles.

The U.S. military ignored this, but cruise missiles and aerial bombs do not just destroy missiles, they also kill people, and there will soon be Hezbollah-style displays of dead children for Al Jazeera. Let the Arab League or the far larger Organization of the Islamic Conference with its 57 members, which possess first-line jet fighters and troops, mount a humanitarian intervention at their own cost in money and blood.

At least the United States would not be accused of attacking Islam once again.